...1875... The temperature at Cheyenne WY dipped to an all-time record cold reading of -38 degrees.

...1880... The second great storm to hit the Pacific Coast within three days dipped barometer readings to 28.48 inches at Olympia, Washington and 28.51 inches at Portland, Oregon. Heavy snows blocked railroads for days.

...1888... Severe cold gripped much of the western U.S. At Portland OR the Columbia River was frozen for two weeks, and in southern California temperatures dipped below freezing in some of the citrus growing areas.

...1953... 2.04 inches of rain/melted snow fell at Newport, Rhode Island, setting the record high for the date (previous record was 1.42 inches et in 1935).

...1968... The low temperature at Newport, Rhode Island fell to 5 degrees below zero, shattering the previous record of 5 degrees set in 1942. The dew point was 27 degrees below zero and the wind chill was 28 degrees below zero, both records for the date.

...1976... Lake effect snow squalls buried the town of Adams NY under 68 inches of snow.

...1977... The coldest temperature ever recorded in St. Cloud, Minnesota was recorded on this day. At 8:00 am CST the temperature dropped to 43 degrees below zero. Between January 3rd and 19th of this year, the low temperature was 15 degrees below zero or colder on 14 out of 17 days.

...1987... A winter storm spread heavy snow from the Central Plains into the Great Lakes Region. Heavier totals included 9 inches at Sun City KS, 7 inches at Columbia MO, 11 inches at Terre Haute IN, and up to 10 inches in the southern suburbs of Chicago IL.

...1978... The all time January low barometric reading of 28.44 inches was set at Newport, Rhode Island, breaking the record of 29.29 inches set in 1964. A wind gust of 56 miles per hour was recorded, breaking the record of 46 miles per hour set in 1956.

...1988... A storm in the northeastern U.S. produced ten inches of snow at Boston MA, 7.9 inches at Newport RI and 14 inches at Worcester MA. A winter storm in the northwestern U.S. produced a foot of snow in three hours at McCall ID.

...1989... Strong winds prevailed along the eastern slopes of the Rockies in Colorado. Winds gusted to 113 mph at the Air Force Academy near Colorado Springs, and reached 115 mph at Boulder.

...1990... A third storm in four days hit the Pacific Northwest. Winds in Oregon gusted above 100 mph at Netarts and at Oceanside. Up to 8.16 inches of rain was reported around Seaside OR, and the total of 4.53 inches of rain at Astoria OR was a record for the date. Twelve cities in the western U.S. reported record high temperatures for the date. The high of 70 degrees at Cedar City UT was a record for January.

...1992... An unbelievable 14 consecutive days of cloudy skies finally came to an end at Minneapolis/St. Paul, Minnesota. Every single weather observation during this time period showed overcast conditions -- 350 consecutive hours of cloudy skies! There was not even a "mostly cloudy" -- all observations were completely cloudy. On a side note was the fact that during this cloudy period it was very mild. The average temperature from December 26th to January 8th was 19 degrees above normal.

...1993... A big snowstorm dumped 17.2 inches of snow on Topeka, Kansas in 24 hours.

...1996... The snow depth of 25 inches was recorded at Newport, Rhode Island, breaking the previous record of 15 inches set in 1904.