A February Head of the Charles? This winter's frigid temperatures hold their own against the winter of 1977. Along the eastern seaboard, the record-breaking mercury drop forced school and business closures (Wheeling Jesuit University in West Virginia suspended classes for a month); a blizzard hit Buffalo, N.Y., with thunder, lightning, snow, and 69-mph wind gusts resulting in drifts so high that plow blades broke trying to clear them. But such chilled-to-the-bone conditions didn't stop former gold-medal Olympian and crew coach Hugh Foley from testing the mettle of his 16-member crew team at a mock practice on a frozen Charles River. Boston Globe photographer Joseph Dennehy snapped the picture, which was later shown on national news outlets. Photo courtesy of the Boston Globe