At a Glance

A number of cities in the East and South have had their coldest first half of winter in at least seven years.A few Northeast cities have seen their coldest start to winter in over 20 years.However, only a few cities have had a top-10 coldest winter so far.

The first half of winter 2017-18 has been the coldest in at least seven years in a number of cities in the South, Northeast and Ohio Valley.

Through Jan. 16 – roughly the midpoint of – it has been the coldest winter-to-date since 2010-11 in New York, Philadelphia, Washington D.C., Cleveland, Louisville, St. Louis, Nashville, Raleighand New Orleans, according to data from the .

You have to go back to 2009-10 to find a colder first half of winter in Atlanta, Corpus Christi, Houston, Oklahoma City and San Antonio.

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The first half of winter 2017-18 was the coldest such period (Dec. 1-Jan. 16) since the following winters, indicated by the colored dots.

(Data: SERCC)

In Lower Michigan, including Detroit, Flint and Grand Rapids, only the winter of 2000-01has started out colder this century.

In parts of New Yorkand New England, it's the coldest start to winter this century.

Buffalo, Syracuseand Burlington, Vermont, have had their chilliest half-winter in 22 years – since 1995-1996.

Topping that, Boston and Bangor, Maine, have had their coldest first six weeks of winter since George H. W. Bush completed his first year in office – 1989-90.

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Daily temperatures over a three-month period ending Jan. 16, 2018, at Boston's Logan Airport. Winter temperatures (Dec. 1-Jan. 16) are highlighted by the pink box. Colder-than-average days are denoted in blue. Warmer-than-average days are in red.

(NOAA/CPC)

Boston saw more than double the number of colder-than-average days in the first six weeks of winter (30) as warmer-than-average(14).

Similarly, Detroit's colder days outnumbered warmer days 29 to 17, as did Houston (28 to 15) from Dec. 1 through Jan. 16.

After an early December cold outbreak set the table for some , a , bringing the of any year on record to dozens of cities in the East.

Following a brief January thaw, more bitter cold plunged into the Deep South this past week, bringing the coldest temperatureseen in decades in , and the .

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Not a Top 10, For Most

Despite the brutal cold, the first half of winter 2017-2018 has not cracked the top-10 coldest starts to winter on record , according to the SERCC.

For instance, Dec. 1-Jan. 16 was tied for the 22nd-coldest such period in both Boston and Detroit, and tied for 20th-coldest in Houston, with at least 125 years of records in each location.

Surface temperature departures from average in degrees Celsius from Dec. 1-21, 2017 (first image), showing the relative warmth in the Plains, followed by the much colder Dec. 22-Jan. 15, 2018 period (second image).

(NOAA/ESRL Physical Sciences Division)

Despite some frigid temperatures in the 20s, 30s and even 40s below zero during the aforementioned cold snaps, the December-through-mid-January period wasn't nearly a top-10 coldest first half of winter in the northern and central Plains.

This was due to a very warmfirst three weeks or so ofDecember from the Dakotas to Kansas and Missouri, somewhat washing outthe subsequent cold snaps.

For instance, Bismarck, North Dakota, had three early December days with highs in the 50s; average highs are in the upper 20s.

This was followed 10 days with lows in the minus 20sfrom late December into mid-January in the capital of the Peace Garden State.

There were somelocations with at least a 60-year period of record that did crack their top-10 coldest first halves of winter, including:

Bangor, Maine: Tied for 10th-coldest in 82 years of records Glens Falls, New York: Tied for 8th-coldest in 73 years of records LaGuardia Airport (NYC): Tied for 8th-coldest in 61 years of records Parkersburg, West Virginia: Eighth-coldest in 67 years of records Salisbury, Maryland: Tied for 10th-coldest in 70 years of records Waynesville, North Carolina: Tenth-coldest in 112 years of records Biloxi, Mississippi: Seventh-coldest in 110 years of records Flint, Michigan: Ninth-coldest in 122 years of records

On the other end of the spectrum, it's been the on record in Las Vegas, Phoenixand Long Beach, California, according to the SERCC.

Even America's northernmost town, Utqiagvik (formerly Barrow), Alaska, is having its warmest start to winter in 98 years of records.

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So while it certainly has been coldat times in the eastern two-thirds of the country this winter, take some comfort in knowing it has been colder in past years.

If that doesn't cheer you up, we're also moving past .

Jonathan Erdman is a senior meteorologist at weather.com and has been an incurable weather geek since a tornado narrowly missed his childhood home in Wisconsin at age 7. Follow him onand.