# 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:** 2
**Author:** ![RioRico](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/f04885/32.png) [@RioRico](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RioRico)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2020, 1:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-coldest-month-of-the-year-where-you-live-northern-hemisphere/845710/21 "2020-01-02T01:15:53Z")
I gargled for Coldest Month {here} (central Sierra Nevada range) and was eventually told that historically it’s been December. Wettest, also - but the last few major atmospheric rivers have arrived elsewhen. I expect statistical changes as Terra overheats. ---
**Author:** ![Alpha\_Twit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alpha_twit/32/265_2.png) [@Alpha\_Twit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alpha_Twit)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2020, 1:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-coldest-month-of-the-year-where-you-live-northern-hemisphere/845710/22 "2020-01-02T01:32:14Z")
Central plains of the US here (Nebraska). January is probably factually the cold month. February _feels_ colder though. January is usually pretty dry here so while the temps might drop to -20C and the wind can grow some serious teeth, it’s usually clear and sunny. By February, moisture starts blowing up from the gulf and mixing with the nasty Arctic air to cover everything with sleet and ice. Chipping half an inch of glacier off my windshield every morning is less fun than it sounds. ---
**Author:** ![Spoons](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spoons/32/3141_2.png) [@Spoons](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spoons)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2020, 1:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-coldest-month-of-the-year-where-you-live-northern-hemisphere/845710/23 "2020-01-02T01:48:20Z")
> [@Mallard](#): > > 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. I hope not. Last February, the thermometer never got above -20C in Alberta. I had to fly YQL –\> YYC –\> YEG last February, on business; and back again; and between delays caused by cold, cancelled flights due to the cold, and de-icing aircraft that actually could fly in the cold, it was twelve hours in transit. I hope we don’t have a repeat of last February. I have to make the same trip again this February, and I’d like it to be the usual two to three hours. ---
**Author:** ![Northern\_Piper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/northern_piper/32/5304_2.png) [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2020, 2:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-coldest-month-of-the-year-where-you-live-northern-hemisphere/845710/24 "2020-01-02T02:13:11Z")
January is our coldest month, based on data from Wikipedia. February can be cold, but melting usually starts a bit towards the end of the month. Planting tomatoes in February? That’s just some wild fantasy. :dubious: ---
**Author:** ![Ulf\_the\_Unwashed](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/b4bc9f/32.png) [@Ulf\_the\_Unwashed](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ulf_the_Unwashed)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2020, 4:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-coldest-month-of-the-year-where-you-live-northern-hemisphere/845710/25 "2020-01-02T04:02:15Z")
Hudson Valley of New York State here. I was going to say January, then decided I’d better look it up, just to be safe… Yup, it’s January. February’s lows are almost as low, but the highs are noticeably higher, statistically speaking. December is a distant third. ---
**Author:** ![Corry\_El](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ecae2f/32.png) [@Corry\_El](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Corry_El)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2020, 4:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-coldest-month-of-the-year-where-you-live-northern-hemisphere/845710/26 "2020-01-02T04:43:21Z")
> [@scarface54345](#): > > 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. It seems places downwind of large land masses tend to have a bigger difference between January and December avg temperatures (with January being lower, and lowest of all months) than places closer to a windward coast. However, the specific reason the average actually inverts in some places in the western US I don’t know. In temperate parts of Western Europe downwind of the Atlantic Dec and Jan avg temps are close but generally not inverted. Here in NY I doubt anyone would have to stop and think whether Dec or Jan was colder, unless they really don’t pay attention to the weather. January is definitely colder on average, stats say by a whole 5 deg F in avg daytime high. In Denver the Dec daytime high is 2F lower than Jan, Seattle 1F lower, equal in LA and SF. ---
**Author:** ![salinqmind](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/3ec8ea/32.png) [@salinqmind](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/salinqmind)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2020, 4:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-coldest-month-of-the-year-where-you-live-northern-hemisphere/845710/27 "2020-01-02T04:45:32Z")
Traditionally January was coldest, February pretty snowy, and March - oh, anything could happen in March, anything! Sleet, ice storms, the worst blizzards. Upstate New York. Right above me is the Tug Hill Region, which is buried every year, a paradise for snowmobilers. ---
**Author:** ![septimus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/septimus/32/410_2.png) [@septimus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/septimus)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2020, 5:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-coldest-month-of-the-year-where-you-live-northern-hemisphere/845710/28 "2020-01-02T05:41:39Z")
I’m in the Northern Hemisphere and clicked the correct answer: December. But please be more careful when you ask for the _hottest_ month. April is definitely the hottest, by far, where I live. ---
**Author:** ![Spoons](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spoons/32/3141_2.png) [@Spoons](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spoons)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2020, 6:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-coldest-month-of-the-year-where-you-live-northern-hemisphere/845710/29 "2020-01-02T06:49:25Z")
> [@Northern\_Piper](#): > > Planting tomatoes in February? That’s just some wild fantasy. :dubious: It’s entirely possible. As long as you keep the plants indoors. I’ve grown tomatoes from seed, and if I grow from seed, I start about this time of the year. I’ll take the plants outdoors when weather allows, usually in May or June. But until then, they are safely warm indoors. ---
