Christmas Day in 1935 saw temperatures climb into the low to upper 20's throughout most of Ohio. A change was coming, though, as a sharp cold front came racing toward the state. Suddenly, the wind began to roar at gale and near gale force. Snowflakes began to fly and soon became so thick motorists could only see a few feet ahead. True blizzard conditions raged for five hours at Cincinnati, Hamilton County, which had its first white Christmas in six years. This blizzard hit Cincinnati at noon, but it didn't hit Columbus (Franklin County) until 2:19 p.m. Cleveland, Cuyahoga County, and Toledo, Lucas County, did not get blasted by the blizzard until approximately 6:00 in the evening. Snowfall generally ranged from slightly over 2 inches up to 6 inches across the state by morning of the 26th. The blizzard was accompanied by a cold wave which dropped temperatures 20 degrees or more in two hours. At Cincinnati, the temperature fell from a high of 24 degrees to a low of minus 1, equaling a Christmas record set in 1872. The mercury fell to minus 5 at Akron (Summit County), Lima (Allen County), and Paulding (Paulding County) Christmas Day. Urbana (Champaign County) saw the mercury drop from 21 degrees to 7 below zero that day. The cold weather, which lasted for a couple days, killed 26 people in Ohio.