Way Below Freezing Temperatures
As I sit warm and toasty in my Curator 135 office, enjoying my second day off of work in a row thanks to below zero temps, I started to wonder. What was the coldest temperature recorded in each of the 50 states?
Now, none of these come close to Earth’s record. The coldest temperature ever measured was -128.6 Fahrenheit (-89.2 Celsius) at Vostok Station in Antarctica.
And if you’re looking for average temperature, according to most scientific data, the coldest place on Earth is the Eastern Antarctic Plateau in Antarctica. However, the coldest permanently inhabited place on Earth is Oymyakon, Siberia, Russia, with an average winter temperature around -58°F.
Records in the United States
A Gallery of Chilly
Below is a state-by-state look at what the coldest temperature ever recorded was. You’ll also find the location, the date, and a newspaper clipping from around the time it happened.
And the Winners are…
Alaska holds the all-time U.S. record. On January 23rd, 1971, the temperature fell to a crisp negative 80 in Prospect Creek, north of Fairbanks.
Hawaii is the only state that has not recorded a subzero temperature. The coldest temperature recorded in Hawaii was 12 degrees at the Mauna Kea Observatory, in May of 1979.
Leave a Reply