The Year in Heat & Cold
1988
-1.12°F
ran -1.12°F cooler than the 1996–2025 average across 367 cities — the 94th coldest of 157 years on record.
Extremes
Coldest Day of 1988
-50.0°F
Bettles, AK · Feb 21
Hottest Day of 1988
118.0°F
Lake Havasu City, AZ · Jun 23
Records Set in 1988
Daily Cold Records Set
1,032
calendar-day record lows set in 1988 that still stand today
Daily Heat Records Set
1,445
calendar-day record highs set in 1988 that still stand today
Where the Year Ran Warm & Cold
Each city's 1988 average temperature versus its 1996–2025 normal — blue where the year ran cool, red where it ran hot.
Hottest & Coldest at Every City
Each city's single hottest and coldest reading of 1988 — the number is the temperature, coloured hot-to-cold. Toggle between the two.
Month by Month
National temperature anomaly by month — red above the line is a warm month, blue below is cool.
-3.78J
-2.18F
-0.97M
-0.71A
-0.29M
-0.16J
+0.20J
+0.48A
-1.71S
-2.83O
+0.07N
-1.41D
Coolest Stations & States
Coolest Stations of 1988
| 1 | Barrow AK | -6.37°F |
| 2 | El Paso TX | -4.09°F |
| 3 | Sanford FL | -3.98°F |
| 4 | Fayetteville NC | -3.82°F |
| 5 | Albany GA | -3.67°F |
| 6 | Borger TX | -3.64°F |
| 7 | Leesburg FL | -3.38°F |
| 8 | Tallahassee FL | -3.35°F |
| 9 | Midland-Odessa TX | -3.26°F |
| 10 | Reading PA | -3.22°F |
Warmest Stations of 1988
| 1 | Havre MT | +2.43°F |
| 2 | Great Falls MT | +2.39°F |
| 3 | Sheridan WY | +2.37°F |
| 4 | Burns OR | +2.27°F |
| 5 | Omak WA | +2.20°F |
| 6 | Lander WY | +2.06°F |
| 7 | Rapid City SD | +1.88°F |
| 8 | Glasgow MT | +1.86°F |
| 9 | Williston ND | +1.85°F |
| 10 | Klamath Falls OR | +1.74°F |
By State
Warmest states of 1988
Montana+1.46°Wyoming+1.22°North Dakota+0.68°South Dakota+0.57°Guam+0.56°Idaho+0.26°
Coolest states of 1988
South Carolina-2.51°Delaware-2.35°North Carolina-2.32°District of Columbia-2.27°Virginia-2.20°Tennessee-2.19°
Coldest Since · Browse all states · See where it's hottest → hottestsince.com
part of Weather Trader · supported by Substack Subscribers · data: NWS NDFD forecast + NOAA/ACIS ThreadEx records · updated 2026-07-12 22:52Z
© 2026 Weather Trader · All rights reserved
part of Weather Trader · supported by Substack Subscribers · data: NWS NDFD forecast + NOAA/ACIS ThreadEx records · updated 2026-07-12 22:52Z
© 2026 Weather Trader · All rights reserved