Where is the most cold place in Poland?

Poland is gradually becoming an increasingly popular tourist destination. Tourists especially visit Kraków, Auschwitz, Wieliczka, and Zakopane. Many people planning a vacation in Poland want to learn more about the country and wonder where the coldest place in Poland is. Which location in Poland is the coldest? Where is it the coldest in Poland? Here’s the coldest spot in Poland.

Where is it the coldest in Poland?

Poland is not known for its great weather. While Poland is not as cold as Scandinavia or Russia, it still experiences harsh winters, with temperatures often dropping below -20°C in some regions. For a significant part of the year, it is cool and rainy in Poland. Only a few weeks during the summer bring high temperatures and sunshine. So, where is it the coldest in Poland?

Tourists planning a trip to Zakopane, located at the foot of the Tatra Mountains, might be surprised to learn that Zakopane is not the coldest place in Poland. The lowest temperature ever recorded in Poland (after World War II, when Poland lost vast territories in the east, including major cities like Lwów and Vilnius) was in the town of Siedlce in the Mazovian Voivodeship, where on January 11, 1940, a record low temperature of -41 degrees Celsius was recorded. However, this measurement is from a long time ago, and currently, temperatures that low are not recorded in Poland outside of high mountain areas.

The place with the lowest average monthly temperature in Poland is the town of Suwałki, where in January 1987, a record low average temperature of -15.5 degrees Celsius was recorded. To this day, Poles consider Suwałki, located in the north of the country, to be the “Polish cold pole.” More specifically, the coldest spot is the village of Wiżajny, located near Suwałki.

Suwałki and the surrounding areas of the Masurian Lake District are where the lowest average annual temperatures in Poland are currently recorded, at least when it comes to Polish cities. The region is far from the warming influence of the Baltic Sea and lies in a natural basin, where cold air masses accumulate, creating extremely low temperatures during winter.

Colder places

Data on historically low temperatures in Poland comes from places where weather stations systematically collect data. It is an obvious fact that in the Tatra Mountains, which are high by Polish standards, there are places where temperatures can drop even lower during the winter.

Between 2015 and 2017, temperature studies were conducted in the Western Tatras, and it was determined that the coldest place in Poland might be the Litworowy Kocioł (Litworowy Cirque), a glacial cirque located at an altitude of 1,828 meters above sea level.

Litworowy Kocioł is a remote glacial cirque in the Western Tatras, is a unique microclimate area where cold air sinks and gets trapped, creating extreme temperature drops

However, there is no weather station there, and it is not a town. This is also the place where the record low temperature in Poland during the summer was recorded. On July 18, 2022, researchers from Adam Mickiewicz University recorded a temperature of -5.7 degrees Celsius in Litworowy Kocioł.

It can also get cold in Poland at the summit of Śnieżka, located on the Polish-Czech border, in the Orava-Nowy Targ Basin, and in various parts of the Tatra Mountains, but not in the town of Zakopane.

In Zakopane, at the foot of the Tatra Mountains, temperatures as low as those in Siedlce or average temperatures as low as in Suwałki. f you plan to visit Poland’s coldest spots in winter, make sure to wear thermal clothing, waterproof boots, and insulated gloves.

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