Why Gunnison Is One of the Coldest Places in Colorado

Gunnison, Colorado, is a fun mountain town with amazing Rocky Mountain scenery, but it can also be a bitterly COLD place to be during the winter season. Some of Colorado's coldest all-time low temperatures have been recorded in Gunnison, which sits at 7,710 feet near the Continental Divide.

So what makes Gunnison one of Colorado's coldest destinations during the winter? Keep scrolling to check out some of the record temperatures recorded there, and why the Gunnison Valley is so susceptible to frozen conditions.

Climate & Records: Cold Stats That Stand Out

Read More: Understanding Gunnison, Colorado's Response To The Spanish Flu

One of Gunnison’s coldest days came on Christmas 1924, when temperatures hit −47 °F, according to Extreme Weather Watch. Since 1910, the city has dropped to −40 or colder twenty times. Winter averages just 12 °F, with a yearly mean of 37.5 °F—making Gunnison one of the coldest inhabited spots in the lower 48. Residents experience about 265 days a year below freezing, even if only for a few hours. Record lows in Gunnison include:

• December 25, 1924: -47 degrees Fahrenheit
• December 26^th, 1924: -46 degrees Fahrenheit
• December 23, 1905: -46 degrees Fahrenheit
• January 22, 1930: -45 degrees Fahrenheit
• December 27, 1924: -45 degrees Fahrenheit

Gunnison, Colorado: Ice Box of the Rockies

Grand Junction residents can understand how living in a valley can trap cold air. This is one of the factors that makes the cold feel like it goes straight to your bones in Gunnison. The mountains that surround the town trap cold winter air in the Gunnison Valley, where it sinks at night and stays there. Weather geeks call it “cold-air pooling.”

If you love scraping your car’s windshield in the morning, Gunnison is your town, with over 150 days of frost most years. The snowpack in Gunnison is stubborn, soaking up the sun and helping ensure the self-reinforcing freeze.

Gunnison, Colorado's Cold-Pride, Community, and Heritage

Gunnison, Colorado, almost became the state’s capital in the 1890s, but a winter snowstorm trapped the delegates in the mountains with no way out. That winter storm sent the delegates home to the Denver basin for good a couple of weeks later.

To locals, Gunnison’s frozen temperatures are part of the town’s identity. From picking apples in the frost to big piles of firewood, winter is a point of hometown pride, according to the Gunnison Times. That pride could even spark new traditions someday, like a “Gunnison Frost Festival.” I’d buy an “I Beat the Gunnison Freeze” t-shirt for sure.

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