The coldest temperatures in Kansas early this week were recorded at Manhattan Regional Airport, which saw low mercury readings of minus 12 on Monday and minus 15 on Tuesday, the National Weather Service said.
Brutal cold accompanying a storm that brought as much as 18 inches of snow Sunday to parts of Kansas left the Sunflower State enduring conditions even colder than those present in Anchorage, Alaska, where USA Today reported temperatures Tuesday morning were a comparatively balmy 40 degrees.
Manhattan Regional Airport fell considerably short of being the coldest place in the contiguous United States.
That distinction was held Monday by a location 31 miles northeast of Forest Center, Minnesota, which saw a low of minus 21, then shared Tuesday between Stub Creek, Colorado, and Peter Sinks, Utah, both with temperatures of minus 31, the weather service said.
A parked car along S.E. Sixth Avenue is covered by snow as county and city crews plow the roads Monday, Jan. 6, 2025.
Here were some of Kansas’s lowest temperatures on Monday
The weather service reported Kansas temperatures fell Monday to lows for each community:
• Minus 12 at Manhattan Regional Airport.
• Minus 9 in the Russell area.
• Minus 8 at Salina.
• Minus 7 at Lawrence Municipal Airport.
• Minus 4 at Hutchinson Regional Airport and at Marysville, with the latter then seeing a low of 1 degree on Tuesday.
• Minus 3 at Concordia.
Topeka’s low temperature Monday was 2 degrees, according to the weather service.
Here were some of Kansas’s lowest temperatures on Tuesday
The mercury dipped even lower Tuesday morning in some of those communities, as the weather service reported lows that day of:
• Minus 15 at Manhattan Regional Airport.
• Minus 11 at Horton, which had seen a low of 4 on Monday.
• Minus 10 at Lawrence Municipal Airport.
• Minus 8 at Salina.
• Minus 6 in the Russell area.
• Minus 3 at Topeka and at Hutchinson Regional Airport.
• Minus 2 at Concordia.
Winds made conditions feel even colder Monday and Tuesday in Kansas communities, as weather service records show the wind chill index dipped as low as minus 20 Tuesday at Manhattan Municipal Airport.
The weather service doesn’t keep official wind child index records.
Kansas’ lowest temperature on record is minus 40, set Feb. 13, 1905, in Lebanon in north-central Kansas.
Topeka meteorologist discusses potential temperature disparity
The lows the weather service recorded Monday of minus 12 at Manhattan Municipal Airport and minus 7 at Lawrence Municipal Airport showed a marked disparity from low of 2 degrees above zero recorded that day in Topeka, which is located east of Manhattan and west of Lawrence.
Likewise, a separate weather service monitoring station at Manhattan recorded a low of zero on Monday.
Nathan Griesemer, a meteorologist for the weather service office in Topeka, suggested Tuesday that the lower readings at the Lawrence and Manhattan airports may have something to do with their monitoring stations being located in valleys.
Contact Tim Hrenchir at threnchir@gannett.com or 785-213-5934.
This article originally appeared on Topeka Capital-Journal: Kansas saw temperatures plunging below zero, with these the coldest