Hey Al. I seem to remember even colder winters when I was a kid. sometimes below zero for a couple weeks.
I remember those as well. I've lived in central NY State since the end of the 70's, and we've had below zero weather that's lasted for ages.
I remember being stranded in Lancaster, Pa. in January of 2000, on my way back up north from S.C. The East Coast had had a storm with wet snow and sleet, that had then frozen. I ran into freezing rain driving through Richmond. By the time I stopped at Fredericksburg for the night, everything was frozen solid. Even the shopping mall there was closed.
It was a horrible drive from Fredericksburg to Lancaster. Once you crossed the Pa. line, there was about 3-4 inches of ice with nothing but ruts the whole way. It actually wore my tires down. Before the storm, I had planned on going to the outlet malls in Lancaster, but they were all closed too because of the ice storm. I checked into the Super 8 motel there, thinking I'd just stay overnight, but ended up having to stay for three days because the temperatures were frigid. Windchill was something like -50. My car wouldn't start, so I called AAA. The woman laughed when I told her I needed a jump to start my car. Her response was, "and where do you think you'd be going if you did get your car started?" I told her I lived in NY State. She advised me that Route 81 was closed due to snow, ice, jack-knifed tractor trailers, etc. So I hunkered down in my hotel room. Then they started the "rolling blackouts" to preserve energy. I was sitting in my hotel room, watching TV, and all of a sudden the power went out. I discovered later that the power company had had to begin the blackouts in order to keep the system from being overloaded. I look back at it and laugh now, but it wasn't fun at the time.