Skip to content
Leak or burst pipe? Close the main shutoff first. Find your shutoffFind a plumber · Ask for help · Freeze center
NewberrySCPlumbing.comA HERE City resource · information site, not a plumber

Newberry freeze history: how cold, how often, and when

Winter-by-winter freeze counts, first and last freeze dates, and the cold snaps that burst pipes across the Midlands, from NOAA's weather station in Newberry.

Data: NEWBERRY, SC (NOAA cooperative station USC00386209; records since 1893), via NOAA's Applied Climate Information System, through October 29, 2026.

Tree branches coated in thick ice after an ice storm
Ice coats branches after the December 2013 ice storm in Michigan. Freezing rain brings down limbs and power lines. Photo: LadyDragonflyCC, CC BY 2.0.

A typical Newberry winter

Averages for the 17 winters from 2008-09 to 2025-26 with nearly complete data (2013-14 excluded for missing days). A winter runs July through June.

55nights at or below 32°F
33nights at or below 28°F (hard freeze)
6nights at or below 20°F (pipe alert level)
November 8median first freeze
March 21median last freeze

The earliest first freeze in this period came on October 19, 2022; the latest last freeze on April 17, 2018. For comparison, NWS Columbia's records for Columbia (1948-2014) put the average first 32°F on November 3 and the first 28°F on November 16.

This winter so far (2026-27)

No freeze yet through October 29, 2026. The coldest morning so far was 34°F on October 24, 2026. The median first freeze in Newberry is around November 8. For the coming week, see the pipe-freeze risk.

Cold snaps that mattered for pipes

February 14, 1899: The all-time record: −8°F

During the Great Blizzard of February 1899, Newberry's thermometer fell to −8°F, still the station's lowest reading in records going back to 1893.

Sources: NOAA ACIS, Newberry station

January 21, 1985: −1°F in Newberry, −2°F at Little Mountain

An arctic outbreak brought Newberry's coldest morning of the modern era. Little Mountain's NOAA station reported −2°F.

Sources: NOAA ACIS, Newberry and Little Mountain stations

January 7-8, 2014: 8°F, and more than $20 million in South Carolina freeze damage

Newberry reached 8°F on the morning of January 7 and 9°F the next morning, and the 24 hours in between stayed below freezing (high 26°F). South Carolina's Director of Insurance said the sub-freezing temperatures that month caused more than $20 million in damage to homes and businesses in the state. More single-digit and low-teen mornings followed in late January and February 2014.

Sources: NOAA ACIS, Newberry station; SC Department of Insurance, January 2014 winter safety release

January 2-7, 2018: 8°F, then a week of hard freezes

Newberry recorded 8°F on January 2, 2018, after a 24-hour period that never rose above 31°F, followed by lows of 10°F to 11°F on January 5, 6 and 7.

Sources: NOAA ACIS, Newberry station

December 23-26, 2022: The Christmas freeze

An arctic front brought gusts up to 55 mph and knocked out power to more than 75,000 South Carolina customers, then temperatures fell into the single digits and teens, with burst pipes reported across the state. Newberry reached 10°F on December 24 and stayed below freezing for the next 24 hours (high 31°F); Little Mountain reached 9°F and stayed at or below 27°F. Columbia tied its record low of 12°F on December 24 and set a record for the coldest Christmas Eve high, 28°F, and Columbia Fire answered more than 350 weather-related calls, many for burst pipes, between December 22 and 26.

Sources: SC State Climatology Office weekly summary, Dec. 20-26, 2022; NWS Columbia, December 2022 - January 2023 climate summary; WACH: Cold temperatures burst pipes across the Midlands; NOAA ACIS

January 10 and 21-23, 2025: Ice, outages, then an all-day freeze

On January 10, 2025, freezing rain and snow damaged a power line feeding a Duke Energy substation in Prosperity, and nearly 600 Newberry County customers lost power overnight. On January 22, Newberry recorded a 24-hour period with a high of 30°F and a low of 19°F, then 18°F the next morning.

