# What's the coldest month of the year where you live (northern hemisphere)? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [January 1, 2020, 7:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-coldest-month-of-the-year-where-you-live-northern-hemisphere/845710 "2020-01-01T07:49:30Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![scarface54345](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/90ced4/32.png) [@scarface54345](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scarface54345)\ **Post date:** [January 1, 2020, 7:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-coldest-month-of-the-year-where-you-live-northern-hemisphere/845710/1 "2020-01-01T07:49:30Z")
So I believe most people would agree that January is generally the coldest month of the year for most of the northern hemisphere. I live in the US, and believe it or not, but almost everywhere West of the Great Plains gets their coldest weather in December instead of January. ---
**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\ **Post date:** [January 1, 2020, 10:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-coldest-month-of-the-year-where-you-live-northern-hemisphere/845710/2 "2020-01-01T10:58:28Z")
Mid- to late-January is statistically the coldest. Temps start to warm up a little in February. ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [January 1, 2020, 11:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-coldest-month-of-the-year-where-you-live-northern-hemisphere/845710/3 "2020-01-01T11:19:02Z")
Jan. and Feb. are pretty close around here. Last I saw, Jan. was a little colder with average temps starting to rise late Feb. ---
**Author:** ![saje](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/saje/32/3631_2.png) [@saje](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/saje)\ **Post date:** [January 1, 2020, 12:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-coldest-month-of-the-year-where-you-live-northern-hemisphere/845710/4 "2020-01-01T12:41:53Z")
February in SC, in general, is when we get the coldest, wintery-est weather. ---
**Author:** ![JKellyMap](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jkellymap/32/15880_2.png) [@JKellyMap](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JKellyMap)\ **Post date:** [January 1, 2020, 2:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-coldest-month-of-the-year-where-you-live-northern-hemisphere/845710/5 "2020-01-01T14:17:04Z")
The coldest week in Wisconsin tends to be in late January, but occasionally it’s in early or even mid February. Never in December — I’m surprised the OP finds that to be the case in the “Western US.” Could he/she be more specific? That phrase covers MANY different physical zones over a large area. ---
**Author:** ![enipla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/54ee81/32.png) [@enipla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/enipla)\ **Post date:** [January 1, 2020, 2:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-coldest-month-of-the-year-where-you-live-northern-hemisphere/845710/6 "2020-01-01T14:28:08Z")
January. March is however our snowiest month making the winter drag on a bit. ---
**Author:** ![Bayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bayaker/32/3454_2.png) [@Bayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bayaker)\ **Post date:** [January 1, 2020, 2:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-coldest-month-of-the-year-where-you-live-northern-hemisphere/845710/7 "2020-01-01T14:51:46Z")
Early January is the coldest around here, and if we are going to get a freeze(we usually don’t) this will be the month for it. But December is a close second, and it’s not unheard of to have a freeze. In fact the coldest temperature on record was in Dec. 1989(14F in Galveston, 7F in Houston). February is so much warmer that I usually plant my tomatoes in the second week. ---
**Author:** ![dalej42](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/67e7ee/32.png) [@dalej42](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dalej42)\ **Post date:** [January 1, 2020, 4:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-coldest-month-of-the-year-where-you-live-northern-hemisphere/845710/8 "2020-01-01T16:20:20Z")
I’m going to pick January for Chicago and that’s without me looking at weather data. I think January because not only is it cold all month, but it seems we get the most extreme cold blasts then, dragging down the average. My birthday is near MLK day and it always seems to be the most miserable day of the year, although I’m sure that’s confirmation bias. ---
**Author:** ![pullin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/c57346/32.png) [@pullin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pullin)\ **Post date:** [January 1, 2020, 4:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-coldest-month-of-the-year-where-you-live-northern-hemisphere/845710/9 "2020-01-01T16:39:54Z")
I googled it, and it’s January. I would’ve guessed February though. It just seems more desolate and colder. ---
**Author:** ![dalej42](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/67e7ee/32.png) [@dalej42](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dalej42)\ **Post date:** [January 1, 2020, 4:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-coldest-month-of-the-year-where-you-live-northern-hemisphere/845710/10 "2020-01-01T16:52:03Z")
> [@pullin](#): > > I googled it, and it’s January. I would’ve guessed February though. It just seems more desolate and colder. Yeah, it seems to me the longest slog of the year is from the day after the Super Bowl (early February) until St Patrick’s Day. Plus, annoying Valentine’s Day commercials. ---
