January is the coldest month in Nashville. The average high is 47°F. The average low is 27°F. The city gets about 22 days with temperatures below freezing per year, and most of those fall in January and February.
The Numbers
January temperature range:
- Average high: 47°F
- Average low: 27°F
- Average daily mean: approximately 37°F
- Days with sub-freezing temperatures: roughly 22 per year (concentrated in Jan–Feb)
February is similar, marginally warmer on average but often the month that brings Nashville’s most significant winter weather events. Historically, two of Nashville’s five biggest snowstorms have fallen in February.
The Cold Extremes
Nashville’s all-time record low is −17°F, recorded on January 21, 1985. The minimum daily mean ever recorded was −5°F on January 20, 1985, two consecutive days of historic cold, part of a brutal cold snap across the Southeast.
Under normal winter conditions, Nashville averages only about 2 nights per year when temperatures drop to 10°F or below. Six days per year, on average, the temperature stays below 32°F all day (a “freeze day”). These numbers are modest compared to Chicago, Cincinnati, or Indianapolis. January in Nashville is genuinely mild by northern US standards.
What January Actually Feels Like
January in Nashville is gray, damp, and occasionally icy rather than deeply cold. The main weather threat is not prolonged bitter cold but ice storms, freezing rain on the city’s hills that turns roads into skating rinks. The city doesn’t have the infrastructure (salt trucks, plows, experienced winter drivers) to handle ice confidently, so even a modest freezing rain event causes disproportionate disruption.
The rainfall in winter is mostly liquid, about 4 inches per month in December and January. That keeps the landscape from getting the spare winter look of the northern states. Nashville winters are more wet and grey than cold and white.
Silver Lining: January Is the Best Time to Visit the City Itself
Tourist volume drops sharply from October through March. Broadway is quieter, restaurant reservations are available, hotel rates are lower, and the Ryman Auditorium’s winter season still brings strong shows. Locals who resent the summer and fall crowds actually enjoy their city most in winter.
The winter music calendar is real. The Ryman Auditorium’s acoustic properties are at their best in a full but not overflowing house. The honky-tonks on Broadway, stripped of the bachelorette hordes, return to something closer to their intended purpose.
Sources
- National Weather Service, Nashville Forecast Office, January climate normals (1991–2020)
- NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information, Nashville extreme cold records
- Southeast Regional Climate Center, winter weather data
- Metro Nashville Emergency Management Agency, winter weather response guidelines