History of cold weather

 I remember one winter when we actually broke out snow blower and had to be picked up by one of the other doctors with a 4wd to go a quarter mile to work (since the cars and our smaller 4wd were snowed inside the garage).

So heavy snows and very low temperatures are a problem, which is why I prefer to live in the Philippines instead of northern Minnesota.

the Heroes of History blog has this essay on the winter of 1880 that paralyzed the midwest (and note that several other severe storms happened in that decade).

The Dakota Territory settlers were a hardy bunch and adapted to the freezing temperatures and continuous snowstorms until their food ran low. The threat of starvation loomed heavy over the towns as day after day the supply trains failed to arrive. Businessmen formed committees to ration out food and fuel, so everyone had their fair share. Families moved in together to share heat and chores. In my research, a diary entry from a town’s woman said that after blowing snow had covered her windows, and the lamp oil had run out, sitting in the near dark day after day became the most distressing and depressing part of the Hard Winter...

Ranchers lost livestock and farmers lost crops, but there are very few reports of human deaths. This is a testament to the hardiness and comradery of the settlers.

A lot of people only know about this storm from the Little house on the Praries series. But of course, these memoirs are fiction and often are sugar coated about what was going on and what  people faced. 

The History guy describes this winter:

the storms continued for the next decade, and some wonder why: from With a Bang not a Whimper: discusses this cold winter and the later blizzards of 1888...

Since that fateful season (i.e. 1887-88), the area continued to experience intermittent episodes of severe winter weather, one of the worst of which was the winter of 1935-1936.

Nor was the winter of 1887-88 without parallel during the years prior to the onset of the Little Ice Age (e.g. winters at least as severe and as memorable as any of the winters of the 1880's occurred in 1842-1843, 1856-1857 and 1874-1875).

... The last months of 1887and the first months of 1888 are unique , rather, because, as noted, they marked the end of an unbroken six year reign of abnormally cold, miserable and ruinous winter weather.

but ironically this cold spell was preceeded by a warm winter: 

The first of this series of winters, 1882-1883, was, ironically, preceded by one of the warmest winters (1881-82: average December-February temperature, 26F) on record in the Twin Cities area (and by inference probably in much of the upper Midwest as well).

more here.

and although the "year without a summer"was caused by volcanic cooling by the eruption of Mt Tambora, this episode can't be blamed on Krakatoa, a similar severe volcanic eruption that  didn't occur until in 1883.

and of course, volcanic eruptions like Mt Pinatubo did cause a temporary lowering of the global temperature.

however, most of the effects from Volcanoes are probably local weather changes.