What are the coldest big cities in the US during the winter?

18 comments

1. Probably Minneapolis

2. Cleveland OH

3. Minneapolis, Minnesota would be the coldest.

   Your threshold is pretty high though, sub freezing isn’t hard to find north of I-40.

4. All the northern ones not in the PNW

5. Minneapolis, Chicago, Detroit, Cleveland, Milwaukee, Indianapolis, Des Moines. Basically the big ones in the Midwest.

6. All the Northernmost states get cold winters. Instead of guessing, I found a list of [coldest cities in the US](https://usabynumbers.com/coldest-cities-in-the-us/)
   1. Fairbanks, Alaska
   2. Williston, North Dakota
   3. Aberdeen, South Dakota
   4. Bismarck, North Dakota
   5. Grand Forks, North Dakota
   6. Huron, South Dakota
   7. Rochester, Minnesota
   8. Fargo, North Dakota
   9. Duluth, Minnesota
   10. La Crosse, Wisconsin
   11. Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan
   12. Sheridan, Wyoming
   13. Anchorage, Alaska
   14. Marquette, Michigan
   15. Waterloo, Iowa

   Granted, not all these cities are the biggest cities. Other big cities probably include Minneapolis and St Paul, Minnesota. Cleveland, Ohio. Erie, Pennsylvania. Buffalo, New York. Green Bay, Wisconsin.

7. Alaska, North Dakota, Maine, Minnesota, and Wyoming and the top five coldest year round average temps.

   https://www.currentresults.com/Weather/US/average-annual-state-temperatures.php

   If you go by average winter temps Maine and Minnesota switch and Wyoming drops down and is replaced by Wisconsin.

   https://www.currentresults.com/Weather/US/average-annual-state-temperatures.php

8. Minneapolis, Anchorage, Buffalo would be my guess for top 3

9. It regularly gets below freezing in Atlanta

10. Houston got pretty cold a couple years ago, but that’s not normal.

11. Now define big. 🙂

    NYC and Chicago both freeze for a decent chunk of winter, but neither is among the coldest US cities.

12. Even east coast cities like NYC can even get that low.

13. Not sure what we’re defining as big cities, but if you draw the line at the top 20 biggest metro areas in the country, it’s the Twin Cities. If you draw the line at the top 50 biggest metro areas in the country, it’s still the Twin Cities. For top 10 biggest metro areas in the country, it would be Chicago.

    I always enjoy this map someone made in r/MapPorn comparing temps in Minneapolis in January/July to Europe: https://i.redd.it/gjxah8et3v971.jpg

14. Fairbanks gets extremely cold but I wouldn’t say it’s big.

15. Detroit

16. Anchorage, Green Bay, Minneapolis, Duluth, Buffalo all come to mind

17. If you’ve ever walked between the buildings in downtown Boston on a day where it’s 0 degrees – it’s freakin cold

18. Chicago, Cleveland, Detroit, Buffalo, because of Lake effect snow.

    Minneapolis is very cold too.