The period between January 15th and February 10th will go down as one of the coldest and snowiest in recent decades for Eastern North America. The result of a stretched polar vortex with similarity to 2013-14 and 2014-15.
Tweet by Ben Noll (Feb 13th)
It’s been the coldest winter in more than two decades for swaths of the Northeast and Mid-Atlantic. In New York, you’d have to go back to the mid-1990s to find a colder one. Some younger people would be experiencing the coldest winter of their lives so far.
DC, Philly, NYC and Boston all recorded 9 straight subfreezing days (longest for DC since 1989, longest for rest since 2018) but despite reaching 35 degrees during the first couple of days of February, the winter’s most potent shot of arctic air swept out of Canada (Feb 7-9th) behind a clipper system which dropped 6+ inches on parts of eastern Long Island and New England.
Recap of Late January-Early February Cold Spell
Spokes of the tropospheric polar vortex rotated down through the Great Lakes and Northeast producing the coldest temps in recent years and coldest anywhere across the Lower 48.
Two major cross country storm systems developed during this notably cold period.
The first brought a disruptive and destructive snow/ice storm across Texas and Mid-South before extending a shield of heavy snow through the Mid-Atlantic and Northeast where a solid 8-14 inches fell through the Big Cities of the I-95.
Frigid Ahead of the 1st Storm over the Midwest, Ohio Valley, Mid-Atlantic & Northeast!
On January 24th, Kirkland Lake, Ontario hit −43.7 °C (−46.7 °F), coldest for this site since 1984.
From Thierry Goose
-43 at 31 miles northeast of Forest Center, MN
-43 at Kabetogama, MN
-43 at Brimson, MN
-37.6°F/-38.7°C Philadelphia, NY
-29°F/-33.9°C Duluth, MN
-24°F/-31.1°C Flint, MI, 4°F from its all-time record!
-22°F/-30.0°C Rochester, MN
-21°F/-29.4°C Minneapolis, MN
-19°F/-28.3°C Grand Rapids, MI (coldest since 1994) & Madison, WI
Max/Min Temps Sat Jan 24th: -4/-13 Mason City, IA, -2/-15 Minneapolis, MN, 5/-1 Amarillo, TX, 6/-10 Chicago, IL, 8/-9 Syracuse, NY, -2/-29 Saranac Lake, NY, 16/7 Trenton, NJ, 17/9 Central Park NYC, 15/5 Boston, MA.
January 23–27, 2026 North American winter storm
Visible satellite image captured January 27th
8th biggest snowstorm on record for Boston, MA.
US snow cover on January 26th.
Ice cut power to hundreds of thousands across the South last over 2 weeks in the hardest hit areas.
Ahead of the cold wave, a rare snow event (2nd year in a row) brought as much as 1.3 inches of snow to Florida.
Frigid air swept in behind the storm.
From Wikipedia
On January 27, Washington D.C. hit a low of 13 °F (−11 °C),[19] and the cold wave would push into Florida. While record highs affected the Miami metropolitan area on January 26 with highs near 90 °F (32 °C), many areas across the metro reported lows of 48–51 °F (9–11 °C) on January 27.[20] Cleveland, Ohio recorded eight consecutive days with high temperatures of 17 °F (−8 °C) or below, January 24−31, tying records from 1893 and 1899.[21] Shreveport, Louisiana reached as low as 17 °F (−8 °C) during the winter storm on January 25.
On Jan 31st, near Davis, WV hit -28F, coldest in Lower 48 during that 24 hours.
Storm No 2: Historic For Carolinas
Greenville, NC reported an impressive 14 inches which is the most here since the late March 1980 storm while a near foot which fell in Charlotte was the most here since 2004 and 4th highest of all-time. Snow even blanketed the beaches along the Outer Banks as seen above.
The back to back winter storms brought unusually snowy for some, unusually snowless for others. 3-6 times the normal seasonal amounts for large parts of Texas, northern Louisiana and Carolinas. Even more extreme in a small section of the FL Panhandle.
Impressive snow was followed by impressive cold!
Coldest In Decades For Parts of Interior Northeast, Southeast & Tropics!