Sources: WIS: Duke Energy reports power outages in Newberry County; WIS: Prosperity residents still without power; NOAA ACIS

February 1, 2026: Last winter's coldest: 11°F

The 2025-26 winter's coldest morning in Newberry was 11°F on February 1, 2026, after a 24-hour period with a high of only 28°F. That winter had 9 nights at or below 20°F, more than the recent average.

Sources: NOAA ACIS, Newberry station

Shops along Main Street in Prosperity, South Carolina
Main Street in Prosperity, Newberry County. Photo: Brian Stansberry, CC BY 4.0.

Winter by winter

WinterNights ≤32°F≤28°F≤20°F≤15°FDays high ≤32°FColdestFirst freezeLast freeze
2025-26573995111°F, February 1, 2026November 11, 2025March 20, 2026
2024-25553770118°F, January 23, 2025November 22, 2024March 7, 2025
2023-24543251013°F, January 21, 2024November 2, 2023March 20, 2024
2022-23432533110°F, December 24, 2022October 19, 2022March 22, 2023
2021-22573010019°F, January 30, 2022November 20, 2021April 10, 2022
2020-21552900021°F, February 4, 2021November 3, 2020April 2, 2021
2019-20421900021°F, January 22, 2020November 9, 2019March 9, 2020
2018-19492620020°F, January 30, 2019November 11, 2018March 21, 2019
2017-18664311918°F, January 2, 2018October 30, 2017April 17, 2018
2016-17462750019°F, January 8, 2017November 20, 2016March 20, 2017
2015-16462720018°F, January 19, 2016November 15, 2015March 22, 2016
2014-15633911529°F, February 20, 2015November 3, 2014March 30, 2015
2013-14*775011938°F, January 7, 2014October 26, 2013April 16, 2014
2012-13663200021°F, March 4, 2013November 8, 2012March 30, 2013
2011-12422140018°F, January 4, 2012October 30, 2011March 7, 2012
2010-116545145214°F, December 14, 2010November 8, 2010March 13, 2011
2009-106845121015°F, January 3, 2010November 28, 2009March 8, 2010
2008-096551114014°F, January 17, 2009October 29, 2008April 8, 2009

* More than 30 days missing that winter, so counts are low. "Days high ≤32°F" counts 24-hour periods that never rose above freezing.

Mornings at 12°F or colder since 2008

24-hour periods that never rose above freezing since 2008

These are the days when even pipes in fairly protected spaces are at risk.

Newberry's coldest temperatures on record

  1. -8°F, February 14, 1899
  2. -2°F, January 1, 1918
  3. -1°F, March 3, 1980
  4. -1°F, January 21, 1985
  5. 0°F, February 14, 1895
  6. 1°F, December 26, 1983
  7. 2°F, December 13, 1962
  8. 3°F, January 28, 1940

About the data

NOAA's cooperative observer in Newberry reads a maximum-minimum thermometer once a day, usually in the morning. A day's low is normally that morning's low, but the reported high can belong to the previous afternoon, so dates can be off by one day from what you remember. The station has a gap in the early 2000s, so averages here start with the 2008-09 winter. Your own yard, especially in a low spot or river bottom, can be several degrees colder.

Frequently asked questions

How cold does it get in Newberry, SC?

Over the 2008-09 to 2025-26 winters, Newberry's NOAA weather station averaged about 55 nights a winter at or below 32°F, 33 at or below 28°F and about 6 at or below 20°F. The record low is −8°F on February 14, 1899.

When is the first freeze in Newberry?

The median first freeze (32°F or colder) at Newberry's station from 2008-09 to 2025-26 was around November 8, and the median last freeze around March 21. The earliest first freeze in that period was October 19, 2022.

What was the coldest temperature in Newberry in the December 2022 freeze?

10°F on the morning of December 24, 2022, at Newberry's NOAA station, followed by a 24-hour period that stayed below freezing. Little Mountain recorded 9°F.

Before the next hard freeze

Protect your pipes · What freeze alerts mean · Wells and pump houses · Local plumbers

Sources

  1. NOAA Regional Climate Centers, Applied Climate Information System (ACIS): daily data for NEWBERRY (USC00386209) and LITTLE MOUNTAIN (USC00385200)
  2. NWS Columbia: Autumn frost and freeze dates
  3. IBHS / ICC: Freezing and bursting pipes (20°F alert threshold)