Coast to coast, there will probably never be another severe cold wave like the one the nation endured in mid-February 1899.
Several severe arctic airmasses moved south with incredibly high barometric pressure (1064 mb) dropped out of Canada while a series of strong lows (984 mb) formed in the Gulf of Mexico and ejected up the east coast.
The coldest temperature recorded was at Fort Logan, Montana, recording an astonishing low of −61°F.
This cold wave extended coast to coast and started in the Pacific Northwest with lows of 9°F at Portland, Oregon and 12°F at Seattle, Washington.
Even the normally mild Southwestern U.S. didn't escape the cold with Los Angeles down to 33°F and San Diego to 34°F.
Phoenix, Arizona had a low of 24° and Santa Fe, New Mexico to -5°F.
The rural Plains states were incredibly hard hit with great suffering and horrible losses to agriculture. Some of the record lows:
- Scottsbluff, Nebraska -45°F
- Dodge City, Kansas -26°F
- Kansas City, Missouri -22°F
- Galveston, Texas 8°F
- Austin, Texas -5°F
In Chicago, there was great damage to underground water pipes. The Mississippi River remained frozen as far south as Hannibal, Missouri for the entire month. Ice two inches thick was even witnessed flowing down the Mississippi River, past New Orleans, and into the Gulf of Mexico.
Measurable snow fell across the Sunshine State as far south as Lakeland and Tampa. A trace of snow fell at Fort Myers, the southernmost snowfall in Florida until January 1977. Lake City measured 3 inches.. The snow falling on Tampa was probably "Gulf-effect" snow produced when the frigidly cold air streamed across the Gulf of Mexico.
Atlanta, Georgia shivered at -9°F
Montgomery, Alabama dropped to -5°F
Records fell in Florida that still stand today. It was -2 in Tallahassee, the coldest temperature ever recorded in Florida.
Tampa and Orlando both dropped to 22, records for the month of February. This is not Tampa's coldest temperature every though, that was 18 set on December 13, 1962.
As it ended, the storm produced very heavy snow in the Northeastern U.S. Washington DC had almost 2 feet and New York City had 1 ½ feet. The nation's capital dropped to a record −8°F.
Remember, this was 1899, if you didn't live in a big city you were pretty much on your own in rural America in those days.