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Record low temperatures set in Kalamazoo and Battle Creek

Posted at 12:30 PM, Jan 31, 2019
and last updated 2019-01-31 12:51:46-05

KALAMAZOO, Mich. — Record cold temperatures have been a staple over the last two days in Kalamazoo, with two record lows and one record low maximum temperature set. This morning’s low temperature in Kalamazoo was -18°, breaking a daily record set well over 100 years ago. The low temperature yesterday was -15°, breaking the old daily record of -13° set on 1/30/1951. And the high yesterday of just -1° shattered the previous record cold high of 5° set on 1/30/1899. Here’s a look at this morning’s record low compared to the old one:

In addition, Battle Creek has also been rewriting the record books over the last two days. Yesterday’s low of -18° breaks the previous record low for the date of -13° set back on 1/30/1951. This morning the low was again -18°, which also broke a record for the date:

With a steady west/southwest wind occasionally gusting to over 30 mph in spots, we’ve also been dealing with some brutally cold wind chills. Here is a sample of some of our coldest wind chill values over the last 12 hours:

Wind chills this afternoon will generally be in the -10° to -20° range, which is still dangerously cold. We could still see a few wind chill values approaching -30° to the south and east of Grand Rapids. Here’s a look at how our model sees wind chill values for your afternoon drive home:

Wind chills will modify somewhat tomorrow with lighter winds and somewhat warmer temperatures. Although we’ll start the day with wind chills of -5° to -15° around sunrise, we’ll see those values modify into positive territory during the afternoon:

Even milder temperatures are on the way for the weekend. Stay tuned to FOX 17 for information on when rain and highs near 50° could contribute to some ice jams and river flooding!