The temperature crack will seriously affect the safe operation of the concrete dam, and cold wave occurred during the construction period is one of the main causes of the temperature crack on the concrete surface. In order to study the effect of cold wave on the temperature and temperature stress of the RCC arch dam and the effect of the dam surface heat prevention measures, finite element method is used to simulate and calculate the three working conditions of presence and absence of cold wave and surface thermal insulation. The results showed that the maximum temperature difference between inside and outside of dam is 36.3℃, and the maximum temperature stress is 2.14MPa when a cold wave occurs. The maximum temperature difference is reduced to 25.8℃, and the maximum temperature stress is reduced to 1.12MPa after the surface insulation measures are taken in the surface of dam. The magnitude of temperature and stress change is very small inside the dam. The depth that the cold wave can affect is only 0.8 m.It can be seen that the cold wave caused a large temperature drop and temperature stress in the surface concrete of dam, taking the surface insulation measures can significantly reduce the impact of cold waves on the dam.