Longest continuous stretch of freezing temperatures for Charlotte in decades

The start of 2025 has been one of the coldest in recent memory for Charlotte with prolonged periods of bitter cold over the last few weeks. However, the last few days temperatures in the Queen City did not rise above 32. Temperatures dipped below freezing beginning before 6 p.m. Monday 1/20 and stayed at or below 32 degrees until just before 1 p.m. Thursday 1/23. According to climate data from the National Weather Service, this 67 hour freezing stretch is the longest in nearly three decades, and holds the record for the longest stretch since 2000.

Although Charlotte has not seen as many cold snaps as long as this in the last 30 years, it doesn’t even crack the top 20 for all time records. The longest recorded stretch on record for Charlotte dating back to the 1880s was 6 days in 1886 and 1901. Hourly weather data was not collected until after 1941 for Charlotte. The longest recorded stretch was 138 hours at or below freezing back in January 1982.

In the last 30 years, just one continuous freezing event beats the stretch this week. This was in February 1996, where the temperature did not rise above freezing for 87 hours.

The Arctic high pressure system that opened the door to these freezing temperatures will be moving out later this week. Temperatures will stay below average through the start of the weekend, but by the middle of next week we’ll see temperatures back near 60 as a warming trend takes hold for the final days of the month.