Pat Shingleton: "Ice Flows on Mississippi"
The cold blast of February 1899 was one of the most severe ever recorded. All-time record lows were logged in Milligan, OH at minus 39 degrees and Camp Clarke, NE at -47. Local and state records were posted at Tallahassee and Minden, LA with a frigid minus 16 degrees. All time record lows are still on the books in Dallas at -8, Kansas City at -22 and Washington D.C. at -15. Adding to the super cold was a super blizzard from New Hampshire to Georgia with Virginia recording 40 inches of snow. Once the cold blast made it to Baton Rouge, ice-floes blocked the Mississippi River at New Orleans for the second time in history.In February, 1971, Edwin Robinson of Falmouth, Maine, jackknifed his truck on an icy overpass. He suffered severe damage to the occipital area of his brain and gradually lost his eyesight. With his hearing also impaired, for the next nine years, he learned Braille. While in his yard on June 4, 1980, he attempted to "cluck" his pet chicken inside when a lightning bolt knocked him to the ground. Unconscious for 20 minutes he struggled inside and upon awakening from a nap went to his kitchen and read an inscription on a plaque and identified the time on a clock. Two days later his sight was restored and after additional examinations, he was cured. In addition to his returning eyesight, his hearing was restored. The chicken didn't make it.