On December 20, 1990, California entered the first of five consecutive nights of a historic freeze that would become one of the costliest disasters in state history.
Beginning on December 20, 1990, California, particularly the Central Valley, experienced unprecedented freezing temperatures, with low temperatures of 18 degrees lasting up to 12 hours, according to San Joaquin Agricultural Law Review’s “The 1990 California Freeze: Disaster Relief Leaves Farmworkers in the Cold.”
The extreme arctic cold front extended into Southern California. National Weather Service records show downtown Los Angeles recorded a low of 33 degrees on Dec. 22, 1990, followed by 34 degrees the next night. Temperatures had not dropped to freezing in downtown Los Angeles since Jan. 29, 1979.
The lowest temperature ever recorded in downtown Los Angeles remains 28 degrees, reached on three occasions: Feb. 3, 1883; Jan. 7, 1913; and Jan. 4, 1949…