With this bitter cold stretch now in its second week, more
record-breaking cold could be in store just in time for Valentine’s Day.
The last time Rockford saw temperatures exceed the daily
normal was back on February 4th when the city saw a high temperature
of 36°. Since then, temperatures have failed to exceed 15° making Saturday the
9th consecutive day with highs in the teens or lower. A handful of
these days featured lows below zero while wind chills above zero have been
scarce since this cold snap began. There is some relief in sight, but the
bitter cold is not giving up just yet.
As of 9:00 PM on Saturday, temperatures across the area sit
below zero after a day with highs only in the single digits. Wind chills at
this time have dropped between -15° and -25°. Clear skies will be helping both
temperatures and wind chills to drop even further through the night. A wind
chill warning is in effect through noon on Sunday for all counties on the
Illinois side of the Stateline area while southern Wisconsin is under a wind
chill advisory. Early Sunday morning, wind chills are forecast to drop as low
as 30° to 35° below zero. With wind chills this cold, frostbite can occur in as
little as 10-15 minutes. Even as temperatures heat up through the day on
Sunday, wind chills should remain between -10° and -20°.
Sunday has considerable potential to be the coldest
Valentine’s Day on record. The prior record was broken just one year ago in
2020 when the February 14
th low temperature was recorded at -10°.
The forecast low temperature on Sunday morning is also -10° so if Rockford does
not quite break the record for the second consecutive year, it should come
awfully close. However, Sunday should handily break the record for the coldest
high temperature on a Valentine’s Day in Rockford. The current record is 10°
originally set back in 1943 and achieved for a second time last year in 2020.
The forecast high for Valentine’s Day, 2021 is 2°.
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