Editing Cold Sunday

{{Short description|1982 meteorological event}}
{{no footnotes|date=July 2009}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=February 2025}}
[[Image:Cold Sunday 1982-01-17 weather map.png|300px|thumb|[[National Weather Service]] surface weather map from January 17, 1982.]]
[[Image:Cold Sunday 1982-01-17 temperature map.png|thumb|300px|National Weather Service high and low temperature map (Fahrenheit) from January 17, 1982.]]
[[Image:January 17 1982 500-Millibar Height Contours.png|thumb|300px|National Weather Service 500 millibar height contour map from January 17, 1982.]]
'''"Cold Sunday"''' was a [[meteorology|meteorological]] event which took place on January 17, 1982, when unprecedentedly cold air swept down from Canada and plunged temperatures across much of the United States far below existing all-time record lows.

The phenomenon was caused by an unusually strong [[High pressure area|high pressure system]] over [[Saskatchewan]] with a core pressure of 1055[[millibar|mb]] (31.15 inHg), a level rarely seen outside of permanent [[polar region|polar]] areas such as [[Siberia]] and Antarctica. A recent [[snow]]fall had left the ground without any way to hold on to its heat and temperatures dropped precipitously. This mass of cold air was so strong that the temperature at [[Mequon, Wisconsin]], dropped to &minus;40&nbsp;°F (&minus;40&nbsp;°C);{{citation needed|date=February 2023|reason= Milwaukee was-26F Mequon is only 15ish miles away.}} the previous record was &minus;28&nbsp;°F (&minus;33&nbsp;°C) and temperatures below &minus;20&nbsp;°F (&minus;29&nbsp;°C) had been felt there only six times in the previous 100 years. The lowest temperature recorded that day in the United States was &minus;52&nbsp;°F (&minus;47&nbsp;°C), measured near [[Tower, Minnesota]].

Below is a partial list of cities which set all-time record low temperatures in the United States. This is only a small fraction of all locales setting record low temperatures: Hundreds of towns and cities from [[North Dakota]] to [[New Jersey]] to [[Mississippi]] broke records, and the vast majority of the records set on "Cold Sunday" still stand, as of 2024. The cold was not confined to the night, either. In [[Princeton, New Jersey]], and [[Cincinnati, Ohio]], the daytime high temperatures were 2&nbsp;°F (&minus;17&nbsp;°C) and &minus;9&nbsp;°F (&minus;23&nbsp;°C). The average high temperature in January is 39&nbsp;°F (4&nbsp;°C) in both cities.

==Temperatures==
* [[International Falls, Minnesota]]: &minus;45&nbsp;°F (&minus;43&nbsp;°C)
* [[Saint Cloud, Minnesota]]: &minus;35&nbsp;°F (&minus;37&nbsp;°C)
* [[Madison, Wisconsin]]: &minus;31&nbsp;°F (&minus;35&nbsp;°C)
* [[Green Bay, Wisconsin]]: &minus;28&nbsp;°F (&minus;33&nbsp;°C)
* [[Milwaukee, Wisconsin]]: &minus;26&nbsp;°F (&minus;32&nbsp;°C)
* [[Chicago, Illinois]]:  &minus;25&nbsp;°F (&minus;32&nbsp;°C)
* [[Moline, Illinois]]: &minus;23&nbsp;°F (&minus;31&nbsp;°C)
* [[Peoria, Illinois]]: &minus;23&nbsp;°F (&minus;31&nbsp;°C)
* [[Akron, Ohio]]: &minus;22&nbsp;°F (&minus;30&nbsp;°C)
* [[Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania]]: &minus;18&nbsp;°F (&minus;28&nbsp;°C)
* [[Cleveland, Ohio]]: &minus;17&nbsp;°F (&minus;27&nbsp;°C)
* [[Jackson, Mississippi]]: &minus;5&nbsp;°F (&minus;21&nbsp;°C)
* [[Washington, D.C.]]: &minus;5&nbsp;°F (&minus;21&nbsp;°C)
* [[Birmingham, Alabama]]: &minus;2&nbsp;°F (&minus;19&nbsp;°C)

== External links ==
*[http://www.wpc.ncep.noaa.gov/training/jan1982.html Arctic Outbreaks of January 1982]
*[http://docs.lib.noaa.gov/rescue/dwm/1982/19820111-19820117.djvu Historical daily weather map January 11, 1982 - January 17, 1982] (Requires Plugin, see [http://docs.lib.noaa.gov/rescue/dwm/data_rescue_daily_weather_maps.html NOAA Central Library U.S. Daily Weather Maps Project])
*[http://www.intellicast.com/Almanac/Southeast/January/ Intellicast - January in the Southeast]

{{Commons category|Cold Sunday}}
{{Cold wave}}

[[Category:1982 disasters in Canada]]
[[Category:1982 natural disasters in the United States]]
[[Category:20th-century cold waves]]
[[Category:1982 meteorology]]
[[Category:1982 natural disasters]]
[[Category:Cold waves in Canada]]
[[Category:Cold waves in the United States]]
[[Category:Sunday events]]
[[Category:January 1982 in North America]]