**Author:** ![Tamerlane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tamerlane/32/7602_2.png) [@Tamerlane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tamerlane)\ **Post date:** [January 1, 2020, 5:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-coldest-month-of-the-year-where-you-live-northern-hemisphere/845710/11 "2020-01-01T17:24:40Z")
January. Average highs in the upper-50’s, average lows in the mid-40’s F. _Brrrr_. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![kopek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kopek/32/337_2.png) [@kopek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kopek)\ **Post date:** [January 1, 2020, 5:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-coldest-month-of-the-year-where-you-live-northern-hemisphere/845710/12 "2020-01-01T17:56:21Z")
January is coldest by average but sometimes February has the longer stretches of sub-zero days. ---
**Author:** ![AK84](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/85e7bf/32.png) [@AK84](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AK84)\ **Post date:** [January 1, 2020, 6:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-coldest-month-of-the-year-where-you-live-northern-hemisphere/845710/13 "2020-01-01T18:06:31Z")
Maximum, minimum are pretty misleading things on their own. Let’s say a place has a maximum of 14C (57F) and minimum of -2C (28F). Another place has a maximum of 9C (48F) and a minimum of 6C (43F). Despite the numbers, the second place will feel much colder. ---
**Author:** ![Hilarity\_N.Suze](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hilarity_n.suze/32/6223_2.png) [@Hilarity\_N.Suze](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hilarity_N.Suze)\ **Post date:** [January 1, 2020, 7:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-coldest-month-of-the-year-where-you-live-northern-hemisphere/845710/14 "2020-01-01T19:08:06Z")
As best I can tell, it’s pretty much a tie between December and January in Denver. Depends on the year. Just based on living here, it seems like January has longer cold spells, but it could be that from here winter just goes on and on and on ---
**Author:** ![carrps](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carrps/32/2957_2.png) [@carrps](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carrps)\ **Post date:** [January 1, 2020, 9:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-coldest-month-of-the-year-where-you-live-northern-hemisphere/845710/15 "2020-01-01T21:12:35Z")
Ha! I just went by my gut instinct and said December. According to Google, I was right – the coldest month in Southern California is December. ---
**Author:** ![Mallard](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b9bd4f/32.png) [@Mallard](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mallard)\ **Post date:** [January 1, 2020, 9:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-coldest-month-of-the-year-where-you-live-northern-hemisphere/845710/16 "2020-01-01T21:19:39Z")
The coldest month in my part of western Canada statistically is January although in '19 we had the coldest February in 80 years. The long range forecast is much the same for '20 as we’ve had a relatively easy winter so far. ---
**Author:** ![Oredigger77](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/oredigger77/32/3181_2.png) [@Oredigger77](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Oredigger77)\ **Post date:** [January 1, 2020, 9:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-coldest-month-of-the-year-where-you-live-northern-hemisphere/845710/17 "2020-01-01T21:32:00Z")
I just checked our monthly averages and the average low is the same for January and December but the average high for January is one degree colder so I went with January. 44/11 F. ---
**Author:** ![Bayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bayaker/32/3454_2.png) [@Bayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bayaker)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2020, 12:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-coldest-month-of-the-year-where-you-live-northern-hemisphere/845710/18 "2020-01-02T00:30:19Z")
> [@Tamerlane](#): > > January. Average highs in the upper-50’s, average lows in the mid-40’s F. _Brrrr_. > > 🙂 And your summer temps are only ten degrees higher. That does indeed qualify for Brrrr 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![FlikTheBlue](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fliktheblue/32/10972_2.png) [@FlikTheBlue](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FlikTheBlue)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2020, 12:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-coldest-month-of-the-year-where-you-live-northern-hemisphere/845710/19 "2020-01-02T00:48:21Z")
In the past it was January but it seems that recently winter is arriving earlier but not lasting as long as it used to. The previous two winters it felt like winter started around Thanksgiving and that it was over by New Year’s Day. We even had snow in December of 2017 :). This winter seems to be shaping up to be similar to the other recent ones. It feels like spring is starting here in south Texas and that the coldest days were from late November to mid December. ---
**Author:** ![seal\_cleaner](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e274bd/32.png) [@seal\_cleaner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/seal_cleaner)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2020, 12:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-coldest-month-of-the-year-where-you-live-northern-hemisphere/845710/20 "2020-01-02T00:49:40Z")
January, Arkansas. But our heaviest snow storms tend to be in Feb-March. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-coldest-month-of-the-year-where-you-live-northern-hemisphere/845710.md?page=2)