January 6 and 7 of 2014 brought many record cold temperatures (F) and here is a very brief list: Chicago -16, Toledo -14, Cleveland -11, New York City +4, and Pittsburgh -9. Now (1-28 and 1-29) another arctic air mass is sweeping into the Southeast US and snow and ice storms will sweep across much of this area.
End in site? If you look at this forecast map for February 5, 2014 and it is for 500 mb (about 18,000 foot level) we start to have a more westerly flow in the Midwest and this will generally bring temperatures closer to normal. This is what many folks are hoping for now. 