# First freeze tracker: 9 of 58 big cities in, 22 still late as of Nov 7 Published November 8, 2026, 1:02 PM ET · Updated November 8, 2026, 3:16 PM ET By Ryan Hall, Y'all Written by our automated news desk from National Weather Service data. Through Saturday, Nov 7, nine of the 58 big cities we track have had a first freeze, and 22 are still waiting past their normal date. Minneapolis-St. Paul, Des Moines and Milwaukee just joined, with two of them among the latest first freezes on record. Boston, Portland, Philadelphia and Birmingham reach their normal dates over the next few days. **What's new:** Cleaned up the layout and added city tables; numbers still run through Nov 7. ## Key points - **Who's in:** Wichita, Milwaukee, Des Moines, Minneapolis-St. Paul, Providence, Pittsburgh, Albany, Hartford and Denver. - **Who's waiting:** 43 cities have not hit 32°F yet, and 22 of them are past their normal date. None has set a record wait so far. - **Rare here:** Los Angeles, Miami, Phoenix, San Francisco, San Diego and Tampa almost never freeze, so we don't count them as waiting. - **What it means:** Much of the Midwest and Great Lakes is running well behind its usual first-freeze date. More cities reach their normal dates this week. ![Newsroom graphic (graphic by the Ryan Hall, Y'all newsroom)](https://public.yallsoft.app/rhy/blog/images/2026-11-08-news-newsroom-620463-0-1817.png) *Updated 3:15 PM ET Sunday.* Through Saturday, Nov 7, only nine of the 58 big cities we track have had a first freeze this season, and 22 are still waiting past their normal date. Minneapolis-St. Paul, Des Moines and Milwaukee got theirs in the last two days, and the Twin Cities and Des Moines landed among the latest first freezes on record. Omaha, Grand Rapids, Chicago and Boise are still freeze-free. A freeze here means a low of 32°F or colder at the city's official climate station. A hard freeze is 28°F or colder. Daily values are preliminary until NCEI reviews them. ## Who has had a freeze, and how early or late Four eastern cities and Denver got theirs in mid-October. Denver hit 28°F on Oct 16, 11 days later than normal. Hartford followed on Oct 17 at 32°F, 3 days later than normal. Providence, Pittsburgh and Albany all dropped on Oct 18. Providence hit 31°F, 12 days early, and Pittsburgh hit 32°F, 1 day early. Albany reached 29°F, 6 days later than normal. The Plains and Upper Midwest waited much longer. - Minneapolis-St. Paul hit 31°F on Nov 6. That is 26 days later than normal and ties for the 3rd latest first freeze in 153 falls on record. - Des Moines hit 32°F on Nov 7. That is 23 days later than normal and ties for the 4th latest in 147 falls. - Milwaukee hit 32°F on Nov 7, 16 days later than normal. It ties for the 14th latest in 155 falls. - Wichita dropped to 30°F on Nov 7, 11 days later than normal. ## Who is still waiting, and how rare it is The longest waits are in Grand Rapids and Omaha, both 24 days past their normal date of Oct 14. Boise and Chicago are 22 days past Oct 16. How unusual that is depends on the city. - **Rare:** Only 4 of 132 falls since 1892 in Grand Rapids went past Nov 7 without a freeze. Omaha has done it 7 times in 155 falls, and Boise 7 times in 149. - **Uncommon:** Salt Lake City, Detroit and Indianapolis have gone this long roughly one fall in ten. That's 12 of 152 falls in Salt Lake City, 14 of 152 in Detroit and 15 of 155 in Indianapolis. - **Not that unusual:** Chicago has gone past Nov 7 in 28 of 154 falls. Cincinnati has done it 19 times in 154, and Columbus 17 times in 148. - **Common:** In Baltimore it's 66 of 153 falls. In Charlotte it's 73 of 147. Waiting this long is ordinary there. Other cities past their date by a smaller margin include Kansas City, Buffalo, Cleveland, St. Louis, Louisville, Nashville, Raleigh, Tulsa, Oklahoma City, Richmond and Albuquerque. ## Who is next Boston and Portland reach their normal dates