Where Does Rochester Rank on the List of the Coldest US Cities?

Sure, we already know it's cold here in the Med City, but how does Rochester compare to the 50 Coldest Cities in America?

Well, as it turns out, yeah, it's pretty cold here. In fact, according to 247wallstreet.com, Rochester is the 14th Coldest City in America! 14 out of 50-- that's pretty cold. Our cold weather stats look like this:

> Normal low in coldest month: 7.7° F
> Lowest temp. on record: -40° F
> Annual avg. snowfall: 44.8 in.
> Avg. wind speed: 12.2 mph

It shouldn't be surprising, though, considering that Minnesota placed four cities on the list.  And while #14 is pretty cold, Minneapolis (#12), St. Cloud (#7), and Duluth (#5) all ranked as colder cities than us here in Rochester.

To come up with these rankings, the survey looked at data from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). "24/7 Wall St. reviewed the minimum average temperature for the coldest month from 1981 to 2010 for every city with at least 10,000 residents with data from the NOAA," the site said.

Which all makes sense, given that we have a pretty long winter here in the Land of 10,000 (frozen) Lakes. "The coldest cities not only have the lowest temperatures, but also the longest winters. While winter is considered to last for about 90 days across much of the U.S., all of these cities have at least 120 days a year when temperatures drop below freezing," the site said.