Weather

Coldest National Parks

By Highlight · February 2026

Alaska dominates this list, and that's not a coincidence. These parks experience true arctic and subarctic cold: winter temperatures dropping to -40°F, 200+ freezing days per year, and summers that barely reach 60°F. Visiting means planning for conditions that would shut down most of the country.

How We Ranked These

Freezing Days

We counted how many days per year temperatures drop below freezing at each park. Parks where the thermometer stays below 32 degrees for 200 or more days per year dominate this list.

Extreme Cold

Days that plunge below zero get extra weight. There's a real difference between a park that sees occasional frost and one where temperatures hit negative 40 for weeks at a time.

Winter Minimums

We looked at how cold January nights actually get, using the lowest recorded temperatures across each park's boundaries. Arctic parks with brutal overnight lows rank accordingly.

Decade of Data

Rankings are based on 10 years of high-resolution climate records sampled across each park's full area. This smooths out freak warm winters and captures the sustained cold that defines these places.

10.
93
Cape Krusenstern
National Monument · Alaska
Archaeological beach ridges here document 5,000 years of human adaptation to one of the harshest climates in North America. January temperatures drop to -17°F, with 225 freezing days per year. The Chukchi Sea coast stays frozen most of the year, and summer highs barely reach the upper 50s. Inupiat communities have hunted marine mammals here for millennia, developing technologies and traditions shaped entirely by cold. The monument has no facilities and requires bush plane access.
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9.
93
Highlight’s Favorite: Devils Tower
National Monument · Wyoming
Devils Tower scores tenth on this list, and it’s our favorite cold-weather entry.
Every other park in the top ten is in Alaska. Gates of the Arctic, Kobuk Valley, Yukon-Charley, Noatak, Wrangell-St. Elias, Bering Land Bridge, Denali, Cape Krusenstern. Then there’s Devils Tower, sitting in the Wyoming Black Hills with January temperatures that drop to -24°F and 183 freezing days per year.
The 867-foot tower of igneous rock is one of the most recognizable landmarks in America, and winter strips away everything but the tower and the cold. Snow blankets the surrounding ponderosa pine forest. The 1.3-mile trail around the base is walkable but quiet. Summer brings climbers and crowds; winter brings solitude beneath a formation that has drawn people for thousands of years. Alaska dominates this list through geography. Devils Tower earned its spot by being the cold you don’t expect in the lower 48.
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8.
95
Denali
National Park and Preserve · Alaska
North America's highest peak creates its own weather, and much of it involves cold. January temperatures at park headquarters drop to -20°F, while the summit sees conditions that would rival Antarctica. The park averages 220 freezing days per year. The single road closes to vehicles after mile 15 once snow falls. Summer's brief window brings round-the-clock daylight and temperatures in the 50s and 60s. The mountain itself generates storms that test even experienced climbers.
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7.
96
John D. Rockefeller Jr.
Memorial Parkway · Wyoming
The 24,000-acre corridor connecting Yellowstone and Grand Teton sits at 7,000 feet elevation in the northern Rockies. January temperatures drop to -24°F, with 209 freezing days per year. Heavy snowpack buries the area from November through May. In summer, the parkway serves as a scenic drive between the two famous parks. In winter, it becomes a gateway for snowmobile and cross-country ski access to Yellowstone's thermal features, when the cold keeps most visitors away.
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6.
96
Bering Land Bridge
National Preserve · Alaska
Protecting the remnants of the land bridge that once connected Asia and North America, this preserve sits at the edge of the continent where Siberia is visible on clear days. January temperatures drop to -20°F, with 230 freezing days per year. Even summer highs barely reach 60°F, and the preserve sees almost no visitors. Archaeological sites here document 12,000 years of human habitation. Today, Inupiat communities maintain traditional land uses in one of the most remote and cold corners of America.
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5.
97
Wrangell-St. Elias
National Park and Preserve · Alaska
America's largest national park contains more ice than any other protected area in the country. Nine of the sixteen highest peaks in the United States stand here, permanently capped with glaciers. January temperatures drop to -25°F in the interior valleys, with 230 freezing days per year. The park contains more glacial ice than all of Switzerland. McCarthy and Kennecott offer summer access to this frozen world; winter belongs to the ice.
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4.
98
Noatak
National Preserve · Alaska
The largest wilderness area in the park system, protecting the entire Noatak River watershed above the Arctic Circle. Winter highs average -7°F, and January minimums drop to -30°F. The preserve sees 240 freezing days per year. Caribou from the Western Arctic herd migrate through each year; wolves, grizzlies, and muskoxen follow the seasonal rhythms. Human visitors mostly come for summer float trips, when 24-hour daylight allows continuous travel in temperatures that barely crack 60°F.
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3.
99
Kobuk Valley
National Park · Alaska
The Great Kobuk Sand Dunes sit incongruously in arctic Alaska, 25 square miles of sand surrounded by boreal forest and permafrost. January temperatures plunge to -30°F, with 235 freezing days per year. The park is accessible only by air, and winter visits require serious cold-weather expertise. Summer brings caribou migrations and mosquitoes in equal measure. The dunes themselves are remnants of a glacial past, now locked in a landscape that stays frozen most of the year.
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2.
99
Yukon-Charley Rivers
National Preserve · Alaska
One of the most remote preserves in the system, protecting 115 miles of the Yukon River and all of the Charley River. January temperatures drop to -35°F, with 240 freezing days per year. Gold rush stampeders once traveled this corridor en route to the Klondike; today, canoeists float the same waters in a brief summer window. Winter transforms the rivers into highways for dogsled travel, when temperatures regularly stay 40 below for weeks.
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1.
100
Gates of the Arctic
National Park and Preserve · Alaska
The coldest park in the system, and it's not close. Gates of the Arctic sits entirely above the Arctic Circle, where January temperatures drop to -40°F and the park averages 250 freezing days per year. Winter highs stay below zero for months. Even summer offers only brief respite: July highs reach 70°F, but nights stay cold. There are no roads, no trails, no facilities. Visitors fly in by bush plane and carry everything they need. This is wilderness in the purest sense, shaped by cold that defines every aspect of survival.
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