Coldest Places in United States

Lowest Temperatures

The lowest temperature ever recorded in the United States was -80 degrees Fahrenheit (-62 degrees Celsius) 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 Yukon, Canada dropped to on February 3, 1947. On that extremely cold February day, Tanacross Alaska reached -75 °F.

The lower 48 states of the US hit their official coldest temperature of -70 °F on January 20, 1954 at Rogers Pass, Montana. The pass sits at 5,470 feet (1,667 metres) elevation in the Rocky Mountains, northwest of Helena.

States in America where temperatures have dropped to -50 °F (-45 °C) or lower at least once

Location	°F	°C	Date
Prospect Creek Camp, Alaska	-80	-62.2	Jan 23, 1971
Rogers Pass, Montana	-70	-56.7	Jan 20, 1954
Peter's Sink, Utah	-69	-56.1	Feb 1, 1985
Riverside RS, Wyoming	-66	-54.4	Feb 9, 1933
Maybell, Colorado	-61	-51.7	Feb 1, 1985
Island Park Dam, Idaho	-60	-51.1	Jan 18, 1943
Tower, Minnesota	-60	-51.1	Feb 2, 1996
Parshall, North Dakota	-60	-51.1	Feb 15, 1936
McIntosh, South Dakota	-58	-50.0	Feb 17, 1936
Tetonia, Idaho	-57	-49.4	Feb 9, 1933
Couderay, Wisconsin	-55	-48.3	Feb 4, 1996
Seneca, Oregon	-54	-47.8	Feb 10, 1933
Old Forge, New York	-52	-46.7	Feb 18, 1979
Vanderbilt, Michigan	-51	-46.1	Feb 9, 1934
Bloomfield, Vermont	-50	-45.6	Dec 30, 1933
Big Black River, Maine	-50	-45.6	Jan 16, 2009
Gavilan, New Mexico	-50	-45.6	Feb 1, 1951
Mount Washington, New Hampshire	-50	-45.6	Jan 22, 1885
San Jacinto, Nevada	-50	-45.6	Jan 8, 1937

Coldest Weather All Year

The coldest climate year-round in the United States is on Alaska's north coast, along the Beaufort Sea. This region has an annual temperature that averages around 13 °F (-10 °C).

South of Alaska, just two out of 7055 weather stations record an annual temperature that averages below freezing. Among all these stations that contributed quality data from 1991 to 2020 for NOAA’s National Centers for Environmental Information (NCEI), the peak of Mount Washington in New Hampshire has the coldest climate overall, with a mean temperature of 28 °F.

Fewer than 20 stations have an annual mean temperature of no more than 35 °F (1.7 °C). Another thing these sites have in common is that they're all over 6,000 feet (1,800 metres) elevation. Of the towns that make this list, the coldest is Crested Butte, a recreation resort located high in the Rocky Mountains of Colorado.

Places in the contiguous states with the lowest average annual temperature

Location	Mean °F	Mean °C
Mt Washington, New Hampshire	28.0	-2.2
Darwin Ranch, Wyoming	31.3	-0.4
Yellowstone Lake, Wyoming	32.0	0.0
Climax Mine, Colorado	32.3	0.1
Daniel Fish Hatchery, Wyoming	32.5	0.3
Bonham-Wells Reservoir, Colorado	33.1	0.6
Crested Butte, Colorado	34.2	1.2
Cooke City-Silver Gate, Montana	34.2	1.2
Electric Lake, Utah	34.3	1.3
Stanley, Idaho	34.4	1.3
Old Faithful, Wyoming	34.4	1.3
Yellowstone South Entrance, WY	34.4	1.3
Taylor Park Reservoir, Colorado	34.5	1.4
Burgess Junction, Wyoming	34.6	1.4
Leadville, Colorado	34.6	1.4
Silverton, Colorado	34.7	1.5
Gould, Colorado	34.9	1.6
Wisdom, Montana	35.2	1.8

Climbing down below 2,500 feet, the coldest places outside of Alaska have average temperatures above 35 °F. The locations listed below are a sampling of sites in states where the annual mean temperature is less than 40 °F (4.4 °C).

Mean annual temperature

Location	Mean °F	Mean °C
Orr, Minnesota	35.6	2.0
Rollette, North Dakota	36.1	2.3
Embarrass, Minnesota	36.4	2.4
Rolla, North Dakota	36.6	2.5
Allagash, Maine	37.5	3.0
Clayton Lake, Maine	37.5	3.1
Clarksburg, Michigan	38.4	3.5
Caspain, Michigan	38.5	3.6
Burke, Vermont	38.8	3.8
First Connecticut Lake, NH	39.1	3.9
Westby, Montana	39.1	3.9
Averill Lake, Vermont	39.2	4.0
Minocqua, Wisconsin	39.5	4.1
Plantywood, Montana	39.5	4.1
St. Germain, Wisconsin	39.5	4.2
Akers Pond, New Hampshire	39.6	4.2
Lake Clear, New York	39.7	4.3

Places That Most often Have Freezing Temperatures

The weather station in the United States where it most frequently drops below freezing is not in the far north of Alaska, as you'd expect. Instead it's in California, a state known more for warmth than incessant cold.

Bodie lies at 8,369 feet (2,551 metres) elevation near the Nevada border, north of Mono Lake. The former mining town has more nights of frost than anywhere in Alaska. Not surprisingly, people gave up on living in Bodie and it's now a ghost town.

Still, not all places that frequently freeze are remote or abandoned. Small towns with a lot of icy nights include Stanley Idaho, Fraser Colorado, and Wisdom Montana.

The weather freezes most often at these US weather stations:

Number of days per year when the lowest temperature is 32 °F or less

Location	Freezing Days
Bodie, California	303
Utqiagvik, Alaska	300
Darwin Ranch, Wyoming	299
Sargents, Colorado	295
Stanley, Idaho	294
Bondurant, Wyoming	289
Warren, Idaho	289
Yellowstone South Entrance, WY	289
Fraser, Colorado	288
Kuparuk, Alaska	286
Deadhorse, Alaska	283
Wainwright, Alaska	283
Colville, Alaska	281
Dixie, Idaho	281
Nuiqsut, Alaska	281

It's one thing to have a lot of frosty nights, but it's altogether another intensity of persistent cold when it doesn't thaw out during the day. A dozen weather stations in Alaska record freezing highs on over half the days in a year. At the top of the list is a site near Utqiagvik, which typically doesn't melt for 239 days a year.

Outside of Alaska, the weather stations ranked here most often have days that do not warm up to above freezing.

Number of days per year when the highest temperature is 32 °F or less

Location	Days
Mt Washington, New Hampshire	159
Mount Mansfield Peak, Vermont	128
Mullan Pass, Montana	119
Langdon, North Dakota	117
Yellowstone Lake, Wyoming	116
Embarrass, Minnesota	114
Hallock, Minnesota	114
Sand Lake, Minnesota	114
Rolla, North Dakota	114

Most Days with Coldest Temperature

On any single day, the mountain town of Stanley, Idaho is most often the coldest place in the states outside of Alaska. Stanley is nestled in the midst of the Sawtooth National Recreation Area at 6,260 feet (1,908 metres) elevation.

Top ten spots for the most days from 1995 to 2005 with the lowest temperature in the contiguous US

Location	Days
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