The November 2025 Arctic freeze shattered records nationwide, producing the earliest and coldest start to winter in Southeast Florida since 1950. This generational cold outbreak brought all-time lows from Florida to Oklahoma and Georgia, with Mt. LeConte, Tennessee claiming the coldest temperature in the contiguous U.S.
Record-Breaking Lows Across the Nation
Florida: Southeast Florida saw a minimum of 8°F on Tuesday—the region’s coldest and earliest November reading since 1950. Anyone remembering a colder or earlier start must be at least 75 years old.
Alabama:
- Huntsville: 21°F (old record: 22°F in 1926)
- Montgomery: 23°F (old: 29°F in 1926, 1991)
- Anniston: 23°F (old: 24°F in 1950)
- Tuscaloosa: 24°F (old: 26°F in 1953)
- Birmingham: 25°F (ties 1926 record)
- Dothan: 27°F (old: 32°F in 2011)
- Mobile: 28°F (old: 31°F in 2011)
Georgia:
- Atlanta plunged into the 20s°F, breaking new low marks as temperatures dropped 20–25°F in 24 hours.
- Savannah hit a record low of 28°F, the earliest such cold since at least 1976.
- Northern Georgia saw flurries and cold anomalies typical of winter’s peak.
Oklahoma:
- Oklahoma City: 23°F Monday morning, coldest November temperature since 1995 and near monthly records. Oklahoma City recorded a low of 23°F, with other Oklahoma stations dropping to 19°F—significantly colder than the temperatures observed during the 2020 October ice storm. This event set monthly cold records and brought deep freezes not seen in early November for decades.
- Some Oklahoma locations bottomed out at 19°F—among the coldest early November readings in decades.
- Widespread freeze and wind chill advisories from the National Weather Service stretched across the state.
Noteworthy Cities Nationwide
- Jacksonville, FL: 28°F—a record shattered at the airport.
- Baton Rouge, LA and Charleston, WV reported lows in the 20s°F, joining the list of cities setting historic marks.
Mt. LeConte: Coldest Spot in the Lower 48
Mt. LeConte, Tennessee, dropped to 3°F, the coldest in the contiguous U.S. Wind chills hit -20°F at the lodge, and 7.5″ of fresh snow fell—a first since records began in 2011 for this forecast area.
The Science Behind the Freeze
Meteorologists attribute the event to a vigorous upper-level low and an Arctic air mass sourced near the North Pole. The blast plunged temperatures 25–35°F below normal, bringing a taste of deep winter to the Southeast, southern Plains, and up the Eastern Seaboard.
Historic Perspective
This freeze set benchmarks last seen in the early-mid 20th century, breaking records from as far back as 1926 and 1950 in many Southern cities. The rare, widespread nature of this event affected more than 170 million Americans and covered much of the eastern and southern United States.
From Florida’s earliest freeze in generations to Oklahoma’s deepest November chill in nearly 30 years, the November 2025 Arctic outbreak will be remembered as a once-in-a-lifetime event. It rewrote the record books and marked an extraordinary start to the “winter” season across much of the country.
November 2025 will not only be remembered by the cold spell but also by the aurora’s spotted across the south!