Believe it or not, while it’s certainly frigid today, it’s been colder in Butler County.

Twenty years ago this month, an arctic minus 20 degrees was recorded in the county, and that was before wind chill. That temperature was hit the morning of Jan. 19, 1994.

Then Gov. Robert Casey Sr. declared a winter weather emergency in several counties, Butler included. Schools across the state stayed closed for most of the week under an order from him.

Thousands of county residents were left without electricity in the subzero temperatures, which were part of rolling blackouts. The West Penn Power Co. urged customers to conserve their electricity to avoid more outages.

Clearview and Butler malls were ordered closed early on Jan. 19 and all day Jan. 20 to conserve power.

Armco, the largest single West Penn Power customer, had one of three furnaces out of operation for several days. It had to conserve power to keep the other two furnaces running.

Residents and businesses were later lauded for their conservation efforts.

Meanwhile, three boys brought a more lighthearted story to the cold weather headlines.

The teens made the front page of the Butler Eagle after they camped outside in the subzero temperatures, which was described as “the coldest night of the century.” The avid outdoorsmen, brothers Matt Jeffers, 15, and Justin Jeffers, 13, both of Meridian, and their friend, Ray Righi, 16, of Butler, camped out in the extreme weather as a challenge.

The boys placed their tent in a snow dugout in the Jeffers’ backyard to avoid brutal winds.

“It was so cold when we were setting up the tent I kept pounding (the tent stakes) and missing and hitting my fingers and I could hardly feel it,” Matt Jeffers said.

Several record low temperatures were recorded in Pittsburgh that week, which have been tracked since 1871.

There are no similar records kept in Butler County.