The 10 Coldest Places in Oregon Will Send Shivers Down Your Spine

Agriculture, tourism, and beautiful landscapes fill Oregon’s cities. Known for the diversity in their environment, Oregon has warm and dry summers, but winter weather is wetter with a constant array of clouds. Some cities barely get a few inches of snow yearly, but others experience extreme temperatures as the seasons change. Look at the coldest places in Oregon based on their average lowest annual temperatures.

Coldest Places In Oregon

10. Astoria

Astoria is Oregon’s oldest city, situated along the Columbia River. Like many areas in this list near bodies of water, temperatures get incredibly low in the winter. Meanwhile, the record low for any month of any year was 6 degrees on December 8, 1972. While over half of the year experienced rain, January 1950 experienced almost 27 inches of snow. In 1922, it recorded the most snow received in 24 hours, with 12.5 inches. It has an average low of 45 °F annually, though the average high is just 58 °F.

9. Honeyman State Park

The lowest temperature recorded at Honeyman State Park was nine °F on December 8, 1972. The yearly low is 44 °F, with an average high of only 14 degrees warmer. Camping sites can be rented for a small fee. While it has warm summers, Honeyman State Park stays pretty cold in winter.

8. Newport

The lowest temperatures recorded in Newport hit just 14 °F on December 21, 1990. It has an average low of 44 °F throughout the year, but the winters usually drop in December before rising above freezing temperatures again by March. Newport’s population is 10,496, offering plenty of outdoor activities when the weather isn’t as cold. The weather stays relatively mild throughout the year, with about 2 inches of snow yearly.

7. Three Lynx

The village of Three Lynx experienced the lowest temperatures ever in 1985, dropping below freezing in the middle of May that year. While the records of Three Lynx indicate that the current population is no more than 166, its survivability makes it one of the longest-lasting company towns in the country. With an average annual low of 41 °F, this area gets 5 inches of snow yearly.

6. Government Camp

Government Camp is at the bottom of Mount Hook, allowing it to accrue an incredible amount of show during colder months. As an unincorporated community and one of the coldest places in Oregon, no other towns near the mountains make the camp the sole way to get to nearby ski resorts. Winters are very wet and cold, with a record low of -13 °F, pushing it into a subarctic climate. The community voted against becoming a village in 2010. The substantial snow and rainfall during the winter is due to the community’s proximity to a low-pressure system in the Bering Sea called the Aleutian Low.

5. Howard Prairie Lake

Howard Prairie Lake is another place to experience the winter weather at its finest. Spread across 155 acres of Jackson County, this lake is often used for camping and other recreational activities, even though temperatures are extremely low. It is 4,500 feet above sea level, and low temperatures usually stay below freezing until April each year at about 21° F.

4. Wickiup Reservoir Dam

At the second-largest reservoir in Oregon, the United States Bureau of Reclamation built the dam in 1949. It is 2.6 miles long, offers one of the best views of local wildlife, and is one of the coldest places in Oregon. The average low annual temperature for this area is just 32 °F. It is near Pendleton, which experiences temperatures below freezing every winter. The coldest month on record was -28 °F in January. However, much of the colder temperatures happen closer to the dam.

3. Hart Mountain National Antelope Refuge

At the Hart Mountain Antelope Refuge, the average annual low temperature is 31 °F with an average high of 59 °F. Situated on Hart Mountain, it is the home to over 300 different wildlife species, offering them a safe place to live since 1936. January is one of its coldest months, with average lows below 25 °F and average highs that stop at 41 °F. Much of the diverse wildlife migrates for the winters, returning when the weather warms up again.

2. Crater Lake National Park

Crater Lake Park is almost the coldest place in Oregon, with an average high of 48 °F and an average low of 28 °F. While no one officially lives at Crater Lake National Park, it receives over 750,000 visitors annually despite the low temperatures. The coldest month is December, though the record low (-21 °F) occurred in January one year. December gets a lot of rainfall, but the high elevation of Crater Lake brings up to 101 days of snow. The snowiest year on record was 1950, which added 903 inches to the park.

1. Seneca

At 5,000 feet elevation, Seneca experiences record lows from fall to the following spring every year.

The coldest place in Oregon with the lowest low is Seneca, in Grant County. With an annual average high of 57 °F, the average low is just 24 °F. The lowest recorded temperature for any month was -54 °F in 1933. The coldest months of the year are usually January and December, with a daily mean temperature of 23 °F. This small town had just 199 residents recorded in the 2010 Census, which dropped to 166 as of 2023.

Coldest Places in Oregon