Extreme cold with origins back to the North Pole swept south through Canada, Great Lakes, Northeast even roaring SOUTH of Florida into the Caribbean as well as out over the Atlantic bringing all-time record cold to unusual places such as Cuba and Bermuda.
Nearer to the source and place well use to winter’s brutality, Toronto witnessed it’s coldest daytime since 2019 on February 7th with a high of -13.3C, meanwhile parts of the interior Northeast and Mid-Atlantic witnessed -10, -20s even -30sF.
The record cold came merely days after record heat including a January all-time record tying 90F in South Florida.
Down comes the next lobe of the polar vortex!
Lows from Feb 1st
From Wikipedia
Some cities in Florida had the coldest temperatures since 2010 on February 1. Tampa saw a temperature of 28 °F (−2 °C). 35 °F (2 °C) was recorded at Miami and Fort Lauderdale. Orlando measured a temperature of 25 °F (−4 °C). Daytona Beach recorded a temperature of 23 °F (−5 °C), setting the record for the coldest February day. Melbourne set the coldest February day on February 1 and 2.[23] Across the Southeast, many cities set daily low records on February 2. Gainesville, Florida set a daily low record of 22 °F (−6 °C). A record of 12 °F (−11 °C) was recorded in Fayetteville, Arkansas. Greensboro, North Carolina had a record low of 3 °F (−16 °C).[24] Jacksonville, Florida had a record-tying eight consecutive freezing mornings on February 3.[25] New York City had the longest consecutive days of temperatures at or below 0 °C (32 °F) since 1963, lasting a total of 13 days, ending on February 6.[26] The second-coldest February temperature for New York was recorded on February 8 in Waterton.
The central Florida cities of Daytona Beach (23 degrees), Melbourne (25 degrees), Vero Beach (26 degrees) Leesburg (23 degrees) and Sanford (23 degrees) ALL recorded their coldest February temperature.
Orlando hit 24 degrees, coldest since Dec 29, 2010 and that 24 recorded in 2026 ties with 2010 as coldest since it hit 22 degrees in 1989. Coldest ever is 19 degrees set in 1985. The wind chill on 2nd Feb, 2026 was 13 degrees, 6th lowest on record. Lowest being 4 degrees set in 1985.
Interestingly before 1989 Orlando had around THIRTY lows below 25 but since then only 2. The first 2 days of Feb 2026 was the coldest start to any February (combining high 46 and low 24) for Orlando on record.
Miami’s low of 35 degrees was their coldest since Jan 2010, 3°F from its February record, the 4th lowest in February since 1937 and the lowest in February since 1947 [32°F = monthly record]
From Jeff Berardelli
How out of the ordinary was the #Florida cold air outbreak last week? Look at the graph below… see that off the charts spike? On Miami’s record cold day, that’s 27°F below normal, far outside the 90 or 95% bars, and approx 5+ standard deviations from the mean! A very rare, even generational event, especially now in our warmed climate.
West Palm Beach hit 30 degrees, coldest since 1985.
Arctic Air Didn’t Stop At South Florida!
While Florida endured subfreezing nights and highs only in the 40s inland, 50s at the coast, the Bahamas endured it’s coldest weather on record with Freeport only mustering a high of 10.8C (51.4F), which is COLDEST HIGH TEMPERATURE EVER RECORDED IN ALL OF THE BAHAMAS.
EXCEPTIONALLY COLD INTO CENTRAL AMERICA
Tweet from Thierry Goose
5.4°C Gallon Jug [123 m] is lowest temperature in Belize since Dec. 1968 [4°C Sibun Hill] and lowest in Feb. since 1895.
EL SALVADOR
3.5°C Finca los Andes [1800 m] = monthly record
GUATEMALA
-2.0°C Los Altos, 7.2°C Guatemala City. The 7.2C is the coldest in the capital since 2010 and coldest for Feb in nearly 20 years.
COLDEST ON RECORD FOR CUBA
From Instituto de Meteorología Cuba
New national record minimum temperature…
Today’s early morning has turned out to be very cold across the country and even remarkably cold in interior locations, due to the marked influence of high pressures and cold air dominating the weather in Cuba. In 32 weather stations, values below and equal to 10 degrees Celsius were recorded. The weather station of Indio Hatuey, in the municipality of Perico in the province of Matanzas registered a value of 0 degrees Celsius, arriving for the first time at the freezing point in the Cuban territory and representing a new national record, as the previous one was 0.6 degrees Celsius in the station from Bainoa, Mayabeque on February 18, 1996. Product of the remarkable drop in temperature in Indio Hatuey, the presence of starch was evident in leaves of several crops of the station.
