Parts of North Carolina may be facing a winter storm on January 21 here in 2022, but it was much colder on this very day 37 years ago.

What You Need To Know

  • Low temperatures dropped below 0 in much of North Carolina on January 21, 1985

  • Mount Mitchell set a new record-cold temperature for the state, reaching a low of -34

  • Asheville, Raleigh, Greensboro and Charlotte also recorded all-time record lows

One of the coldest Arctic outbreaks on record for the eastern United States arrived in the Carolinas during the second half of January 1985. That sent temperatures to below 0 for much of the state on the morning of January 21, 1985. 

Several locations in the state recorded their all-time coldest temperatures.

The frigid temperatures did not just affect the Carolinas. Wind chills below -10 in Washington, D.C. canceled President Ronald Reagan's second inauguration that same day.

Temperatures also dropped below freezing across much of Florida. The state's secretary of agriculture called it the "Freeze of the Century" as Florida's citrus crop suffered $2.5 billion in losses.