January temperatures plummeted by five degrees in the US between 1931 and 1979.
In order to make that inconvenient “ice age scare” of the 1970s go away, they had to make the 1930s disappear. Also note that satellite data is reported starting in 1979 – which was the second coldest January in US history, after 1977.
In the seventies, we wore fur coats and cowboy boots and danced to keep warm.
Where was 1978? Probably somewhere in the top 5 coldest as well.