Though NYC’s winter weather predictions are a bit all over the place, there’s one thing we New Yorkers brace ourselves for each winter: the cold. Sometimes New York City even gets colder than Alaska and Antarctica, which is pretty insane. But when actually is the coldest day of the year?
Well, climate experts over at NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information (NCEI) created a Coldest Day of the Year Map, which shows the typical coldest day of the year across the United States. The interactive map is based on data from the 1991-2020 U.S. Climate Normals and shows observations from thousands of U.S. weather stations.
By doing so, climate experts were able to identify which day of the year, on average, has the lowest minimum temperature and can officially be named the coldest. They note that if a string of days has the same low temperature, the map refers to the middle day of the range.
And though we’ve already experienced unseasonably cold temperatures this year, with temperatures dropping to near-freezing, we haven’t seen the worst of it yet.
When looking at the Central Park station data on the Coldest Day of the Year Map, January 24th is typically NYC’s coldest day of the year on average. On this day, the average low temperature drops down to a frigid 27.10º. This year, that day falls on a Friday, so it sounds to us like the perfect time to use a PTO day and stay snuggled up in bed…
We’re not the only place who experiences our coldest day around this time, either. The NOAA writes:
In the East, the coldest day of the year is typically later in the season thanks to cold air from snow-covered parts of Canada dipping down into the area.
On the other hand, the states in the West typically reach their coldest day in December. This is due to the flow of moderating air masses with clouds and precipitation coming off the Pacific Ocean and aligning more closely to the seasonal solar cycle.
Of course, though the map shows the coldest days of the year on average throughout the United States, this year’s coldest day may vary based on actual weather and seasonal climate patterns–check your local forecast for the most accurate temperature prediction! View the Coldest Day of the Year Map here.
You can find some of our other favorite interactive NYC maps below: