Video Vault: Cleveland's coldest day, -20 on January 19, 1994

CLEVELAND - There’s cold and then there’s record cold. On Jan. 19, 1994, Cleveland marked its coldest temperature ever recorded, -20.

Some of the pictures in our video player look as if they could be from any winter, except for two things: a fire in East Cleveland and a little boy with frostbite set the bar for cold.

After the “cold open,” a TV term we use for a special beginning for a newscast, which showed cars having trouble starting, we see icicles and fire trucks.

The East Cleveland ladder truck couldn’t leave the scene of a fire at a beauty shop because the ladder was frozen and wouldn’t retract.

A power outage, which stopped the Shaker Rapid, forced a police office to don an orange ski mask to direct traffic.

A traffic mess on I-77 precedes a story done by WEWS reporter Deb Lee and the video is not for the squeamish.

Lee interviews a mom whose child has a horrific case of frostbite. Mom was surprised how quickly frostbite took its toll on her child. Ouch.

Do you remember this frigid day? Tell us in a comment below.