Monday, Nov 9, followed by Philadelphia on Tuesday, Nov 10, and Birmingham on Wednesday, Nov 11. Atlanta, Little Rock and Seattle come next on Nov 14, Austin and Memphis on Nov 15, and Washington, DC on Nov 16. "Normal" here is the median first date of the 1991-2020 seasons. It's our own calculation, not an official NOAA normal. ## What to do - If you're in a city still waiting, don't assume the garden season is over. Check your forecast each evening and cover or bring in tender plants on any night near 32°F. - Drain and put away garden hoses, and shut off outdoor spigots before the first hard freeze. - Check your car's coolant and tire pressure. - Sign up for [Y'all Alerts](/alerts) to get a heads-up when freezing temperatures show up in your forecast, and see [our winter outlook](/winter) for the bigger picture. ## Bottom line Nine cities are in the books, four of them in the last three days, and the waits in Minneapolis-St. Paul and Des Moines rank among the longest on record. Grand Rapids, Omaha and Boise are in rare territory, while Chicago and much of the Ohio Valley are late but not unheard of. ## The numbers ### Still waiting past the normal date | City | Normal | Days past | | --- | --- | --- | | Grand Rapids, MI | 24 days | normal Oct 14 | | Omaha, NE | 24 days | normal Oct 14 | | Boise, ID | 22 days | normal Oct 16 | | Chicago, IL | 22 days | normal Oct 16 | | Cincinnati, OH | 16 days | normal Oct 22 | | Detroit, MI | 16 days | normal Oct 22 | | Indianapolis, IN | 16 days | normal Oct 22 | | Columbus, OH | 13 days | normal Oct 25 | | Kansas City, MO | 13 days | normal Oct 25 | | Salt Lake City, UT | 12 days | normal Oct 26 | | Buffalo, NY | 11 days | normal Oct 27 | | Baltimore, MD | 7 days | normal Oct 31 | | Cleveland, OH | 7 days | normal Oct 31 | | St. Louis, MO | 6 days | normal Nov 1 | | Albuquerque, NM | 5 days | normal Nov 2 | | Louisville, KY | 5 days | normal Nov 2 | | Nashville, TN | 5 days | normal Nov 2 | | Charlotte, NC | 4 days | normal Nov 3 | | Raleigh, NC | 4 days | normal Nov 3 | | Tulsa, OK | 4 days | normal Nov 3 | Source: NOAA ACIS, threaded station records (normal: our 1991-2020 median) ### First freeze so far | City | Date | Vs. normal | | --- | --- | --- | | Wichita, KS | Nov 7 (30°F) | 11 days later than normal | | Milwaukee, WI | Nov 7 (32°F) | 16 days later than normal; tied for the 14th latest in 155 falls on record | | Des Moines, IA | Nov 7 (32°F) | 23 days later than normal; tied for the 4th latest in 147 falls on record | | Minneapolis-St. Paul, MN | Nov 6 (31°F) | 26 days later than normal; tied for the 3rd latest in 153 falls on record | | Providence, RI | Oct 18 (31°F) | 12 days earlier than normal | | Pittsburgh, PA | Oct 18 (32°F) | 1 day earlier than normal | | Albany, NY | Oct 18 (29°F) | 6 days later than normal | | Hartford, CT | Oct 17 (32°F) | 3 days later than normal | | Denver, CO | Oct 16 (28°F) | 11 days later than normal | Source: NOAA ACIS, threaded station records (normal: our 1991-2020 median) Explained: [What a Freeze Warning means, and how it differs from a Frost Advisory](https://ryanhallyall.com/news/what-a-freeze-warning-frost-advisory-and-hard-freeze-mean) First freeze tracker, every big city: https://ryanhallyall.com/trackers/first-freeze More on: [First freeze 2026](https://ryanhallyall.com/news/topic/first-freeze-2026) Places in this story: Wichita, KS; Milwaukee, WI; Des Moines, IA; Minneapolis-St. Paul, MN; Providence, RI; Pittsburgh, PA; Albany, NY; Hartford, CT; Denver, CO; Grand Rapids, MI; Omaha, NE; Boise, ID ## Sources - [NOAA Regional Climate Centers ACIS station records](https://www.rcc-acis.org/), NOAA Regional Climate Centers (ACIS) --- Canonical: https://ryanhallyall.com/news/first-freeze-tracker-9-of-58-big-cities-in-22-still-late-as-of-nov-7 From Ryan Hall, Y'all (https://ryanhallyall.com). Always follow official warnings from the National Weather Service.