...1862... The "Nochian Flood of California" created a vast sea in the Sacramento Valley. San Francisco had a January rainfall total of 24.36 inches

...1886... A great blizzard struck the state of Kansas without warning. The storm claimed 50 to 100 lives, and eighty percent of the cattle in the state.

...1888... The mercury plunged to 65 degrees below zero at Fort Keough, located near Miles City MT. The reading stood as a record for the continental U.S. for sixty-six years.

...1912... The low temperature at Newport, Rhode Island dipped to 5 degrees below zero, breaking the record of 4 degrees set in 1897.  The temperature at Oakland MD plunged to 40 degrees below zero to establish a state record.

...1913... The temperature rose 64 degrees in 14 hours at Rapid City, South Dakota

...1950... The coldest and snowiest month on record (57.2 inches) at Seattle, Washington was highlighted by a major snowstorm on this date. 20 inches fell at the Sea-Tac Airport.

...1964... A large, slow moving snowstorm hit the Mid Atlantic and New England. Williamsport, Pennsylvania was buried under 24 inches of snow. Scranton, Pennsylvania checked in with 19 inches, Nantucket, Massachusetts recorded 19 inches and Newport,  Rhode Island recorded 10 inches. (13th-14th)

...1966... The high barometric reading at Newport, Rhode Island rose to 30.84 inches, breaking the record of 30.67 set back in 1909.

...1987... Dry and mild weather prevailed across the country. Nineteen cities in the Upper Midwest reported record high temperatures for the date, including Grand Island NE with a reading of 67 degrees.

...1988... A fast moving cold front ushered arctic cold into the north central and northeastern U.S. Mason City IA reported a wind chill reading of 51 degrees below zero, and Greenville ME reported a wind chill of 63 degrees below zero. Winds along the cold front gusted to 63 mph at Rochester NY, and a thunderstorm along the cold front produced wind gusts to 62 mph at Buffalo NY, along with snow and sleet.

...1989... Friday the 13th was bad luck primarily for the south central U.S. as an upper level weather disturbance spread a mixture of snow and sleet and freezing rain across Texas and Oklahoma. Snowfall totals in central Oklahoma ranged up to 8.5 inches at Norman.

...1990... A winter storm in the southwestern U.S. produced more than a twelve inches of snow in the mountains of California and Nevada. In northern California, Huntington Lake was buried under 40 inches of snow, and up to 20 inches was reported in northeastern Nevada. Heavy rain soaked some of the lower elevations of California. Gibraltar Dam CA was drenched with 5.33 inches of rain in two days.