How Often Does it Get Below Zero in Cedar Rapids?

Iowa experienced its first burst of bitterly cold temperatures to start the New Year, which made me wonder – How many days per year does Cedar Rapids usually have BELOW ZERO?

Since 1973, the city has averaged around 15 days per year with below zero temperatures. The most is a whopping 38 days in 1978.

2021 featured 18 days below zero in Linn County, including a brutal stretch of 13 consecutive days with the low temperatures below zero from February 5^th through February 17^th. (and 16 of 17 days during that had below zero temps) 2020 had only seven days below zero, according to data from the Iowa Environmental Mesonet.

In the month of January, Cedar Rapids averages seven days with below zero temperatures. Out of the past 130 years of data, the day in January with the least occurrences with below zero temperatures is January 12^th with only 18x it was below zero.

The all-time record low temperature in the month of January in Cedar Rapids is a bone-chilling -30* set on January 31, 2019. The WARMEST record low in January is -15* set on January 3^rd in 2014.

The average LOW temperature in January in Cedar Rapids is only 11.3* and the average high is just 27.9*, according to weather.gov.

If you’re dreaming of warm weather in the month of January, you better stay in hibernation. To no surprise, it has NEVER reached 70* or warmer during the first month of the year in Cedar Rapids. The all-time high temperature in January in the city is 65*, set on January 31, 1998. The ‘coldest’ HIGH-temperature record in January is just 48* on January 28^th, 2008, which is also the all-time record low HIGH temperature for the city for any date of the calendar year.