It will be cold, bone-chilling cold, in southeast Ohio tomorrow. If you thought being outside was painful these past two months, well you’re in for a treat. Wind chills will push temperatures to 20 degrees below zero, meaning it will be nearly impossible to walk outside for any significant time. Please exercise caution and cover all the skin you can, and remember to think of small children and animal’s reactions to such extreme temperatures.
Although the cold will feel worse than anything one can imagine, there have been colder days in Ohio history.
Wind chills were as low as 40 to 50 degrees below zero on January 20, 1985. This is using the updated wind chill chart created by meteorologists in 2001. Wind chills were at 70 to 80 degrees below zero using the old chart on Jan. 20, 1985.
January 10, 1982 was another historically cold day, as wind chills fell to 38 degrees below zero. On that day the city of Cincinnati played host to the AFC Championship game in the NFL as the Chargers visited the Bengals. My dad always claimed that he listened to that game on the radio while chopping wood outside. This seems like one of those classic Dad claims. He was probably outside for five minutes and figured it qualified for “chopping wood”. Whether he did or not I’m not sure, what we can say for sure is that it was cold.
So as you are wondering how it’s even possible to reach the type of wind chills we will experience tomorrow, try to remember that it can get colder. That’s a positive thought, right?