Counties with the coldest winters in Utah

Written by:
February 4, 2025
Leszek Glasner // Shutterstock

Counties with the coldest winters in Utah

If you've been jarred by winter weather lately, you're not alone. The winter of 2023-2024 was the warmest recorded in the continental U.S. (records span the past 130 years), with average temperatures 5.4 degrees higher than normal.

At the same time, severe cold snaps are also getting more intense. In January 2025, freezing temperatures stretched down the usually balmy Gulf Coast and brought unprecedented snowfall to Southern states like Louisiana and Florida.

While record-high temperatures and heavy snow might seem contradictory, they're actually symptoms of the same climate phenomenon. In the Arctic, the polar jet stream—which usually creates a boundary between the frigid northern air and the more temperate remainder of the globe—has weakened as a result of greenhouse gas emissions. This has allowed the jet stream to dip further than ever before, leading to cold snaps across the Southern U.S. Those same greenhouse gas emissions are also partly responsible for the warmer winters we've been seeing. So, as counterintuitive as it may seem, warmer winters and extreme cold events go hand-in-hand.

Though typically areas in the Northern U.S. tend to be much colder than their Southern counterparts, even within the same state, temperatures can vary greatly. To determine where temperatures drop the lowest in the winter, Stacker compiled a list of the counties with the coldest winters in Utah using data from the National Centers for Environmental Information. Data represents the average temperatures from December 2023 to February 2024; the historic average is the average for these months from 1901 to 2000. All temperatures are in Fahrenheit.

#25. Millard County

- Winter 2024 average temperature: 34.4 degrees Fahrenheit
- Historic average summer temperature: 29.8 degrees
-- 2024 difference from historic average: +4.6 degrees

#24. Iron County

- Winter 2024 average temperature: 34.0 degrees Fahrenheit
- Historic average summer temperature: 29.4 degrees
-- 2024 difference from historic average: +4.6 degrees

#23. Beaver County

- Winter 2024 average temperature: 33.8 degrees Fahrenheit
- Historic average summer temperature: 29.0 degrees
-- 2024 difference from historic average: +4.8 degrees

#22. Juab County

- Winter 2024 average temperature: 33.6 degrees Fahrenheit
- Historic average summer temperature: 29.2 degrees
-- 2024 difference from historic average: +4.4 degrees

#21. Grand County

- Winter 2024 average temperature: 33.5 degrees Fahrenheit
- Historic average summer temperature: 27.3 degrees
-- 2024 difference from historic average: +6.1 degrees

#20. Salt Lake County

- Winter 2024 average temperature: 33.4 degrees Fahrenheit
- Historic average summer temperature: 28.4 degrees
-- 2024 difference from historic average: +4.9 degrees

#19. Davis County

- Winter 2024 average temperature: 33.2 degrees Fahrenheit
- Historic average summer temperature: 28.3 degrees
-- 2024 difference from historic average: +4.8 degrees

#17. Emery County (tie)

- Winter 2024 average temperature: 33.1 degrees Fahrenheit
- Historic average summer temperature: 27.4 degrees
-- 2024 difference from historic average: +5.7 degrees

#17. Garfield County (tie)

- Winter 2024 average temperature: 33.1 degrees Fahrenheit
- Historic average summer temperature: 28.4 degrees
-- 2024 difference from historic average: +4.7 degrees

#16. Tooele County

- Winter 2024 average temperature: 32.7 degrees Fahrenheit
- Historic average summer temperature: 29.0 degrees
-- 2024 difference from historic average: +3.7 degrees

#15. Box Elder County

- Winter 2024 average temperature: 31.8 degrees Fahrenheit
- Historic average summer temperature: 26.4 degrees
-- 2024 difference from historic average: +5.4 degrees

#14. Utah County

- Winter 2024 average temperature: 31.4 degrees Fahrenheit
- Historic average summer temperature: 26.5 degrees
-- 2024 difference from historic average: +4.9 degrees

#12. Sevier County (tie)

- Winter 2024 average temperature: 30.4 degrees Fahrenheit
- Historic average summer temperature: 26.3 degrees
-- 2024 difference from historic average: +4.1 degrees

#12. Weber County (tie)

- Winter 2024 average temperature: 30.4 degrees Fahrenheit
- Historic average summer temperature: 25.1 degrees
-- 2024 difference from historic average: +5.3 degrees

#11. Piute County

- Winter 2024 average temperature: 30.3 degrees Fahrenheit
- Historic average summer temperature: 25.3 degrees
-- 2024 difference from historic average: +5 degrees

#10. Sanpete County

- Winter 2024 average temperature: 29.6 degrees Fahrenheit
- Historic average summer temperature: 24.7 degrees
-- 2024 difference from historic average: +4.9 degrees

#9. Morgan County

- Winter 2024 average temperature: 28.8 degrees Fahrenheit
- Historic average summer temperature: 24.2 degrees
-- 2024 difference from historic average: +4.6 degrees

#8. Cache County

- Winter 2024 average temperature: 28.6 degrees Fahrenheit
- Historic average summer temperature: 23.2 degrees
-- 2024 difference from historic average: +5.4 degrees

#7. Uintah County

- Winter 2024 average temperature: 28.3 degrees Fahrenheit
- Historic average summer temperature: 21.4 degrees
-- 2024 difference from historic average: +6.9 degrees

#6. Carbon County

- Winter 2024 average temperature: 28.1 degrees Fahrenheit
- Historic average summer temperature: 23.0 degrees
-- 2024 difference from historic average: +5.1 degrees

#5. Wasatch County

- Winter 2024 average temperature: 26.8 degrees Fahrenheit
- Historic average summer temperature: 22.3 degrees
-- 2024 difference from historic average: +4.6 degrees

#4. Duchesne County

- Winter 2024 average temperature: 26.1 degrees Fahrenheit
- Historic average summer temperature: 20.5 degrees
-- 2024 difference from historic average: +5.6 degrees

#3. Daggett County

- Winter 2024 average temperature: 25.7 degrees Fahrenheit
- Historic average summer temperature: 21.3 degrees
-- 2024 difference from historic average: +4.5 degrees

#2. Summit County

- Winter 2024 average temperature: 24.9 degrees Fahrenheit
- Historic average summer temperature: 20.7 degrees
-- 2024 difference from historic average: +4.1 degrees

#1. Rich County

- Winter 2024 average temperature: 24.6 degrees Fahrenheit
- Historic average summer temperature: 19.9 degrees
-- 2024 difference from historic average: +4.7 degrees

This story features data reporting by Wade Zhou, writing by Andrea Vale, and is part of a series utilizing data automation across 48 states.

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