By John Winter
Sheboygan Observer National Weather Service

Weather often catches everyone’s attention.  It is also one of the most popular topics in conversations.  But there are times that some weather events need special attention.  It was a year ago when the “polar vortex” or what I prefer call it an “arctic blast” descended on Wisconsin.  Below are some weather observations for Sheboygan.

The frigid temperatures started moving in on Jan. 21st when we had our first low temperatures that were below zero, -3 degrees.

Then we had a few days of reasonable winter temperatures, highs in the 20’s, lows in the teens.

But on Jan. 25th, winter’s arctic grip took hold. 

We had nine days in a row with low temperatures below zero.

The coldest day was Jan. 30th when the frigid high was only -11.7 degrees and the deep freeze low was -23.5 degrees.

Also on Jan. 30th, the wind chill went all the way down to -52 degrees with wind gusts of 31 mph.

And if that isn’t enough, during this time period we had 11 inches of snow.  The snow was light and dry, so it also created lots of drifting.  So we had to bundle up and go outside and shovel.

For 12 days in a row, we had various weather advisories, watches and warnings, including Wind Chill Warnings and Winter Storm Warnings.

On Feb. 2nd we finally had temperatures above zero.  In fact on Feb. 3rd and 4th it got all the way up into the mid 40’s.  Almost a 70 degree swing in temperatures!  What a difference a couple days make.  But February, 2019, had another plan in mind.  The snow machine kicked in and we had two feet of snow in three weeks.  This included a 12.4 inch storm on Feb. 11-12.

We’re all guilty of complaining about the weather sometimes, but just remember what we had a year ago and maybe you won’t feel so bad.