Alright, maybe we haven’t met record-breaking temperatures yet in 2024, but it sure does feel like we’re headed in that direction.
However, we have seen temperatures well below zero since the beginning of January. Let’s look at some of the records we hope 2024 won’t reach.
1816 was dubbed “The Year Without A Summer.” A foot of snow on the ground in July in Vermont. People starved as the crops died or refused to grow in the first place. In Salem, Massachusetts, on April 16, the thermometer finally read 74 °F (23.3 °C) before dropping to 21 °F (-6.1 °C) only 36 hours later.
It would later be learned that the erratic weather patterns were caused by an eruption of Mount Tambora in Indonesia the previous year, which caused the average global temperature to drop by three degrees Celsius.
Madera, Chihuahua, reached a record of -13.2 °F (-25.1 °C) on December 27, 1997. It’s important to note that Mexico’s average December temperatures range from 68 to 77 °F (20 to 25 °C).
We’re sure this temperature shift had those living in the area hoping to find winter clothes at the very back of their closets.
Both snowfall and lowest temperature records were broken in January 1979 broke snowfall and arctic cold temperature records in Iowa and Illinois. A snowstorm lasting from January 12-14 resulted in 18.4 inches of snow, the most ever recorded in a single snowstorm. Temperatures dropped to -27°F (-32.8 °C).
That same year, Hawaii reached its record lowest temperature of 12 °F (11.1 °C), which still stands to date. Hawaii remains the only state in the US to not have a recorded temperature below 0 °F.
Illinois was the most recent US state to set its record for lowest temperature recorded on January 31, 2019. Mt. Carroll reached a whopping -38°F(-38.9 °C).
An arctic outbreak spread across the Upper Midwest at this time, setting the state record. This was nearly 20 years to the date after Illinois’ last minimum temperature record was set at -36°F(-37.8 °C).
The Cold Storm and Great Freeze of 1857 devastated the United States from the Midwest to the Atlantic seaboard. After a long winter of snowstorm after snowstorm, a cold front unlike anything most citizens had ever seen hit on January 17.
By the next day, towns across the country had plunged below -40°F(-40 °C), a snow hurricane had hit, and mercury was freezing in thermometers.
Five US states hit their all-time low for temperatures in 1899. Most notable of these is Florida, reaching -2 °F (-18.9 °C) on February 13. This shift in temperature left the hearts of Floridians frozen just in time for Valentine’s Day.
The other states to reach their lowest recorded temperature were Nebraska at -47 °F (-43.9 °C), Ohio at -39 °F (-39.4 °C), Texas at -23 °F (-30.6 °C), and Louisiana at -16 °F (-26.7 °C).
In 1886, a cold wave swept across the northern Plains, with temperatures close to -50 °F (-46 °C) near the central Canada–US border.
The Kansas Blizzard of 1886 resulted in roughly 100 casualties and the greatest loss of livestock on the Plains in history. With it, the storm swept in a devastating economic blow.
Three US states hit their lowest recorded temperatures to date in 1996. Minnesota at -60 °F (-51.1 °C); Wisconsin at -55 °F (-48.3 °C); Iowa at -47 °F (-43.9 °C). These record-breaking temps weren’t the only thing 1996 had in store, though.
The North American Blizzard of 1996 hit the East Coast in January and claimed 154 lives while creating $1 billion in damages.
Five US states or territories hit their lowest-ever recorded temperature to date in 1985. Colorado at -61 °F (-51.7 °C); North Carolina at -34 °F (-36.7 °C); Virginia at -30 °F (-34.4 °C); South Carolina at -19 °F (-28.3 °C); Puerto Rico at 40 °F (4.4 °C).
Although 40 °F (4.4 °C) doesn’t sound impressive, the average winter temperature in Puerto Rico is anywhere between 70-85°F (21-29°C). That’s a massive shift for the US territory
Not only were record-low temperatures met in parts of the US in the year 1888, but a March snowstorm paralyzed the East Coast. Fort Keogh reached a record-breaking -65 °F (-53.9 °C) on January 14.
Two months later, a historic snowstorm would bring 50 inches of snow to Connecticut and Massachusetts and 40 inches to New Jersey and New York. Houses were buried under snow, commuters and railways were forced to a halt, and 85-mph winds wrecked two hundred ships offshore.
1933 was a year with no mercy with the Great Depression in full swing, but that didn’t stop winter temperatures from hitting hard and fast as well.
Four states hit their lowest-ever recorded temperature to date in 1933. Wyoming at -66 °F (-54.4 °C); Oregon at -54 °F (-47.8 °C); Texas at -23 °F (-30.6 °C); Vermont at -50 °F (-45.6 °C).
The coldest temperature ever recorded in the contiguous United States was in Rogers Pass, Montana, on January 20, 1954, at -70 °F (-56.7 °C).
It was so cold on that day that the thermometers fell below the lowest recorded temperature inscribed on them and had to be sent off for testing to confirm the actual degree.
We’ll give you one guess as to where the coldest recorded temperature in United States history was…yup, Alaska.
In Prospect Creek, Alaska, the temperature dropped all the way to -80 °F (-62.2 °C) on January 23, 1971. Just the thought of that has us shaking in our snow boots.
On February 3, 1947, in the village of Snag in Yukon, Canada, weather observer Gordon Toole’s breath turned to powder and hit the ground.
A new mark had to be made on his thermometer that day, marking the lowest ever recorded temperature in North America: -81.4°F (-63.0 °C). Reading about Toole’s experience makes us grateful to not know that type of cold.