From Wikipedia
Mexico
Felipe Carrillo Puerto, Mexico had the coldest temperature in over 40 years, recording 4.2 °C (39.6 °F) on the morning of February 2.[28][29] Other cities in Quintana Roo saw temperatures not seen in decades. Playa Del Carmen and José María Morelos reported 9 °C (48 °F). Chetumal recorded a temperature of 11 °C (52 °F). Cancún had a temperature of 11 °C (52 °F).[28]
Greater Antilles and Central America
Perico, Cuba recorded a record-low temperature of 1 °C (33 °F) on February 3, setting a national record in Cuba for the coldest temperature observed there on record.[3][30] Other stations in Cuba set all-time lows respectively on February 3, including 3 °C (37 °F) in Aguada de Passangeros, 7 °C (44 °F) in Jucarito and Santa Cruz del Sur, and tied a record of 14 °C (57 °F) in Guantanamo Bay.[3] In The Bahamas, the temperature reached a high of only 11 °C (51 °F) on February 1 in Freeport, the coldest high temperature there on record.[3]
Further south, in Guatemala, a record-tying low temperature of 9 °C (48 °F) was observed in Flores.[3] The mountain range of Finca Los Andes, El Salvador set a record low of 3 °C (38 °F) for the month of February, while Belize reached a low of 6 °C (42 °F), the coldest since 1968.[3]
COLDEST ON RECORD FOR BERMUDA
A preliminary temperature reading on February 8 measured 6.6 °C (43.9 °F) on Bermuda, breaking the record set in 1950.[31]
Sub-Freezing Streak Ends At 7-9 Days For Big Cities on Feb 3rd.
As of February 5th
Coldest Air of Winter Sweeps In Weekend of Feb 6-7th
Deep snow cover lay the tracks for the winter’s coldest air mass to sweep south into the Northeast Feb 7-9th.
100% coverage across the Northeast!
Automated Model Discussion:
February 9, 2026
| Area Covered By Snow: | 100.0% |
| Area Covered Last Month: | 92.1% |
| Snow Depth | |
|---|---|
| Average: | 11.2 in |
| Minimum: | 0.0 in |
| Maximum: | 93.0 in |
| Std. Dev.: | 4.6 in |
Lot’s of daily records set.
3F NYC Central Park
5F Philadelphia
With winds gusting 30-60 mph through -5 to +5F air, it made for vicious and for the Adirondacks and northern Vermont,life-threatening!
Mon Feb 9th minimums via WeatherMatrix
Mount Washington Regional Airport, NH: -27
Watertown, NY: -27
Canaan Valley, WV: -27
East Berkshire, VT: -25
Smethport, PA: -24
Rome, OH: -21
Visible satellite view Feb 8th
Morning of Feb 9th lows
The final week of January was ‘coldest on record’ for Rochester, NY.
Also, Rochester has reached 2nd place in longest stretch of consecutive nights at or below 10F.
A tie for most consecutive days with 4″+ of snow!
bb
The Deep South’s, cold stretch has been equally as impressive with Dothan, AL recording tying 9 straight nights at or below 32F.
From Meteorologist David Paul: We recently ended a 9-day stretch with low temperatures at Dothan (Dothan Regional Airport) at or below 32°. This is now tied for the longest stretch of consecutive freezing days on record, since records began in 1965!
Wow. What’s also wild is last winter we had a stretch of 8 consecutive days at/below 32° for lows, which is tied for number three on the list. A couple brutal stretches in back-to-back years.
As of February 9th
As of February 17th
From Tom Niziol
The avg. temperatures across the nation over the past two weeks have been nothing short of extraordinary. Look at the disparity between West and East. Nearly 20°F warmer than normal in West and colder than normal in the East!! (POR varies from ~30 years to ~145 years).
This can also be expressed in the Ranking, and no surprise here, much of the area under each outline is either Top 1 to 3 warmest or coldest periods on record, depending on which side of the nation you are on.
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