Why is Minnesota so cold?
Places with more altitude tend to be cooler, and also places where winter weather is influenced by cold, dry arctic air masses from Canada. That's why Minnesota and its neighbors are among the coldest states.
Minnesota. Minnesota is the third-coldest state in the U.S. Located in the Upper Midwest region of the United States and touching Lake Superior to its northeast, the state's climate is greatly affected by its latitude and proximity to Lake Superior.
So where does Minnesota stand in terms of the coldest places in the U.S.? Well, no surprise, Alaska beats everyone -- by a lot. The state's average annual temp is 26 degrees, while Minnesota's is 40.1.
Vostok, Antarctica (-128.56 Fahrenheit/-89.2 Celsius)
Located 11,482 feet (3,500 meters) above sea level, Vostok is officially the coldest place on Earth. The coldest temperature ever recorded — minus 128.56 degrees Fahrenheit (minus 89.2 Celsius) was recorded here on July 21, 1983.
Wisconsin, Minnesota and North Dakota are states that get a break in summer from ranking in the ten coldest. It is because Minnesota and North Dakota get so exceptionally cold in winter, that they place just behind Alaska for the lowest annual average temperature.
- Alaska - 28.1°F. Heavy snowfall on a winter day in Anchorage, Alaska. ...
- North Dakota - 41.1°F. ...
- Minnesota - 41.8°F. ...
- Maine - 41.9°F. ...
- Wyoming - 42.3°F. ...
- Montana - 42.6°F. ...
- Vermont - 43.2°F. ...
- Wisconsin - 44°F.
- California. Extreme weather score: 73.1. ...
- Minnesota. Extreme weather score: 68.6. ...
- Illinois. Extreme weather score: 67.8. ...
- Colorado. Extreme weather score: 67. ...
- South Dakota. Extreme weather score: 64.5. ...
- Kansas. Extreme weather score: 63.7. ...
- Washington. ...
- Oklahoma.
By almost any measure of coldness, Alaska far surpasses any portion of the Lower 48 states (Contiguous U.S.). Alaska has the coldest winters, the coldest summers, the longest winter, the most freezing degree days, and on and on.
Research from website 24/7 Wall St. found that Fairbanks, Alaska, is the coldest city in the U.S. with the minimum average temperature in the coldest month a bone-chilling -16.9° F. The lowest temperature ever recorded there is -66° F.
- Florida. Florida is the hottest state in the U.S., with an average annual temperature of 71.5°F (21.9°C) between 1991 and 2020. ...
- Hawaii. Hawaii is the second-hottest state in the U.S., with an average annual temperature of 70.2°F. ...
- Louisiana. ...
- Texas. ...
- Georgia. ...
- Mississippi. ...
- South Carolina. ...
- Arkansas.
Is Minnesota colder than Chicago?
Minneapolis is by far the coldest, but Boston often gets more snow than the other two. Chicago is somewhere in the middle in terms of both snow and cold, but is that best of both worlds or best of no worlds?
Embarrass is an unincorporated community in Embarrass Township, Saint Louis County, Minnesota, United States. The community is located on the Mesabi Iron Range. With an average annual temperature of 36.4 °F (2.4 °C), Embarrass is notable as the coldest place in Minnesota.

The coldest month of the year in Minneapolis is January, with an average low of 10°F and high of 24°F.
The state's average annual recorded temperature between 1901 and 2000, a time period that allows easy comparison with other states, was is 40.1 degrees Fahrenheit. That puts Minnesota tied for second in the lower 48, along with Maine. North Dakota is the coldest in the contiguous U.S., at 39.7 degrees on average.
According to the NWS analysis, the only three states without snow cover were Florida, Georgia and South Carolina.
San Diego is the textbook example of beautiful year-round climate. It's never too hot and never too cold, with a very minimal amount of that pesky California fog to get in the way—when it does roll in, it burns off pretty quickly in the morning. Winters average at 57° F, summers at 72° F—72° F, people!
1. California
You can't beat the south and central California coast for pleasant temperatures year round. Long Beach, Los Angeles, San Diego, Santa Barbara and Santa Maria all have average daily highs no lower than the mid-60s for any month of the year. Nor does it get really hot.
According to the report, the best state to live in the U.S. is Massachusetts. That isn't the only northern state to appear near the top of the rankings. New Jersey, New York, Idaho, New Hampshire, Wyoming, Minnesota, and Wisconsin all made the top 10.
Buffalo, New York. With 311 partially cloudy days per year, three more than Seattle, Buffalo often takes the title of cloudiest city in America.
