January of 2022 is off to a very cold start with three of the first six mornings featuring low temperatures below zero, and another at zero. Friday morning is likely to be the coldest morning yet but compared to the coldest day in Cedar Rapids history, it'll be a walk in the park. That's just a matter of speaking. I wouldn't go for a walk Friday morning.

I know it will come as no surprise to you that this month hasn't been very seasonal so far. Checking the Cedar Rapids climate table for the first five-plus days of January, it's been just plain cold.

Only one of the first five days of the month have we gone above the normal high. It reached 32 degrees on Tuesday, January 4 but other than that, highs have been well below the norm. So much so that the average high temperature the other four days this month has averaged more than 12 degrees below normal.

Friday morning, January 7, meteorologist Kaj O'Mara, at our weather partner KCRG TV-9, forecasts a low temperature in Cedar Rapids of -15. That would be the coldest morning so far this winter, but it's nothing compared to what we went through a few years ago.

Does anybody remember the end of January in 2019? I know you will when I refresh your memory a little. We had low temperatures below zero on nine consecutive nights from January 24 through February 1.

On January 30 and 31, 2019, we had low temperatures of -26 and -30. The latter being the coldest temperature ever recorded in Cedar Rapids. The pictures below were taken in downtown Cedar Rapids on the morning of January 31, 2019, the coldest morning that Cedar Rapids has had since records have been kept. They date to 1893.

See... January of 2022 is a walk in the park.

Coldest Morning in Cedar Rapids History

On January 31, 2019, the mercury in Cedar Rapids hit -30. That's the actual temperature that morning, which set the new record for the coldest temperature in Cedar Rapids history, with records dating back to 1893. The previous all-time record low temperatures for the city was -29 on January 15, 2009.

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