The 6 Coldest Places in Alabama Will Chill You to Your Core

The southeastern American state of Alabama, often called the “Heart of Dixie,” is located between Georgia and Mississippi, with the state’s southern border on the Gulf of Mexico. This part of the United States is known for hot, sometimes brutally humid summers. However, this article covers the coldest places in the state. We will cover the cities where the coldest temperatures in Alabama’s history have been recorded. From there, we will also talk about activities in these cold cities and how you can spend your time there on the coldest winter days.

Winter in Alabama

Winters in Alabama typically last from December through mid-March. The coldest temperatures of the year in Alabama come during January and February, though some days in March have gotten pretty cold too. Alabama’s coldest Christmas in recent memory was 40 years ago. On Christmas Day in 1983, Alabama saw record-breaking low temperatures. In Birmingham, residents experienced a 2-degree Fahrenheit day. In Huntsville, the temperature dropped to -1. Not too far away, in Montgomery, the temperature was 5 degrees and in Mobile, it was 8.

In 2022, the northern part of Alabama once again experienced brutally cold, record-setting temperatures during a cold spell over the Christmas holiday. In Birmingham, Christmas Eve hit 9 degrees Fahrenheit.

6. Cullman

First on the list of coldest places in Alabama is Cullman. Cullman is the county seat of Cullman County. This small city is home to only about 18,000 people who live about 50 miles north of Birmingham and 55 miles south of Huntsville. In Alabama culture, Cullman County is known for having some of the best schools and parks in the state and for its immense agricultural production. Cullman has also seen bitterly cold temperatures in state history, especially as a town that is not in the northernmost parts of the state. In January 1918, scientists recorded freezing cold temperatures as low as -17 degrees in Cullman.

5. Crossville

Crossville, Alabama, is a rural farming community in the northeastern part of the state. This town is part of the sandstone plateau Sand Mountain region in the southern half of Dekalb County. This area has also seen some bitterly cold temperatures, including those dipping down into the negatives.

4. Bridgeport

In northern Alabama, Bridgeport has short and very cold winters. This northern Alabama town is located in Jackson County. Jackson County is the most northeastern county in the state, bordering both Georgia and Tennessee. It has also seen some of the coldest days in state history, with an incredible -13 degrees Fahrenheit day in January 1985.

3. Anderson

Next on the list is Anderson, a town in Lauderdale County, Alabama. This small town is in the northwestern part of the state. There, over 77 days each year have nighttime temperatures below freezing. The town’s average January low is almost 8 degrees colder than that of Alabama’s capital city of Montgomery.

2. Valley Head

Near the top of the list of coldest places in Alabama is Valley Head. Valley Head is a quaint, charming small town in DeKalb County in the northeastern corner of the state near the city of Chattanooga, Tennessee. This small town has the humid sub-tropical climate of the rest of Alabama but is in a part of the state that has seen many record-low temperatures. The coldest temperature ever recorded in Valley Head was -18 degrees Fahrenheit on February 14, 1905. In January, the coldest nighttime temperatures in the area average 28.4 degrees Fahrenheit, making Valley Head one of the coldest places in Alabama.

1. Huntsville

At the top of the list and winner of the title of the coldest place in Alabama is Huntsville. When measured according to the average maximum temperature, Huntsville gets the award for coldest city in Alabama with an average maximum temperature is just 61 degrees Fahrenheit. Huntsville is also the least rainy city in the state and has an average rainfall of only 22 inches a year.

The coldest temperature ever recorded in Alabama was in the town of New Market, which is just north of Huntsville. This coldest day reached a frigid -27 degrees Fahrenheit on January 30, 1966.

Huntsville earned its nickname of “Rocket City” for being home to the U.S. Space and Rocket Center, NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center, and many engineers and other scientists. It’s true, Huntsville, Alabama was the place where the rockets that put humans on the moon were developed!

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