Major Freeze/Cold-Snap Events

Cases

Case bounds were drawn from the sources listed (Wikipedia winter storm and cold wave articles, ECMWF Severe Event Catalogue, and WMO regional climate reports) and sized to contain the full cold-air outbreak or synoptic trough, generally extending 10–15° of latitude beyond the primary freeze area to capture the polar air mass and its source region. Each case was validated against ERA5 2-meter temperature fields to confirm that minimum temperatures fell at or below the climatological 15th percentile for the affected region.

US-based events

1. Jan 10-14, 2024
2. January 10–13, 2024 North American storm complex - Wikipedia
3. Cross-listed with wind and major freezes
4. January 31 - Feb 2 2023, ice storm, Winter Storm Mara
5. January 31 – February 2, 2023 North American ice storm - Wikipedia
6. Not sure if we will keep this, it is mostly a freezing rain event, not a deep freeze and FRZA is really hard to predict but it is very large scale so maybe?
7. Feb 22-26 2022
8. Late Feb storm here 2021–22 North American winter - Wikipedia
9. Cross-listed with freezes for the strong cold front (and blizzards)
10. March 9-10 2022, Winter Storm Quinlan
11. 2021–22 North American winter - Wikipedia
12. Cross listed with major snow and freeze
13. March 27-28 2022
14. 2021–22 North American winter - Wikipedia
15. April 11-13, 2022
16. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/April_2022_North_American_storm_complex
17. Cross-listed with tornado outbreaks, major freeze, blizzard, wind (straight line winds) and hail
18. SPC reports
    1. https://www.spc.noaa.gov/climo/reports/220411_rpts.html
    2. https://www.spc.noaa.gov/climo/reports/220412_rpts.html
    3. https://www.spc.noaa.gov/climo/reports/220413_rpts.html
19. Identified as a billion dollar disaster
    1. NCEI Billion Dollar Disasters - Severe Storms
20. May 20-21, 2022 Winter Storm Tad Colorado and Wyoming
21. 2021–22 North American winter - Wikipedia
22. Cross-listed with major freezes
23. January 2021
24. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2021%E2%80%9322_North_American_winter#January_cold_wave
25. Feb 13 - Feb 17 2021, Winter Storm Uri
26. https://confluence.ecmwf.int/display/FCST/202102+-+Cold+spell+-+US
27. February 13–17, 2021 North American winter storm - Wikipedia
28. The Texas Freeze: Timeline of events
29. 2021 Texas power crisis - Wikipedia
30. February 2021 North American cold wave - Wikipedia
31. Cross-listed with blizzards/major snow events and major freezes and tornadoes
32. Feb 15-20, 2021 Winter Storm Viola or the North Texas Freeze
    • February 15–20, 2021 North American winter storm - Wikipedia
    • 2021 Winter Storms - Center for Disaster Philanthropy
    • Cross-listed with major snow (and freezing rain but we don’t have that as a category)
    • February 2021 North American cold wave - Wikipedia
33. Feb 28 - March 2 New England
    • 2020–21 North American winter - Wikipedia
34. Oct 27 2020 - Winter Storm Billy
    • 2020–21 North American winter - Wikipedia
    • Winter Storm Spreading Snow and Damaging Ice Through the Southern Plains | The Weather Channel
    • This is largely an ice storm (snow storm farther north) but it was a very large-scale ice storm so I’d like to list it under freezes as it involved a sudden drop in temperature
    • Cross-listed with snow and freeze
35. January 28 2020
    • 2020–21 North American winter - Wikipedia

Worldwide events

1. There is a hint of large-scale cold event over Europe just before this heat wave
2. https://confluence.ecmwf.int/display/FCST/202212+-+Heatwave+-+Europe
3. January 2-5 2024 Northern Europe
4. 202401 - Cold - Northern Europe
5. April 2 2024 Sweden/Finland
6. 202404 - Snowfall / Cold - Sweden / Finland
7. Cross-listed with cold
8. April 22 2024 Europe
9. 202404 - Cold -Europe
10. Nov 25 - Dec 1 2023 Europe
11. https://confluence.ecmwf.int/display/FCST/202311+-+Cold+-+Europe
12. Munich hit by heaviest snowfall in 20 years, wakes up to 50 cm (1.6 feet) of snow and severe traffic disruption, Germany
13. Cross-listed with snow/blizzards and major freeze
14. December 2023 China
15. https://www.reuters.com/world/china/chinas-cold-snap-reaches-shanghai-with-chilliest-year-end-40-years-2023-12-21/
16. https://www.reuters.com/world/china/northeast-china-unusually-cold-temperatures-dip-january-levels-2023-11-27/
17. January 2023 China and northeast Asia
18. https://www.cnn.com/2023/01/25/asia/east-asia-cold-snap-climate-japan-korea-china-climate-intl-hnk/index.html
19. https://www.washingtonpost.com/weather/2023/01/23/china-record-low-temperature-mohe/
20. January 25 2023 Japan (snow) cold was in Afghanistan
21. Heavy snow causes havoc in Japan as cold snap sweeps through Asia | Reuters
22. Cross-listed with snows and major freezes
23. Dec 2022 - January 2023
24. “Between December 2022 and January 2023, Afghanistan experienced an extreme cold wave. A record-breaking –33 °C was recorded in Ghor Province, in the central region of Afghanistan, resulting in 124 reported deaths from hypothermia and a substantial loss of livestock with estimates ranging from 70000 to 200000 animals.”
25. https://library.wmo.int/records/item/68890-state-of-the-climate-in-asia-2023
26. 2023 Afghanistan cold snap - Wikipedia
27. April 3 - 8 2021 Europe
    1. 202104 - Cold - W Europe