# Coldest large city (1 million+ population)



## oliver999 (Aug 4, 2006)

i think it may be harbin,north of china.
harbin has a population of 3.3 million, and always -20~-30 degree in winter.and sometimes colder than -35 degree.
there are some photos.

some carrige driving on iced river.








summer
























































ice cave


----------



## oliver999 (Aug 4, 2006)

*driving on an iced river*

...


----------



## gonzo (Jul 30, 2006)

In 1972 Edmonton experienced -48.3°C (-54.9°F) weather.


----------



## gonzo (Jul 30, 2006)

...Harbin looks _amazing_, btw.


----------



## oliver999 (Aug 4, 2006)

edmonton, never heard of before, but very amazing city! beautiful.


----------



## gonzo (Jul 30, 2006)

Edmonton...








 

You're not from N.America, correct?


----------



## samsonyuen (Sep 23, 2003)

Edmonton, Winnipeg, Ottawa, and Montreal make up a cold belt in the winter, regularly reaching -40s in the winter. Winnipeg's only 700k though


----------



## aspirin (May 3, 2006)

oliver999 said:


> edmonton, never heard of before, but very amazing city! beautiful.


edmonton oilers, should be known, even outside the US  


don't forget Moscow as a bloody cold city in winter (-20C) although in summer it's getting realy hot (+35C). 





















And there's another very cold city in China: Urumqi (pop 2.08 mio), 
with -16C in medium in january...


----------



## gonzo (Jul 30, 2006)

> regularly reaching -40s in the winter


I'm from Ottawa and I reckon..."regularly reaches -40s in late January/ early February if one includes the wind-chill factor (early mornings)". Brrrr!


----------



## ReddAlert (Nov 4, 2004)

For the U.S.---the coldest major cities are Minneapolis/St. Paul, Milwaukee, Buffalo, Detroit, Chicago, Cleveland, etc.


----------



## thelongranger101 (Aug 5, 2006)

^^ add Denver to that list.


----------



## kashyap3 (Jul 11, 2006)

1. Ulan Bator
2. Moscow
3. Ottawa


----------



## staff (Oct 23, 2004)

I had minus 47 degrees Celsius one day in Ulaan Baatar when I was there. So that's definately the coldest big city I've ever been to. Not sure if it's the coldest in the world though.


----------



## empersouf (Mar 19, 2004)

OO, I thought you wanted to talk about the Oldest large city. That would be an interesting discussion too. Maybe Guangzhou or Rome.

About the COldest, what about Moskwa, Novosibirsk.


----------



## hudkina (Oct 28, 2003)

Here are the coldest large cities in the United States:

1. Minneapolis, MN: -16° C
2. Milwaukee, WI: -11° C
3. Denver, CO: -9° C
3. Hartford, CT: -9° C
5. Rochester, NY: -8° C
5. Chicago, IL: -8° C
5. Indianapolis, IN: -8° C
5. Buffalo, NY: -8° C
9. Cleveland, OH: -7° C
9. Detroit, MI: -7° C
9. Pittsburgh, PA: -7° C
9. Columbus, OH: -7° C
9. Providence, RI: -7° C
14. St. Louis, MO: -6° C
14. Kansas City, MO: -6° C
14. Boston, MA: -6° C
14. Cincinnati, OH: -6° C
18. Philadelphia, PA: -4° C
18. Louisville, KY: -4° C
18. Salt Lake City, UT: -4° C

The lowest recorded temperature ever recorded in a major U.S. city was -41° C in Minneapolis in 1888.


----------



## Indyman (Apr 1, 2005)

I assume when oliver999 says over 100 million he means metro population not city proper right?


----------



## JAKJ (Oct 17, 2004)

Edmonton's coldest month seems to be January with Averages: -8 Max, -17 min.

Ottawa's coldest month is January as well with Averages: -7 Max, -16 min.

Harbin really blows both places away in terms of averages, in January it has Averages of: -14 Max, -26 min (so the average Max temp is almost as low as the average min of the two other cities!!)

Ulan bator appears to be about as cold as Harbin with averages in Jan: -16 max, -26 min, but harbin is the far lager city, with Ulan Bator having a pop of about 650 000 as apposed to Harbin's 2.7 million.


----------



## OhioTodd (Jul 25, 2006)

*Harbin* Harbin-ave maximun in Janurary, average minimum in January

January 
10 (F)
-12 (F)

http://www.thirdworldtraveler.com/Weather/weather_China.html

*Novosibirsk* Averages for January; Average High: 9°; Average Low: -1°
(F)

http://weather.msn.com/local.aspx?wealocations=wc:RSXX0077

*Edmonton* January -8 -18 (17.6 F)(-.4F)

*Irkutsk* (over 500,000 pop.) January; Average High: 6°; Average Low: -11° ...(F)



looks like among these Harbin wins. Can't find any over 1 million metro that are colder.


