With the official start of summer less than 40 days away, an unseasonably cold air mass is currently gripping large areas of the United States, dropping temperatures some 25 degrees F below seasonal averages. As reported by CNN weather, these temperatures are more in line with what you should expect in mid-March, not mid-May. During this latest Arctic outbreak –which began May 9– hundreds of low temperature records have tumbled, increasing the disparity between the number new record highs this year and and new record lows. South Carolina’s capital city of Columbia suffered a historically cold Wednesday. The city, whose slogan is “Famously hot, surprisingly cool,” experienced an unprecedented level of “cool” with a daytime high in the 50s. Note, the previous low temperature record for the day has been standing for over 100 years — the 66F (18.9C) from May 12, 1917 (the Centennial Minimum). May highs in the 50s in Columbia are so rare that they have only been observed five times since 1887. According to CNN Weather, such temperatures in May only come around once every 30 years. Augusta, Georgia, busted its daily record, too — one which has stood since 1885. The city’s Wednesday high reached the mid-60s, a reading 25 degrees below the May average. Headed north to Atlanta, the usual mid-May highs of 80 degree heat have been replaced with wintry cold.