Kristen’s Classroom: How cold does it normally get in Austin?

AUSTIN (KXAN) — Has an out-of-towner ever asked you, "How cold does it actually get in Austin?" With Texas fairly far south in latitude, the answer may surprise some.

January is typically our coldest month of the year with average high temperatures falling to the low 60s and average low temperatures falling to the low 40s.

We typically average 12 freezes a season in Austin, which pales in comparison to the record of 57 freezes we set in the Winter of 1898 and 1899.

The coldest temperature we've ever recorded at Austin-Camp Mabry was two degrees below zero in January of 1949. Our average winter season temperature comes in at 54 degrees.

Coldest winter on record? That goes to the Winter of 1898 and 1899 with an average temperature of 42.6 degrees.

Of note, one of our longest cold spells on record was reached during the February 2021 winter storm. Downtown Austin spent six consecutive days at or below freezing.