From NWS
1996: Unseasonably warm air surged into Iowa ahead of an approaching cold front, bringing temperatures into the 50s across much of the state and lower 60s in the southeast. Many stations broke their daily high temperature record including Waterloo with a high of 54 F and Burlington with a high of 63 F. Other reported high temperatures included 60 F at Fairfield and Ottumwa, 61 F at Centerville and Mount Ayr, 62 F at Keosauqua. Behind the front arctic air blasted into the region, and by the 19th some stations in northern Iowa remained below zero even in the afternoon. A series of reinforcing arctic fronts followed in the subsequent weeks and by the first few days of February, Iowa was gripped by one if its worst cold snaps on record.

17 January 1892 → The lowest temperature recorded in Delaware was -17 F in Millsboro. 17 January 1982 → A terrific Chinook wind buffeted the Colorado foothills with wind gusts up to 147 mph. It was the most costly windstorm in Colorado history at the time. 17 January 1999 → Tornadoes swarmed from Arkansas into Tennessee and Mississippi. This was the first outbreak of several that would take place between today and the 22nd from the Ozarks into the Lower Mississippi Valley.

Posted under Weather History