...1796... A famous cold day was felt at Cairo, Illinois, where the temperature fell to 7.5 degrees below zero and in Kentucky where the mercury fell to 13 degrees below zero. The Ohio and Mississippi Rivers were frozen.

...1868... A severe freeze occurred at Jacksonville, Florida, when the temperature dropped to 20 degrees.

...1872... Extreme cold gripped the Upper Midwest on Christmas Eve. Downtown Chicago reported an all-time record low of 23 degrees below zero, which stood until January 1982, and Minneapolis MN reached 38 below. The afternoon high at Minneapolis was 17 degrees below zero.

...1912... Newport, Rhode Island recorded 7.2 inches of snow, setting the record high for the date.

...1963... The temperature fell to 13 degrees below zero at Memphis, Tennessee, setting the all-time record low temperature for the city. This came only two days after Memphis had received its its third heaviest snowfall on record with 14.3 inches.

...1975... The wind chill at Newport, Rhode Island dipped to 17 degrees below zero, breaking the record of 7 degrees below zero set in 1955.

...1982... The "Blizzard of '82" blasted eastern Colorado. Akron was buried under 28 inches of snow. Denver recorded 23.6 inches of snow in 24 hours to set a new all-time 24 hour snowfall record. Winds gusting to 60 mph whipped the snow into 4 to 8 foot drifts. All highways leading out of Denver were closed and Stapleton International Airport was closed for 33 consecutive hours.

...1983... The barometric pressure reached 31.42 inches at Miles City MT to establish a record for the U.S. It was the coldest Christmas Eve of modern record. More than 125 cities reported record low temperatures for the date, and all-time record lows for December were reported at seventeen cities, including Chicago with a low of 25 degrees below zero, and Havre MT with a reading of 50 below zero.

...1987... A four day seige of heavy rain began in the south central U.S. Flooding claimed four lives and caused millions of dollars property damage. Western Tennessee was drenched with up to fourteen inches of rain in two days. Total rainfall exceeded twelve inches around Memphis TN, and the heavy rain and subsequent flooding added insult to injury to victims of the West Memphis tornado on the 14th of the month. Little Rock AR experienced their wettest December day of record with 5.01 inches of rain. West Little Rock reported 10.20 inches of rain in 24 hours.  (Storm Data)

...1988... Early morning thunderstorms developing along a cold front spawned a powerful tornado at Franklin TN which killed one person, injured seven others, and caused eight million dollars damage. Another in a series of winter storms in the western U.S. produced 20 inches of snow at Blue Canyon CA in 24 hours. Bishop CA received 14 inches of snow in just six hours, and Redding CA, which averages three inches of snow per year, was blanketed with ten inches.

...1989... Christmas Eve 1989 will go down as one of the coldest Christmas Eve's on record for the eastern U.S. Huntsville, Alabama set a new record low of 1 degree above zero. At Miami, Florida, a new record low of 33 degrees broke the old record set back in 1968. In New England, Burlington, Vermont set a new record low of 18 degrees below zero and at Concord, New Hampshire, a reading of 19 degrees below zero set new record as well. -Heavy snow fell across the eastern Carolinas. Cape Hatteras, North Carolina was in its second day of its greatest snowstorm on record. 13.3 inches fell over the two day period. Other snow amounts included 19.5 inches at Longwood, North Carolina, 16 inches at Morehead City, North Carolina, 15.3 inches at Wilmington, North Carolina, and 14 inches at Myrtle Beach, South Carolina.

...1990... A total of 35 cities across the western states reported record lows. 18 of these records were set in Utah alone. 44 degrees below zero was reported at Historic Farm in the Cache Valley. 34 degrees below zero set a record at Roosevelt, Utah. Other cities with record lows were at Milford, Utah (33 below) and and Salt Lake City, Utah (7 below). Sacramento, California recorded its 5th record low in a row with 23 degrees. Denver, Colorado concluded 85.5 consecutive hours at or below zero.

...1993... Light snow at Sioux Falls, South Dakota pushed the melted precipitation for the year for the city to 36.03 inches. This set a new all-time record for yearly precipitation for the location.

...1994... A high wind gust of 61 miles per hour was recorded at Newport, Rhode Island, breaking the record of 48 miles per hour set in 1990.

...2009... Sioux Falls, South Dakota was in the middle of a three day snowstorm which dumped 20.7 inches of snow on the city -- its second largest snowstorm on record.