...1821... A big snowstorm from Virginia to southern New England came to an end, leaving a foot of snow at Washington, DC, 14 inches at Baltimore, Maryland, 18 inches at Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and, 14 inches at New York City.

...1873... A blizzard raged across the Great Plains. Many pioneers, unprepared for the cold and snow, perished in southwest Minnesota and northwestern Iowa.

...1886... A severe cold wave in the southern section of the country brought the worst freeze since the 1835 freeze in Florida.

...1896... The low temperature dipped to 1 degree below zero at Newport, Rhode Island to establish the daily low temp for the date.

...1913... Tucson, Arizona set its all time record low temperature with a frigid 0 degrees.

...1971... The temperature at Hawley Lake, located southeast of McNary AZ, plunged to 40 degrees below zero to establish a state record. 

...1987... A storm in the southwestern U.S. produced 30 inches of snow north of Zion National Park in southern Utah, with 18 inches reported at Cedar Canyon UT.

...1988... A winter storm in the southeastern U.S. produced 27 inches of snow in the Bad Creek area of South Carolina, and claimed the lives of two million chickens in Alabama. 

...1989... A tornado in southern Illinois obliterated half the community of Allendale, injuring fifty persons and causing more than five million dollars damage, while thunderstorm winds gusting higher than 100 mph caused ten million dollars damage at Franklin KY. Twenty-five cities, from the Gulf coast to Michigan, reported record high temperatures for the date.

...1990... A rapidly intensifying low pressure system and a vigorous cold front brought heavy rain and high winds to the Pacific Northwest. Two to five inches rains soaked western Washington and western Oregon, and winds gusting above 70 mph caused extensive damage. Wind gusts on Rattlesnake Ridge in Washington State reached 130 mph.

...1992... A rare January thunderstorm rumbled over Sioux Falls, South Dakota. This was the first January thunderstorm recorded in the city since 1939. Meanwhile, thunderstorms produced 6 tornadoes (one F2 and five F1s) near Grand Island, Nebraska -- the first tornadoes ever recorded in Nebraska during the month of January.

...1995... A severe thunderstorm produced a downburst wind gust to 146 mph at Seymour-Johnson AFB in Goldsboro, North Carolina.

...1996... The "Blizzard of '96" clobbered the Mid Atlantic and Northeast with record snows. The storm began over the Mid Atlantic on the 6th, and ended over New England on the 8th. Low pressure developed over the southeast on the 6th, and eventually became a 983 millibar storm center off of the Delmarva. 42.5 inches of snow was recorded at Bayard, West Virginia, while 39 inches fell at Snowshoe, West Virginia. A new snowfall record for New Jersey was set when 35 inches piled up at White House. All the big cities got buried: Washington/Dulles - 24.6 inches, Baltimore - 22.5, Philadelphia - 30.7 inches (biggest snowfall ever), New York City (Staten Island) - 27.5 inches, and Boston - 18.2 inches. Other snowfall totals included 38 inches at Upper Strasburg, Pennsylvania, 37 inches at Shenandoah, Virginia, 36 inches at Standfordville, New York, 32 inches at Great Barrington, Massachusetts, 28 inches in the Pine Mountains in Kentucky, 27 inches at Coventry, Rhode Island, 19.7 inches at Newport Rhode Island and 26 inches at Milford, Connecticut. Cincinnati, Ohio had 14.4 inches for its greatest single storm snowfall on record (exceeded in 1998). This event was the second in the "siege of snowstorms" along the east coast during a ten day period.