With most of the country reaching the depths of the winter in a way we haven’t seen in a few years, I thought it would be nice to look at the winter weather of the mid-nineteenth century.
“Yesterday was a very cold day. The thermometer at sunrise was 4 degrees below zero, and throughout the day it ranged from 8 to 20 above. The wind blew fresh all day from the northwest. The mean temperature of the last fifteen days has been unusually low, being 19 deg, at sunrise, and 24 deg. At 8 P.M. We seldom have so long a continuance of consecutive cold. Excepting only on the 3d inst., the thermometer has not risen above the freezing point once during that time, even at the warmest part of the day.” New York Times, January 10, 1856)
“The weather is much colder, The mercury at sunrise yesterday indicated 29o; at 11 o’clock, 33 o; at 6 ½ o’clock, 22 o; at 8 ½ o’clock, 14 o; and at midnight only 4 ½ o above zero. The wind was light from the southwest of the day, but went around towards the northwest in the evening.” Boston Advertiser, 9th inst.”
“The Mercury was lower in Philadelphia, this morning, then it has been for many years. On the 20th of January, 1852, the thermometer was 2 ¼ o below zero. On the 7th of February, 1855, the thermometer was at zero. We well remember that day. It was the only occasion last Winter upon which the mercury got below Zero.” – Philadelphia Bulletin, 9th
“During the present Winter we have not experienced such severe cold as was felt here last night and early this morning. They day promised to be as moderate as could be desired; but late in the afternoon the thermometer fell rapidly, and during the night reached, in one part of the City, 5 o below zero, in another, 9 o, and in another 10 o. If these reports are to be relied upon, last night was even colder than the memorable 7th of February last, which was at the time, said to be the coldest weather felt here since the year 1850.” – Newark Adv.
Carting Snow from the Streets of New York, 1867
http://digitalgallery.nypl.org/nypldigital/dgkeysearchresult.cfm?keyword=809689
If I Had My Own Blue Box: 
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