a cold wave that would become known as the "Great Arctic Outbreak" took the United States by storm. People across the nation braced for the worst as temperatures plummeted throughout the first two weeks of February 1899. The western third of the country was the first to feel the bitter cold with temperatures dropping as low as 33F in Los Angeles, California, 9F in Portland, Oregon, and -9F in Boise, Idaho, by February 4. And, by February 6, 30F temperatures and below had made their way across the country and as far south as North Carolina.
However, the full force of the outbreak wasn't felt until February 10, when some of the coldest winter weather conditions on record struck the eastern two-thirds of the United States. That day, temperatures across the Midwest and Ohio Valley were below -20F, and even Washington, DC, recorded a low temperature of -8F. By February 11, temperatures plummeted even further with Fort Logan, Montana, recording an astonishing low of -61F. Even Florida couldn't escape the bitter cold, and temperatures fell to the all-time state record low of -2F in Tallahassee on February 13.
The Great Arctic Outbreak didn't just bring cold to the nation. It also brought snow and ice and lots of it. By the time blizzard conditions ceased in the Mid-Atlantic and Northeast, Cape May, New Jersey, record over 30 inches of snow, as did Washington, DC, and Baltimore, Maryland. On February 17, ice was even witnessed flowing down the Mississippi River, past New Orleans, and into the Gulf of Mexico. And, a one-inch thick layer of ice formed at the mouth of the Mississippi in East and Garden Island Bays in Louisiana.
https://www.ncdc.noaa.gov/news/climate-history-great-arctic-outbreak-february-1899
https://www.ncdc.noaa.gov/sites/default/files/attachments/Monthly-Weather-Review-February-1899.pdf
However, the full force of the outbreak wasn't felt until February 10, when some of the coldest winter weather conditions on record struck the eastern two-thirds of the United States. That day, temperatures across the Midwest and Ohio Valley were below -20F, and even Washington, DC, recorded a low temperature of -8F. By February 11, temperatures plummeted even further with Fort Logan, Montana, recording an astonishing low of -61F. Even Florida couldn't escape the bitter cold, and temperatures fell to the all-time state record low of -2F in Tallahassee on February 13.
The Great Arctic Outbreak didn't just bring cold to the nation. It also brought snow and ice and lots of it. By the time blizzard conditions ceased in the Mid-Atlantic and Northeast, Cape May, New Jersey, record over 30 inches of snow, as did Washington, DC, and Baltimore, Maryland. On February 17, ice was even witnessed flowing down the Mississippi River, past New Orleans, and into the Gulf of Mexico. And, a one-inch thick layer of ice formed at the mouth of the Mississippi in East and Garden Island Bays in Louisiana.
https://www.ncdc.noaa.gov/news/climate-history-great-arctic-outbreak-february-1899
https://www.ncdc.noaa.gov/sites/default/files/attachments/Monthly-Weather-Review-February-1899.pdf