Democracy Dies in Darkness

This week’s Arctic blast pales in comparison to cold of the past

Climate change is moderating cold snaps and making them less extreme

Analysis by
Meteorologist
Updated January 17, 2024 at 3:56 p.m. EST|Published January 17, 2024 at 1:33 p.m. EST
People walk on a street at sunrise Wednesday on a cold morning New York City. (Charly Triballeau/AFP/Getty Images)
5 min

Temperatures plummeted across the Lower 48 this week, prompting wind chill advisories and warnings in 30 states. Wind chills reached minus-60 to minus-70 in Montana and North Dakota, with temperatures some 30 to 50 degrees below average in the nation’s heartland.

At one point, Mississippi was as cold as the North Pole. Over 5 feet of snow fell just south of Buffalo. Nashville dropped below zero for only the second time since 1996. And calendar-day low temperature records were smashed across the southern United States.