The Great Blizzard of 1899 was a winter weather event unprecendented in American history. What made it historic was both the severity of winter weather and the extent of the U.S. it affected, especially in the South. The only event since that has been remotely similar was the 1993 "Storm of the Century", however that storm and its effects were less severe (though by no means less surprising) because it occurred at a warmer time of the year in mid-March instead of mid-February.

Arctic cold

The event started out on February 11 as a severe arctic outbreak in which every part of the East Coast from Georgia to Maine received sub-zero temperatures. The following state record low temperatures for February were achieved:

Tallahassee, Florida: -2f (-19c) (the only sub-zero reading in FL to this day)

Diamond, Georgia : -12f (-24c)

Sandy Hook, Kentucky: -33f (-36c)

Minden, Louisiana: -16f (-27c)

Fort Logan, Montana : -61f (-51c)

Camp Clark, Nebraska : -47f (-44c)

Milligan, Ohio : -39f (-39c)

Lawrenceville, Pennsylvania: -39f (-39c)

Santuc, South Carolina : -11f (-24c)

Erasmus, Tennessee : -30f (-34c)

Monterey, Virginia: -29f (-34c) (all time state low until 1985)

Dayton, West Virginia : -35f (-37c)

Washington, D.C.: -15f (-26c) (still the all time low temperature within the District of Columbia, though a -18f (-28c) reading was achieved at Dulles Airport (which usually has low temperatures a few degrees colder than the city itself) in January, 1984)

Winter weather

The port of New Orleans, Louisiana was completely iced over by February 13.

On February 14, the high temperature in Miami, Florida was 29f (-2c), the coldest (and only sub-freezing) high that the city has ever recorded.

On February 12, snow started falling from Fort Myers and Tampa in Florida west towards New Orleans. The storm crossed the Florida peninsula and intensified as it rapidly moved up the East Coast. Washington, D.C. recorded it's all-time record single snowfall of 34 inches.

North of the Mid-Atlantic region, the storm weakened somewhat, but it was still a very powerful blizzard. New York City's Central Park recorded 16 inches (which at the time was its 3rd biggest snowfall), but many surrounding areas recorded 2-3 feet, as did most of New England.