The Coldest Temperature Ever Recorded In Minnesota

MINNESOTA — As we hunker down this week for historically low wind chills, that got us thinking — What was the coldest temperature ever recorded in Minnesota? According to The Weather Channel, the coldest temperature was 60 degrees below zero. Though the report did not give a date, St. Louis Today reported it happened in Tower, Minnesota on Feb. 2, 1996.

If that sounds cold, get this — the coldest temperature ever recorded in the country was in Alaska 48 years ago, when thermometers read 80 degrees below zero in Prospect Creek, near Fairbanks. The coldest temperature recorded in the continental U.S. was 70 degrees below zero at Rogers Pass, Montana, in 1954.

• Minnesota Weather: Wind Chills Around -60 Wednesday

As you might expect, the coldest temperatures in the Southeast pale in comparison to the Mountain West and Great Plains. While Florida’s coldest temperature was a measly 2 degrees below zero, Montana, Wyoming, Colorado, Idaho, North Dakota and Minnesota have each seen temperatures fall to at least 60 degrees below zero.

No state will come close to breaking those records this week, but that’s not going to warm the hearts of people in the Midwest. Some Minnesotans this week will see wind chills as low as 62 degrees below zero in some places. The Twin Cities area woke up Tuesday with temperatures around 10 degrees below zero and wind chill readings estimated the temperatures felt more like a bone-chilling 32-below zero.

Subzero temperatures and similarly fierce wind chills are also expected in Michigan, Illinois, Wisconsin and Ohio as a breakdown in the polar vortex blasts arctic cold south, leaving many states feeling more like Antarctica this week — only colder. In fact, 75 percent of the continental U.S. is expected to see temperatures fall below freezing this week, CNN reported.

Patch national staffer Dan Hampton contributed to this report.

Photo credit: Scott Anderson/Patch