KSHB 41's Cassie Wilson says it's been a record stretch of cold in Kansas City

KANSAS CITY, Mo. — It all started going downhill when the Arctic air moved toward Kansas City late on Jan. 11 and early on Jan. 12.

On Jan. 11, our high temperature in Kansas City was 32°, meaning we didn't get above freezing and kicked off a cold snap.

Using the official weather station at Kansas City International Airport, we haven't been above freezing since about 11:45 a.m. on Jan. 11.

So how cold is this cold snap?

Well, it has been record cold.

The first batch of Arctic air is over, and before the next batch arrives later today, let's take a look at how the first half of this cold snap stacked up.

KSHB

The first record to fall was at GEHA Field at Arrowhead Stadium.

But the coldest air of the first wave of Arctic air moved in Jan. 14-15 where we started breaking records left and right.

• We hit a record low on 1/14 of -12 (old record -10 1979)
• We had a min max on 1/14 of -3 (old record 0 in 1979)
• We had a record low on 1/15 of -16 (old record -10 in 1979)
• We had a min max on 1/15 of 2 (old record 6 in 1972)

KSHB

KSHB

According to the data from the National Weather Service in Kansas City, the -3° high temperature on Jan. 14 is tied for the 11th-coldest high temperature on record for the Kansas City Area since 1888.

KSHB

KSHB

The -16° record low temperature on Jan. 15 is tied for the 16th-coldest temperature in the Kansas City Area since 1888.

On top of those cold records, we saw a string of four overnight temperatures fall below -10° for four consecutive days from Jan. 13-16. The record is five days from 1983, that string of -10 or colder temperatures hit right before Christmas, December 18-22.

So this cold snap begs the question... would you rather we sweating it out like we did at the end of August when our heat index was 120+° or freezing it out with wind chills at -30°? Join the discussion on social media!

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