By Nora Tooher

Baby, it really is cold outside. …

The Chicago metro area is the sixth coldest big city in America, according to an analysis by Weather.com, the website for the Weather Channel.

Chicago’s all-time record low was -27 degrees, set on Jan. 20, 1985. On average, subzero cold occurs eight to nine days a year, while subfreezing temperatures occur 127 days a year.

The website calculated 30-year average temperatures from the National Ocean and Atmospheric Administration during the months of December, January and February to determine the 20 large U.S. cities that are persistently the coldest during those core winter months.

On average, Chicago area residents have to endure subzero cold eight to nine days a year, and subfreezing temperatures 127 days a year. Chi-town’s all-time record low was -27 degrees, set on Jan. 20, 1985.

Minneapolis/St. Paul beat out Anchorage, Ala., as the coldest city in America. The Twin Cities' all-time record low was -41 degrees set on Jan. 21, 1888. On average, subzero cold occurs 24 to 25 days each year, while subfreezing temperatures occur 151 days a year there.

No. 2 Anchorage has subzero cold 20 to 21 days a year and subfreezing temperatures 192 days a year.

New York City didn’t make the list, despite posting a temperature of 4 degrees on Jan. 7, but several other large cities in New York State did: Rochester, No. 8 and Buffalo, No. 9.

Other large cities that made the top 20 coldest cities’ list were: Madison and Milwaukee, both in Wisconsin, third and fourth; Omaha and Lincoln, both in Nebraska, fifth and seventh and Fort Wayne, Ind., 10th. Toledo, Ohio, was 11th; Detroit was 12th; Akron and Cleveland, both in Ohio, were 13th and 14th, respectively. Indianapolis was No. 15, followed by Colorado Springs, Colo., 16; Pittsburgh, 17; Denver, 18; Kansas City, Mo., 19 and Boston, 20.