COLDEST MONTH IN CENTURY: Four of the 10 coldest days of the 21st century in the 48 contiguous U.S. states occurred this month, including the first and second

◼ Colder Weather Heads for U.S. as Ice Set to Coat Texas - Bloomberg

...“The crazy thing is that the current cold snap this week looks to be a bit more modest in the face of next week’s outbreak,” Rogers said. “The cold coming for the end of January is sufficient to make this the coldest month of the century so far and the coldest the Lower 48 has felt in at least 20 years.”

Temperatures in Chicago fell lower than the South Pole this month as freezing weather boosted energy consumption, grounded thousands of flights across the U.S. and disrupted operations at refineries and natural gas production sites.

...“A wave of low pressure along the cold front currently settling into the southern states is expected to spread a rare coating of ice across southeast Texas and southwestern Louisiana,” the National Weather Service said.

The service forecast snow, sleet, and rain over parts of Texas and the central Gulf Coast through tomorrow morning.

Natural gas futures headed for the biggest weekly gain since September 2012, rising as much as 3.9 percent to $4.913 per million British thermal units in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange today. They are up 13.6 percent this week.