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Windchills as low as minus 33 put the St. Louis region on ice

St. Louis Public Radio | By Brian Munoz,
Fred Ehrlich
Published December 23, 2022 at 4:03 PM CST
Greg Kyles, 57, a worker with the City of St. Louis Forestry Division, shovels snow off of a Market Street sidewalk on Friday, Dec. 23, 2022, in St. Louis’ Downtown West neighborhood. St. Louis saw extremely low temperatures — in some cases with a wind chill factor of almost -20 degrees Fahrenheit — after a bomb cyclone packed high winds, snow and blizzard like conditions across the country.
Brian Munoz
/
St. Louis Public Radio
Greg Kyles, 57, a worker with the City of St. Louis Forestry Division, shovels snow off a Market Street sidewalk on Friday in St. Louis’ Downtown West neighborhood. St. Louis saw extremely low temperatures — in some cases with a windchill factor of almost minus 30 — when a bomb cyclone brought high winds, snow and blizzard-like conditions across the country.

St. Louis-area residents continue to bundle up this holiday weekend to hide from the stinging, subzero windchills brought by a massive winter storm.

The National Weather Service reports the storm on Thursday night produced the ninth-coldest windchill ever recorded in St. Louis at 33 below zero. The local record came in 1985 with a windchill of minus 48.

The historic winter storm is subjecting roughly 60% of the U.S. population to a winter weather advisory or warning Friday, leading to thousands of canceled flights and homeless shelters operating at near capacity.

At 3:30 p.m. Friday, the temperature in St. Louis was 4 degrees, with a windchill of minus 17.

"The good news is by Christmas we’ll be in the low to mid-20s," said Kevin Deitsch, a meteorologist with the NWS. "So we could go from extreme cold at the Christmas holiday to above normal by the New Year’s holidays.”

By Thursday, forecasts call for a high of 59 with rain showers.

But for now, St. Louis officials say the city continues to do street outreach to help homeless people get into shelters during the extreme cold.

Officials said that city-funded 24-hour shelters had available beds throughout Thursday night, and that there will be more space opening Friday afternoon.

St. Louis Public Library locations are also open as warming centers.

St. Louis officials say anyone in need can call 2-1-1 to be connected with available resources.

From left: Agnes, 4, Edie, 8, and Michael, 12, whose parents asked to not use their last name, shovel snow into buckets and sleds in order to build an igloo on Friday, Dec. 23, 2022, outside of their home in Benton Park.
Brian Munoz
/
St. Louis Public Radio
From left: Agnes, 4; Edie, 8, and Michael, 12, of south St. Louis shovel snow into buckets and sleds to build an igloo on Friday outside their home in the Benton Park neighborhood. Their mother, Amber, had been bringing them inside to warm up throughout the morning.
From left: Agnes, 4, Michael, 12, and Edie, 8, whose parents asked to not use their last name, carry snow in buckets and sleds in order to build an igloo on Friday, Dec. 23, 2022, outside of their home in Benton Park.
Brian Munoz
/
St. Louis Public Radio
From left: Agnes, 4; Michael, 12; and Edie, 8, carry snow in buckets and sleds in order to build an igloo on Friday outside their home in Benton Park.
Gus, 10, center, whose parents asked to not use their last name, tosses a dustpan-full of snow on top of the igloo he and his siblings built on Friday, Dec. 23, 2022, outside of their home in Benton Park. Gus’ sisters Agnes (left), 4, and Edie (right), 8, watch.
Brian Munoz
/
St. Louis Public Radio
Gus, 10, center, tosses a dustpan-full of snow on top of the igloo he and his siblings built on Friday outside their home in south St. Louis. Gus’ sisters Agnes, left, 4; and Edie, 8, watch.
Michael, 12, whose parents asked to not use their last name, carves out an igloo on Friday, Dec. 23, 2022, outside of his home in Benton Park.
Brian Munoz
/
St. Louis Public Radio
Michael, 12, carves an igloo on Friday in south St. Louis.
Agnes, 4, whose parents asked to not use their last name, lays in an igloo built by her siblings on Friday, Dec. 23, 2022, outside of her home in Benton Park.
Brian Munoz
/
St. Louis Public Radio
Agnes, 4, lies in an igloo built by her siblings on Friday in Benton Park.
Sylvester Chester, 37, a worker with the City of St. Louis Forestry Division, shovels snow off of a Market Street sidewalk on Friday, Dec. 23, 2022, in St. Louis’ Downtown West neighborhood. St. Louis saw extremely low temperatures — in some cases with a wind chill factor of almost -20 degrees Fahrenheit — after a bomb cyclone packed high winds, snow and blizzard like conditions across the country.
Brian Munoz
/
St. Louis Public Radio
Sylvester Chester, 37, a worker with the City of St. Louis Forestry Division, shovels snow from a Market Street sidewalk on Friday in St. Louis’ Downtown West neighborhood. Chester said his department had been clearing snow since 6 a.m.
Snow covers Art Hill and an icy Grand Basin on Friday in Forest Park. St. Louis saw extremely low temperatures — in some cases with a windchill of almost minus 30 after a bomb cyclone brought high winds, snow and blizzard-like conditions across the country.
Brian Munoz
/
St. Louis Public Radio
Snow covers Art Hill and an icy Grand Basin on Friday in Forest Park in St. Louis.
Snow drifts blow across a frozen Grand Basin on Friday, Dec. 23, 2022, in Forest Park. St. Louis saw extremely low temperatures — in some cases with a wind chill factor of almost -20 degrees Fahrenheit — after a bomb cyclone packed high winds, snow and blizzard like conditions across the country.
Brian Munoz
/
St. Louis Public Radio
Snow drifts blow across a frozen Grand Basin on Friday in Forest Park in St. Louis.
Ice juts out of a frozen pond on Friday, Dec. 23, 2022, in Forest Park. St. Louis saw extremely low temperatures — in some cases with a wind chill factor of almost -20 degrees Fahrenheit — after a bomb cyclone packed high winds, snow and blizzard like conditions across the country.
Brian Munoz
/
St. Louis Public Radio
Ice juts out of a frozen pond on Friday in Forest Park.

St. Louis Public Radio's Eric Schmid and Wayne Pratt contributed to this report.
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Health, Science & Environment Winter StormNational Weather ServiceSnowWeatherEnvironmentTop Stories
Brian Munoz
Brian Munoz is the Visuals Editor at St. Louis Public Radio.
See stories by Brian Munoz
Fred Ehrlich
Fred is the politics editor at St. Louis Public Radio.
See stories by Fred Ehrlich
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