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Excerpt from Climatological Data, Vol. 12: National Summary, January 1961 Temperature. -east of the Rocky Mountains, a period of extreme cold weather began on the 20th and per sisted through the remainder of the month. During this period subzero minima ranged from -40° or lower in North Dakota and Minnesota to 0° or lower in Texas, Arkansas, Tennessee, and Virginia. Freezing extended over most of Florida on the 2lst, 22d, and 23d for the first general freeze of the winter in the Everglades, but caused only light damage to the citrus and vegetable crops. In much of the South, where temperatures were slightly below normal during the first half of the month, this was the coldest January since 1940, and in northern areas, where the first half of the month was unseasonably mild, this was the coldest January since 1948 at many stations and the coldest since 1918 at some others. December 1960 and January 1961 combined was the coldest such period in the middle and lower Atlantic Coastal States since 1917-18. In the Far West, where temperatures generally averaged well above normal, this was the warmest January on rec ord at San Diego and Los Angeles, Calif. And the second warmest in Seattle, Wash. A high of 71° on the 2oth at Medford, Oreg. Was anew record for January. The only unusually cold weather in the Far West occurred in the San Joaquin and lower Sacramento Valleys of California, where monthly averages were slightly below normal. Bakersfield, Calif had 15 days with minimum tempera tures below freezing, which is 9 more than average. Precipitation. -in most of the area between the Cascade and Sierra Nevada Mountains in the Far West and the Appalachians in the East, precipitation was less than 50 percent of normal. In some areas it was less than 25 percent of normal. At many stations in this area, totals for January were the least in many years. Precipitation was the least for January at Winnemucca, Nev. Salt Lake City, Utah, Alpena and Detroit, Mich, and Memphi