WOAY-TV (Oak Hill, WV): While West Virginia is no stranger to the cold, occasionally there is one infamous spot that makes national headlines.
Meteorologist Christian Boteler was there on Thursday! Check it out:
Davis, W.Va., had the coldest temperature in the Lower 48 at a minus-28 degrees on Wednesday, January 22, 2025.
How does it get so cold? The setup for this extreme cold starts with high pressure in the area. The valley typically warms more rapidly than the nearby Alleghenies. The valley is situated at more than 3000 feet above sea level, so when the sun goes down and high pressure settles in with calm wind and clear skies, the temperature rapidly tanks. Cold air settles into the northern Canaan Valley like sugar settles to the bottom of a cup of water after the person stirring it walks away from the cup.
Winter is not the only time Davis, W.Va., has set the Lower 48 coldest low temperature. It has dipped into the 20s on Memorial Day and Labor Day.