America's 20 Coldest Major Cities

By: By Jon Erdman

Published: January 8,2014

 

 

 

 

 

 

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#20: Boston (Avg. Dec-Feb Temp: 31.8 degrees)

Boston's all-time record low was -18 degrees set on Feb. 9, 1934. Once every 1-2 years the city shivers in subzero cold. Subfreezing temperatures occur 94 days a year, there. (Photo: Darren McCollester/Getty Images)

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Some cities just sound cold.
Despite their best attempts to promote their pleasant summer weather, Chicago and Buffalo, for example, may be a couple U.S. cities that first come to mind when the word cold is mentioned.
But do statistics back their shivering reputation? What really are America's coldest major cities?
There are many ways to quantify this.
Using 30-year average temperatures from NOAA's National Climatic Data Center during the months of December, January and February, we compiled the 20 coldest major U.S. cities. We didn't rank cities based on their record coldest temperatures, but rather which cities are persistently the coldest in those three core winter months.
By large cities, we considered the 100 most populous U.S. cities, according to City-Data.com.
Click on the slideshow above to countdown the 20 coldest major U.S. cities.
   MORE: Coldest Places on Earth

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A view of the snow banks in Oymyakon, Russia. (Flickr/Marteen Takens)