Here's When the First Subzero Temperatures of the Season Usually Arrive

Chris DolcePublished: December 12, 2019

The average date of the first below-zero temperature of the season is shown above for select cities. This is based on the 1981-2010 average, but not every city was below zero each winter in that 30-year period.

Subzero cold occurs commonly each winter throughout portions of the nation's northern tier, but there's considerable variation in when you can expect those bone-chilling temperatures to arrive.

Temperatures typically drop below zero earliest in the season in the Northern Plains, Front Range of the Rockies, upper Midwest and extreme northern New England.

Bismarck and Grand Forks, North Dakota, and Great Falls, Montana, usually see their first temperature of minus 1 or colder by late November, according to the 30-year average from 1981 to 2010.

Early to mid-December is when the first subzero readings have typically happened in Denver; Billings, Montana; Minneapolis; and Caribou, Maine.

In the first half of January, cities around the southern Great Lakes and interior Northeast typically see their first (if any) below-zero temperatures, including Chicago; Detroit; Indianapolis; Albany, New York; Buffalo, New York; and Pittsburgh. Those cities often see subzero cold, but not every winter season.

Below-zero temperatures are less common in coastal areas of the Northeast.

In those winters when Boston does dip below zero one or more times, the average date of the first such reading is Jan. 20. But Beantown only experienced 12 winters with any below-zero temperatures during the 30-year period from 1981 to 2010.

New York City had only three winters with subzero cold in that same 30-year period, and all of those readings were in late January.

Where Subzero Cold Has Already Occurred This Season

Since late October, multiple early-season cold snaps have pushed temperatures below zero at least once in parts of the West, Northern Plains, upper Midwest and a few spots in northern New England and upstate New York.

The blue dots show locations where the temperature has fallen below zero on at least one occasion so far this season.

Denver saw its first subzero temperature on Nov. 27, a little more than two weeks earlier than average.

Great Falls, Montana, dipped below zero on Oct. 29. That's about a month earlier than average.

Minneapolis slipped into the negative readings for the first time this season right on schedule. The Twin Cities dropped to minus 1 degree on Dec. 9, just one day prior to their average first subzero date of Dec. 10.

The Weather Company’s primary journalistic mission is to report on breaking weather news, the environment and the importance of science to our lives. This story does not necessarily represent the position of our parent company, IBM.

The Weather Company’s primary journalistic mission is to report on breaking weather news, the environment and the importance of science to our lives. This story does not necessarily represent the position of our parent company, IBM.