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Wisconsin extreme cold warning; Thursday night to Friday afternoon

By and
Published  January 21, 2026 2:34pm CST
Winter Weather
FOX6 News Milwaukee
article

The Brief

    • Dangerously cold temperatures return on Thursday, Jan. 22 through Friday, Jan. 23
    • Wind chills can range 40° below 0 at times, causing frostbite in 10 minutes.
    • Surface temperatures will range from the negative teens to positive single digits.

MILWAUKEE - Another arctic blast is expected to impact the Upper Midwest by the end of the week. This second round will be even colder and potentially more dangerous. 

Extreme cold warning to be in effect

What we know:

The National Weather Service has issued an extreme cold warning late Thursday, Jan 22 night through Friday afternoon, Jan 23. 

The majority of the upper plains are included in some type of cold weather headline.

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Wind chill danger

By the numbers:

Wind chills drop 20 to 30 below zero starting Thursday night. They drop even more by Friday morning dropping as low as 40 degrees below zero. This is very dangerous and can cause frostbite in as little as 10 minutes.

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Thursday 11PM

Over the past five years, the coldest wind chill was -37°F in December 2022. Most years, Milwaukee experiences wind chills in the 20 to 30 below range during the months of January or February.

So how common is it to have wind chills 40 below zero or colder? This has happened about 12% (five times) of the time over the past forty-three years! The last time wind chills were this cold was back in January 2019. 

Despite the dangerous wind chills that will arrive on Friday, high temperatures will also be in the negatives, which isn't too common for Milwaukee either. 2019 was the last time air this cold reached the upper Midwest. 

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The last time a high temperature was below zero was on January 31, 2019, with a high of -2°F. The last time a high temperature in Milwaukee was at least five below zero or colder was on January 30, 2019. The last time wind chills were forty below or colder was on January 30, 2019 with a recorded wind chill of -52°F.

Sub-zero wind chills are favorable to remain over the weekend and into the start of next week.

The FOX6 Weather Experts will be tracking this closely to keep you safe. 

The Source: Information from this post is from the FOX6 Weather Experts and the National Weather Service. 

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