The coldest temperature on record for Fargo-Moorhead is -48 degrees, set Jan. 8, 1887. This was a part of a four-day stretch of amazingly cold temperatures from Jan. 6-9. Highs were in the -20s and lows ranged from -38 to -48 degrees. Interestingly, the data for Jan. 1-5, 1887, is missing from the record. At Bismarck, which has a weather record old enough to compare, the coldest temperature from Jan. 5-9 was -42 degrees, but there was a colder record of -44 on Jan. 2.
Other weather stations around with a record from that week include a temperature of -34 amid a stretch of six nights at least as cold as the -20s in Minneapolis. In Rochester, it was a cold as -29 degrees. Winnipeg's coldest during this period was -42 degrees. Duluth was not quite as cold for this period with a minimum temperature of -24 degrees. Many other reporting stations simply do not have records old enough to compare.
