Record cold temperatures possible in Piedmont Triad early next week

(WGHP) – Get your warmest winter clothes ready because the coldest air we’ve seen since last January arrives next week. 

For the first time since Jan. 20, 2024, both our morning and afternoon temperatures will remain below freezing. And here’s the catch, it’s not just one day that will remain below freezing. It’s almost four. 

Afternoon highs are forecasted to be in the mid to upper 20s on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday. With that type of arctic air, we’re looking at near-record cold high temperatures in the Triad at least two of the three days. 

The current record cold temperature on Jan. 20 is 29 degrees set in 1983. The forecasted high is 28 degrees. 

On Tuesday, Jan. 21, we likely won’t set the record as the current record is 21 degrees from 1985 and the forecast high is 26 degrees. 

We’ll have another opportunity on Wednesday, Jan. 22 with a forecast high of 29 degrees. The current record for Jan. 22 is 29 degrees, set in 2014. 

Temperatures are expected to drop below freezing Sunday evening and remain below the 32-degree mark until Thursday afternoon. 

If we break that down to the number of hours, it’s nearly 92 hours at or below freezing which is almost four days.  

The last time we saw more than three consecutive days with temperatures less than or equal to 32 degrees was in January 2018. 

In the last 30 years, we’ve only seen a cold snap like this six times: February 1996, January 1997, December 1998, January 2005, January 2017 and January 2018.