Is this the coldest it's ever been?

Well, it surely felt that way to me this weekend. Especially when we had a heater malfunction Saturday night! But I found out that it was even colder, 'way back in 1886, when the record for January 9 was set, at 12°. Our 16° the other night was close, though!

If you want to find out how cold, or how hot, or how much rain (or how little) has fallen on a certain day—or usually falls in a certain month—or has fallen since a certain date—you can find that on the internet.

The National Climatic Data Center has a nifty Records Look-up web page, and if you look at the chart for Lowest Minimum Temperatures for Texas, on January 9, you'll see a lot of red entries: new records were set elsewhere in the state, right and left!

You can also look up records, as well as current temperatures and forecasts, for all over the country, at the National Weather Service. To find all kinds of records for San Antonio, check out this compendium they provide. It might have made me feel a little warmer, psychologically, if I'd realized the other day that once, in 1917, it was 84 degrees here on January 9!

A handy and reliable non-governmental site (with less annoying ads than you find on weather.com) is the Weather Underground's Weather History page. Despite their goofy name (which is a counter-culture reference perhaps known only to People of A Certain Age) there's a lot of data here.

Enjoy browsing for fun weather facts on these websites. And try to keep warm!