tonight coming back from my g/f family on the highway my IAT on my aeroforce scan gauge when down to 26 degrees (that whit my coolant at195 )i was thinking should i block the front of my air filter because here out of town i can get very cold sometime

The only issue I could forsee being a problem is if your filter got water on it and it froze, which would block some airflow.

Other than that, air is air, and the colder the better, the air will get warmed up in a hurry as soon as it gets inside the engine.

I went back to my gutted air box, and now that I didnt end up selling my FWI, I think I will stay with the gutted airbox until the warmer weather comes around to re-install.

I've never experienced or even heard of anyone having problems with a CAI in the winter. And very few issues with FWI'*, too.

My SLE/SC went over the Siskiyou summit with the SSEi'* old CAI in the dead of winter last year with no issues.

SSEi took that same CAI up to crater lake during the 'closed' season about 3 years ago in white-out conditions. Neither car had issues.

my car loves the fwi in the winter (louder whine FTW)

When I pulled mine, it was filthy and had a bit of sand in it when I cleaned it. Im thinking Winter would be much worse on it and therefore would rather install it in the spring/summer

The thought of possibly sucking in salty water from slush etc.has me worried.

The only time with a CAI I ever had issues was in about -45 to -50 Celcius/Farenhite. The IAT sensor sends a reading of +5656 to either my Scanner (Actron on the 93) or to the Aeroforce in the 1997, it did this too on my Alero when I had the Aeroforce in there last winter. My 1993 would actually stall if the wind hit the front of it hard enough when it was blistering cold as such, I wouldnt expect anyone to have any real problems unless your climate is as extream is this come January/Feb.
I cannot claim that is is a direct result of running a CAI in the cold, however I am sure the IAT is getting more direct air from outside in a CAI versus stock Air box (series 1).

You hit the max allowable cold for the sensor.

I run an fwi all year through all weather and deep snow. No issues.

I have never had a problem with mine.