Hawaii – 63.70 inches of rain per year
Hawaii, a US state in Oceania, has the wettest climate in the US, with a mean annual precipitation of 63.70 inches. Hawaii is a group of islands in the central Pacific Ocean part of the Polynesia region.
Which state has the worst snow?
State | Place | Average annual snowfall |
---|---|---|
1. Washington | Paradise, Mount Rainier | 645.5 inches (1,640 cm) |
2. Oregon | Timberline Lodge Ski Area | 551 inches (1,400 cm) |
3. Utah | Alta | 456.9 inches (1,161 cm) |
4. California | Soda Springs | 411.6 inches (1045 cm) |
- Alaska.
- North Dakota.
- Maine.
- South Dakota.
- Wisconsin.
- Idaho.
- Montana.
- Massachusetts.
- Vermont. Vermont receives more snow per year than any other state with an average of 89.25 inches. ...
- Maine. Maine is the third-coldest state and the second-snowiest state in the United States. ...
- New Hampshire. ...
- Colorado. ...
- Alaska. ...
- Michigan. ...
- New York. ...
- Massachusetts.
Snow is an almost annual occurrence on some of the mountains of South Africa, including those of the Cedarberg and around Ceres in the South-Western Cape, and on the Drakensberg in Natal and Lesotho.
Winter Is Real
While the coldest average monthly temperature in New York bottoms out at 27 degrees, Chicago's average lows in winter months are 18 degrees or colder. Chicagoans make up for those rough winters by embracing the outdoors the rest of the year.
Different parts of our body have different temperatures, with the rectum being the warmest (37℃), followed by the ears, urine and the mouth. The armpit (35.9℃) is the coldest part of our body that is usually measured.
Death Valley holds the record for the highest air temperature on the planet: On 10 July 1913, temperatures at the aptly named Furnace Creek area in the California desert reached a blistering 56.7°C (134.1°F). Average summer temperatures, meanwhile, often rise above 45°C (113°F).
Moscow is at a latitude of 55° 45', while Minneapolis is at 44° 53'. Nevertheless, they have similar climates. Both cities experience mean January temperatures of about 14°F (–10°C), while Julys are about 66°F (18.9°C) in Moscow and 74°F (23.3°C) in Minneapolis on average.
Chicago averages 35.1 inches of snow per year. Minneapolis averages 52.4 inches of snow per year. The US average is 27.8 inches of snow per year.
Why is the Midwest so cold?
The Midwest is subject to extremely cold air masses from the far north, and warm, humid air masses from the Gulf of Mexico, resulting in a wide range of both temperature and precipitation extremes. The Midwest has gotten warmer, with average annual temperatures increasing over the last several decades.
Warmest: Winona, Minnesota
The warmest city on average is Winona, on the banks of the Mississippi, which only averages a high of 58 degrees.
MINNESOTA — It's significantly warmer in Siberia than it is in Minnesota Friday. It's currently 0 degrees in Leningradsky, which is a Russian city in the Siberian region. Residents in the Twin Cities metro woke up to temperatures about 15 degrees below zero Friday.
Minnesota getting La Niña's cold shoulder
The La Niña version of ENSO favors a persistent cold northwest jet stream flow across North America. So far in 2022, La Niña is doing its job a little too well. So far this year we're running nearly 5 degrees colder than average in the Twin Cities.
That's right, according to state records, snow fell in Koochiching near the Canadian border on June 4th, 1935. It also snowed in August back in 1949 in Duluth, according to state records. That means July is the only month where snow has never fallen in the state of Minnesota.
MINNEAPOLIS — Minnesota is one of the best places to live in America. It has good schools, excellent housing and low unemployment. It regularly appears near the top of indexes for livability.
Minnesota's occasional extreme temperatures stem from the fact that it is missing one very crucial weather stabilizer: an ocean. "What it comes down to is, we're about as far away from the ocean as you can probably get," Boulay said. "And because of that, we don't have the modifying winds that come with it."
By far the snowiest areas in Minnesota are the Lake Superior highlands, a ridge of higher terrain along Minnesota's "north shore." In addition to receiving snow from the large-scale weather systems moving through the Midwest, the Lake Superior highlands experience localized snow events as well.
Embarrass is an unincorporated community in Embarrass Township, Saint Louis County, Minnesota, United States. The community is located on the Mesabi Iron Range. With an average annual temperature of 36.4 °F (2.4 °C), Embarrass is notable as the coldest place in Minnesota.
The Midwest is subject to extremely cold air masses from the far north, and warm, humid air masses from the Gulf of Mexico, resulting in a wide range of both temperature and precipitation extremes. The Midwest has gotten warmer, with average annual temperatures increasing over the last several decades.