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Minneapolis Briefly Colder Than Mars: What the Temperatures Tell Us

08:13 AM, 12/05/2025
Minneapolis Briefly Colder Than Mars: What the Temperatures Tell Us

Minneapolis experienced a late-November cold snap that pushed daytime highs into the mid-to-upper 20s°F, briefly comparable to daytime temperatures recorded on Mars by NASA’s Curiosity rover. While Curiosity sees daytime readings near 25–30°F, Martian nights often plunge to about -96°F or lower because Mars is farther from the Sun and has an atmosphere only ~1% as dense as Earth’s. The thin, dry air causes extreme day–night swings and allows temperatures on Mars to fall to as low as -225°F.

Minneapolis Briefly Colder Than Mars

A late-November cold snap pushed daytime highs in Minneapolis — Minnesota’s largest city — into the mid-to-upper 20s Fahrenheit, roughly 10°F below normal and the coldest stretch there since February. For a brief window, those daytime readings compared with temperatures recorded on Mars by NASA’s Curiosity rover.

Curiosity has reported daytime temperatures on the Red Planet around 25–30°F at its Gale Crater site, while nighttime lows commonly plunge to roughly -96°F to -100°F. By contrast, Minneapolis overnight lows during the cold snap fell only into the teens and 20s, illustrating a dramatic difference in how the two worlds retain heat.

“Even if the afternoon readings appear similar, the Red Planet is still an entirely different world,” said AccuWeather meteorologist Brian Lada.

Why Mars Is So Much Colder At Night

Mars sits farther from the Sun (about 142 million miles) than Earth (about 93 million miles), and its atmosphere is extremely thin — roughly 1% of Earth's surface pressure. That thin atmosphere is poor at holding heat, so surface temperatures can swing wildly between day and night and can fall as low as -225°F in some locations.

Another factor is the scarcity of water vapor. On Earth, water vapor helps trap heat; Mars’ dry air lets warmth escape quickly after sunset. Despite the extreme cold, Mars does have weather-like phenomena: seasons, strong winds, clouds (likely made of water ice), and storms that can produce electrical activity.

Precipitation on Mars typically takes the form of frost rather than liquid rain. NASA notes that the ground can be colder than the air on clear nights, causing moisture to freeze onto the surface; Viking II observed frost some mornings during its 1970s mission.

Curiosity’s Readings

The Curiosity rover has been measuring Martian weather since landing in Gale Crater in 2012. For example, on December 1 Curiosity recorded a high of 25°F and a low of -96°F at that location.

Bottom line: For a short time, Minneapolis’ daytime temperatures matched those seen on Mars, but Martian nights remain far colder due to the planet’s distance from the Sun and its thin, dry atmosphere.

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