Second arctic blast nears South MS. See how it compares to cold weather records

Bitter air blasting south from the Arctic is expected hold the Mississippi Coast hostage this weekend with temperatures that could burst pipes, frost windows and rooftops and send shivering residents retreating indoors again.

Forecasters warned that the freeze, which will begin late Friday, could drop temperatures across the region to 20 degrees or lower. It will arrive just days after a huge winter storm with several significant freezes inflicted damage across much of the state.

The weekend will be frigid even on the Coast. Forecasters expect wind chills in Gulfport could reach 11 degrees Saturday morning and 8 degrees Sunday morning. High temperatures on Saturday are in the 30s.

Monday morning temperatures will also dip below freezing, according to the National Weather Service. But highs on Monday will rise to 60 degrees.

Despite the rarity of two consecutive arctic blasts, temperatures on the Mississippi Coast may not break records.

Temperatures would have to dive to zero or lower to break the coldest recorded temperature at the Gulfport-Biloxi International Airport: 1 degree in February 1899.

The second-coldest temperature recorded there was 4 degrees in January 1985, according to the National Weather Service.

The airport’s third-coldest recorded temperature was 7 degrees during the historic snowstorm last January, according to National Weather Service records.

Hard freeze expected in South MS this weekend

The weekend’s forecast suggests the Coast will not near those numbers.

Meteorologists expect the low could be 23 degrees early Saturday in Gulfport, Dave Schlotzhauer, a forecaster for the National Weather Service in Slidell, said earlier this week. Temperatures early Sunday could reach 20 degrees.

Forecasters said any possible precipitation would leave the region before the coldest temperatures arrive, which means there is almost no chance of freezing rain, sleet or snow.

It will bear little resemblance to historical cold snaps on the Coast.

The 1-degree weather in February 1899 transformed the region, according to an edition of the Daily Herald from that era.

The newspaper reported that frozen fish had washed up along Back Bay in Biloxi and encouraged residents to collect them for free. Fuel was scarce. Ice formed near the shoreline and north of Horn Island. Newspaper delivery was temporarily suspended because freezing carriers failed to show up.

In January 1985, when the temperature dipped to 4 degrees, some residents went ice skating on the frozen edge of the Bay of St. Louis.

And last January, when the temperature dipped to 7 degrees, the Coast was engulfed in historic levels of snow.

This story was originally published January 28, 2026 at 5:00 AM.