----------



## vincebjs (Sep 11, 2002)

It must be a city in the Russian Far East (north of Mongolia), I heard that the Soviet government moved a lot of people there back in the day.

Edmonton and Harbin are both cold though.


----------



## Xusein (Sep 27, 2005)

hudkina said:


> Here are the coldest large cities in the United States:
> 
> 1. Minneapolis, MN: -16° C
> 2. Milwaukee, WI: -11° C
> ...



Wow...Did not know that Hartford is colder than Buffalo...


----------



## Ringil (Jul 28, 2004)

rockaway said:


> interesting.....it is not hot as L.a?


San Fran's summers are comparable to those in Northern Sweden


----------



## bob rulz (Oct 20, 2005)

San Francisco is indeed very cool for summer; interior winds are usually blocked by the mountains, and there's often a nice onshore flow. If you want even cooler temperatures, head up to the Arcata/Eureka/Crescent City area; temperatures there hardly get above 75F/24C in winter, and I believe the all-time record high around Arcata and Eureka is 86F/30C. All-time record high!

As for the coldest city of 1million+, I'm going to go for Harbin and Qiqihar as well.


----------



## dougtheengineer (Aug 17, 2006)

lotrfan55345 said:


> Last year wasn't there like 3 months worth of Chinooks with 0-5C temps there? The Chinooks even reached Minneapolis.


There may have been, but that fact is irrelevant as most of the number being thrown around here are average values. I am sure that those Chineese cities can be unseasonable warm at times as well.


----------



## ♣628.finst (Jul 29, 2005)

... The list would be as follow:

1- Harbin
2- Krasnoyarsk
3- Novosibirsk
4- Changchun
5- Omsk
6- Minneapolis
7- Edmonton
8- Shenyang
9- Ottawa
10- Montreal


----------



## ♣628.finst (Jul 29, 2005)

dougtheengineer said:


> There may have been, but that fact is irrelevant as most of the number being thrown around here are average values. I am sure that those Chineese cities can be unseasonable warm at times as well.


That's true but that's more often in Ottawa or Edmonton.  Their average is low but their high is also lower than ours. It's more often we see Edmonton or Ottawa get over 0C in January than Harbin. 

Canada has many smaller cities as cold as Harbin in winter, e.g. Winnipeg, Saskatoon, Yellowknife (a very small city). Russia, has Khabarovsk, Chita and Yakutsk.


----------



## AndySocks (Dec 8, 2005)

San Francisco and any thread talking about extreme temperature shouldn't come within a hundred miles of each other.

Jan 48.7
Feb 52.2
Mar 53.3
Apr 55.6
May 58.1
Jun 61.5
Jul 62.7
Aug 63.7
Sep 64.5
Oct 61.0
Nov 54.8
Dec 49.4

LA goes from 56.8 in January to 70.5 in August. Coastal California is weird in that it has such a small range of average temperatures throughout the year. A "temperate" climate in the US is typically lower than San Francisco in the winter and higher than LA in the summer. New York for example goes from 31.5 in January to 76.8 in July, and I'd expect inland cities to have even a wider range.


----------



## dougtheengineer (Aug 17, 2006)

Xäntårx said:


> That's true but that's more often in Ottawa or Edmonton.  Their average is low but their high is also lower than ours. It's more often we see Edmonton or Ottawa get over 0C in January than Harbin.
> 
> Canada has many smaller cities as cold as Harbin in winter, e.g. Winnipeg, Saskatoon, Yellowknife (a very small city). Russia, has Khabarovsk, Chita and Yakutsk.


Well, I guess the fact remains that there are a number of sources showing a number of different values for average temperatures. As I posted earlier, it can easily be argued that Edmonton is the colder option. But it doesn't matter, as everyone on here has a different opinion...and Ottawa being on this list ruins its legitimacy as a discussion lol.


----------



## ReddAlert (Nov 4, 2004)

those San Fran temperatures make me laugh. That is my ideal weather. Extreme....no way (San) Jose! Thanks, Ill be here all week.


----------



## elkram (Apr 1, 2006)

I remember holidaying in San Diego a few evenings around midsummer's day several years ago -- 6PM was the time to change into a pair of pants and long-sleeve shirt from shorts and t-shirt -- locals said there wasn't anything off about the weather for that time of year.


----------