**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, 2:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-coldest-month-of-the-year-where-you-live-northern-hemisphere/845710/30 "2020-01-02T14:46:41Z")
> [@Spoons](#): > > It’s entirely possible. As long as you keep the plants indoors. I’ve grown tomatoes from seed, and if I grow from seed, I start about this time of the year. I’ll take the plants outdoors when weather allows, usually in May or June. But until then, they are safely warm indoors. No, I meant outdoors. The average February high/low is 68/52 for me. And that’s a little on the cool side because I am closer to the water than the weather station. Most winters we don’t get a freeze at all. ---
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2020, 3:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-coldest-month-of-the-year-where-you-live-northern-hemisphere/845710/31 "2020-01-02T15:01:22Z")
> [@kopek](#): > > January is coldest by average but sometimes February has the longer stretches of sub-zero days. Agree with this. Plus, in February I’m usually getting pretty sick of the cold. ---
**Author:** ![divemaster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/divemaster/32/78_2.png) [@divemaster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/divemaster)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2020, 7:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-coldest-month-of-the-year-where-you-live-northern-hemisphere/845710/32 "2020-01-02T19:16:32Z")
I didn’t look up any data, and I concede the actual answer is probably “January,” but I’ve lived in various places all over the South and invariably if we are going to get slammed with snow or ice, it’s the last week of February/first week of March. So I voted February just because I hate snow and ice. ---
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2020, 7:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-coldest-month-of-the-year-where-you-live-northern-hemisphere/845710/33 "2020-01-02T19:30:00Z")
> [@dalej42](#): > > 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. You’re right. [Wikipedia shows that January has the coldest average highs and lows of any month for Chicago](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chicago#Climate) (average high 32F, average low 18F); both December and February average a few degrees warmer. Also, [four of the five coldest temperature readings in Chicago history](https://www.nbcchicago.com/news/local/cold-chicago-weather-illinois/2278/) occurred in January, specifically between the 10th and the 20th (the outlier being on a December 24th). (That also shows that Chicago had particularly nasty-cold winters in the 1980s. 😛 ) ---
**Author:** ![Suburban\_Plankton](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/suburban_plankton/32/219_2.png) [@Suburban\_Plankton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Suburban_Plankton)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2020, 10:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-coldest-month-of-the-year-where-you-live-northern-hemisphere/845710/34 "2020-01-02T22:27:49Z")
Here in Sacramento, December and January tie for the lowest average high temperature at 54°F, but December has a slightly lower average low (38°F vs 39°F). ---
**Author:** ![peccavi](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/peccavi/32/388_2.png) [@peccavi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/peccavi)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2020, 11:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-coldest-month-of-the-year-where-you-live-northern-hemisphere/845710/35 "2020-01-02T23:18:06Z")
> [@carrps](#): > > 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. For those tracking numbers, that’s an average low of 48 degrees Fahrenheit :eek: I don’t know how we survive! 🆒 ---
**Author:** ![elfkin477](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/a9a28c/32.png) [@elfkin477](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elfkin477)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2020, 12:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-coldest-month-of-the-year-where-you-live-northern-hemisphere/845710/36 "2020-01-03T00:28:18Z")
According to the stats I just looked up, in this part of New Hampshire the coldest month on average is January, as I predicted. But statistically we get 3 inches more snow in March than January, which I didn’t expect. ---
**Author:** ![EmilyG](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/emilyg/32/364_2.png) [@EmilyG](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EmilyG)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2020, 1:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-coldest-month-of-the-year-where-you-live-northern-hemisphere/845710/37 "2020-01-03T01:16:18Z")
Usually January, but we’ve occasionally had a brutally cold February for most or all of the month. ---
**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 6, 2020, 12:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-coldest-month-of-the-year-where-you-live-northern-hemisphere/845710/38 "2020-01-06T12:59:21Z")
January in south Texas has been warmer than last December so far. It’s also been warmer than last November. My prediction is that this month is going to stay warm and that January 2020 will end up having been warmer than both November and December of 2019. February will probably be warmer than both of them as well. ---
**Author:** ![zimaane](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/a3d4f5/32.png) [@zimaane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zimaane)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2020, 2:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-coldest-month-of-the-year-where-you-live-northern-hemisphere/845710/39 "2020-01-06T14:12:51Z")
Late January is coldest on average here in the Washington D.C. area. ---
**Author:** ![Fear\_Itself](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fear_itself/32/19637_2.png) [@Fear\_Itself](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fear_Itself)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2020, 2:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-coldest-month-of-the-year-where-you-live-northern-hemisphere/845710/40 "2020-01-06T14:25:32Z")
The average monthly temperature in my town in New Hampshire is 21° in January and February. The minimum temperature is 12° in January, and 11° in February. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-coldest-month-of-the-year-where-you-live-northern-hemisphere/845710.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-coldest-month-of-the-year-where-you-live-northern-hemisphere/845710.md?page=3)