How cold can Europe get? Cold enough that thermometers in European Russia have touched -58.1°C (-72.6°F), and cold enough that even Italy, better known for Mediterranean summers, has an official reading below -50°C. This page maps every European country’s all-time record low, with the full sortable table in both Celsius and Fahrenheit below. It is the cold-side companion to our highest temperatures recorded in Europe page.
The Coldest of the Cold
The continental champion is Ust-Shchugor in Russia’s Komi Republic, west of the Urals, where the temperature fell to -58.1°C (-72.6°F) on 31 December 1978. The Nordic trio follows: Sweden’s Vuoggatjålme (-52.6°C / -62.7°F, 1966), Finland’s Kittilä (-51.5°C / -60.7°F, 1999) and Norway’s Karasjok (-51.4°C / -60.5°F), a record that has stood since 1886.
A note on the surprises in the top ranks: Austria’s Grünloch (-52.6°C), Germany’s Funtensee (-45.9°C) and Italy’s Busa di Manna (-50.6°C, 2022) are all dolines, mountain sinkholes that trap dense cold air on clear, calm winter nights. These hollows can run 20 to 30 degrees colder than the surrounding slopes, which is how a basin in the Dolomites out-freezes most of Lapland. Readings from standard national weather stations in those countries are considerably milder.
Every Country’s Record Low
The full list, sortable and searchable. Click a column header to re-sort, or type a country name.
| Country | Record low (°C) | Record low (°F) | Location | Year |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Russia | -58.1 | -72.6 | Ust-Shchugor | 1978 |
| Sweden | -52.6 | -62.7 | Vuoggatjålme | 1966 |
| Austria | -52.6 | -62.7 | Grünloch | 1932 |
| Finland | -51.5 | -60.7 | Kittilä | 1999 |
| Norway | -51.4 | -60.5 | Karasjok | 1886 |
| Italy | -50.6 | -59.1 | Busa di Manna | 2022 |
| Türkiye | -46.4 | -51.5 | Van | 1990 |
| Germany | -45.9 | -50.6 | Funtensee | 2001 |
| Estonia | -43.5 | -46.3 | Jõgeva | 1940 |
| Latvia | -43.2 | -45.8 | Daugavpils | 1956 |
| Lithuania | -42.9 | -45.2 | Utena | 1956 |
| Bosnia and Herzegovina | -42.5 | -44.5 | Igman | 1963 |
| Belarus | -42.2 | -44.0 | Slavnoye | 1940 |
| Czechia | -42.2 | -44.0 | Litvínovice | 1929 |
| Ukraine | -41.9 | -43.4 | Luhansk | 1935 |
| Switzerland | -41.8 | -43.2 | La Brévine | 1987 |
| France | -41.0 | -41.8 | Mouthe | 1985 |
| Poland | -41.0 | -41.8 | Siedlce | 1940 |
| Slovakia | -41.0 | -41.8 | Vígľaš-Pstruša | 1929 |
| Serbia | -39.5 | -39.1 | Karajukića Bunari | 1985 |
| Romania | -38.5 | -37.3 | Bod | 1942 |
| Bulgaria | -38.3 | -36.9 | Tran | 1947 |
| Iceland | -37.9 | -36.2 | Grímsstaðir | 1918 |
| Moldova | -35.5 | -31.9 | Brătușeni | 1963 |
| Hungary | -35.0 | -31.0 | Görömbölytapolca | 1940 |
| Croatia | -34.6 | -30.3 | Gračac | 2003 |
| Slovenia | -34.5 | -30.1 | Babno Polje | 1968 |
| Montenegro | -32.0 | -25.6 | Rožaje | n/a |
| North Macedonia | -31.5 | -24.7 | Berovo | 1954 |
| Denmark | -31.2 | -24.2 | Thisted | 1982 |
| Belgium | -30.1 | -22.2 | Rochefort | 1940 |
| Spain | -30.0 | -22.0 | Calamocha | 1963 |
| Greece | -27.8 | -18.0 | Ptolemaida | 1963 |
| Netherlands | -27.4 | -17.3 | Winterswijk | 1942 |
| United Kingdom | -27.2 | -17.0 | Braemar | 1982 |
| Albania | -26.8 | -16.2 | Sheqeras | n/a |
| Luxembourg | -24.6 | -12.3 | Wiltz | n/a |
| Ireland | -19.1 | -2.4 | Markree Castle | 1881 |
| Portugal | -16.0 | 3.2 | Penhas da Saúde | 1954 |
The Deep Freeze of January 2024
No national record in this table has fallen since Italy’s sinkhole reading in 2022, but Europe still gets reminders of what its atmosphere can do. In early January 2024, a stalled Arctic outbreak sent Kvikkjokk in Swedish Lapland to -43.6°C (-46.5°F), Sweden’s coldest temperature this century, while Enontekiö in Finland reached -44.3°C (-47.7°F). Both readings sit within ten degrees of national records set generations ago.
Why the Records Cluster Where They Do
Three ingredients build a record low: distance from the moderating Atlantic, high latitude or altitude, and calm, clear nights over fresh snow. That is why the map darkens toward the northeast, where continental air masses dominate, and why the record holders are inland valleys and plateaus rather than coasts. Occasionally the pattern is helped along from above: when the stratospheric polar vortex weakens, Arctic air spills south across the continent, the mechanism behind most of Europe’s historic cold waves, including January 2024.
In a warming climate these events are becoming rarer and less intense: Europe has set a string of national heat records in the 2020s, while the cold side of this ledger has barely moved in decades. Most of the entries below have now stood for more than half a century, and some, like Ireland’s 1881 record, may never be threatened again.
