ON THIS DATE IN 1989: An epic cold wave was diving south to the Gulf Coast. A total of 122 cities across the central and eastern U.S. reported record low temperatures for the date, including Birmingham. Forty one of the cities also record lows for the month of December, some which had only been set the day before. The temperature fell to 11 degrees at New Orleans and Lake Charles LA, 4 below zero at San Angelo TX and 26 below zero at Topeka KS, all establishing all-time record lows for those locations. Birmingham dropped to one degree. The pressure at the center of the anticyclone reached an amazing 1061 millibars. Meanwhile, a strong storm moving across the Florida peninsula produced heavy snows along the Carolina coast. Fifteen inches of snow fell at Wilmington NC and 13.3 inches at Cape Hatteras NC. It was the first white Christmas of record from Florida to North Carolina.
