We’ve seen some wide temperature swings since the start of 2019, but Kansas has seen even larger swings. On Feb 1, 1989, an arctic air mass, similar to last week’s event invaded the central United States further west of the most recent incursion. On the 31st of January Russell Kansas was the hot spot in the nation with a high of 84 degrees. By the next day, Russell reported a morning low of 12 degrees. By that evening it had dropped to 9 degrees. The cold stayed entrenched for a while. February 3 saw a low of -16 degrees, and the high on the 4th just reached zero. Temperatures didn’t get above freezing until the 7th of February.
Mary Knapp, Weather Data Library
mknapp@ksu.edu