Cold Weather in USA

Coldest Places in United States

Lowest Temperatures

The lowest temperature ever recorded in the United States was -80 °F (-62 °C) on January 23, 1971 at Prospect Creek Camp, located near the Arctic Circle along the Alaska pipeline. This is not much warmer than the -81.4 °F record low for North America that Snag in the Yukon dropped to on February 3, 1947. On that record cold February day, Tanacross Alaska reached -75 °F.

The continental US hit its coldest recorded temperature of -70 °F on January 20, 1954 at Rogers Pass, Montana. The pass sits at 5,470 feet elevation in the Rocky Mountains, northwest of Helena.

Other states in America where temperatures have dropped to -50 °F (-45 °C) or lower:
Location °F Date
Peter’s Sink, Utah -69 Feb 1, 1985
Riverside RS, Wyoming -66 Feb 9, 1933
Maybell, Colorado -61 Feb 1, 1985
Island Park Dam, Idaho -60 Jan 18, 1943
Tower, Minnesota -60 Feb 2, 1996
Parshall, North Dakota -60 Feb 15, 1936
McIntosh, South Dakota -58 Feb 17, 1936
Tetonia, Idaho -57 Feb 9, 1933
Couderay, Wisconsin -55 Feb 4, 1996
Seneca, Oregon -54 Feb 10, 1933
Old Forge, New York -52 Feb 18, 1979
San Jacinto, Nevada -50 Jan 8, 1937
Gavilan, New Mexico -50 Feb 1, 1951
Bloomfield, Vermont -50 Dec 30, 1933

On any single day, the mountain town of Stanley, Idaho, is most often the coldest place in the 48 continental states.

The top ten spots for number of days with the lowest temperature in the continental US between 1995 and 2005:
Location Days of Lowest
Temperature in US
Stanley, Idaho 398
West Yellowstone, Montana 337
Gunnison, Colorado 170
Truckee, California 161
Alamosa, Colorado 142
Saranac Lake, New York 128
Jackson, Wyoming 109
Berlin, New Hampshire 92
Fraser, Colorado 91
Wisdom, Montana 91

Coldest Weather All Year

The coldest climate year-round in the United States is at Barrow on Alaska's north coast. There the normal daily mean temperature is well below freezing, at 10.4 °F (-12 °C).

Out of 250 major weather stations in the continental US, these five have an annual mean temperature below 40 °F (4.4 °C):
Location Daily Mean °F
Mt. Washington, New Hampshire 27.2
International Falls, Minnesota 37.4
Marquette, Michigan 38.7
Duluth, Minnesota 39.1
Caribou, Maine 39.2
Places in the USA outside of Alaska with freezing temperatures, of 32 °F or less, on 180 or more days a year:
Location Days Freezing
per Year
Mt. Washington, New Hampshire 242
Alamosa, Colorado 227
Ely, Nevada 218
Flagstaff, Arizona 208
Burns, Oregon 205
International Falls, Minnesota 197
Elko, Nevada 193
Marquette, Michigan 192
Kalispell, Montana 189
Williston, North Dakota 189
Caribou, Maine 186
Winnemucca, Nevada 186
Bismarck, North Dakota 186
Sheridan, Wyoming 185
Duluth, Minnesota 183
Lander, Wyoming 183
Casper, Wyoming 181
Missoula, Montana 180
Milford, Utah 180