Posted on 12/19/2025
Cold mornings love to pick a fight with your tire pressure light. You start the car, the TPMS light pops on, and suddenly you are wondering if you picked up a nail on the way home or if the cold air just stole some pressure. Knowing the difference between normal seasonal pressure drop and a real puncture saves you stress, time, and tire damage. Why Cold Weather Makes Tire Pressure Drop Air shrinks as it gets colder, so the pressure inside your tires drops when the temperature outside falls. A good rule of thumb is about 1 PSI for every 10 degrees of temperature change. That adds up quickly when you go from a warm afternoon to a freezing morning. When that happens, your TPMS light may come on even though nothing is actually wrong with the tire itself. The system is simply telling you the pressure has fallen below its set point. Once the day warms up or you add air, the light usually behaves again, at least until the next big temperature swing. How Seasonal P ... read more