I'm not sure it's totally "normal". My own recollections of living in Michigan were cold in January, but... from what I can tell, they've only had perhaps 2 or 3 days above 32F this month; basically an entire month or sub-freezing. That doesn't jive with my own memories of living there (for ... 30+ years).

To some extent that "yes, much of the country is cold" in January, yeah, the headline might be slightly out of sync - maybe it's only 60% normally? I think the bigger issue is just how cold it is in so many places where it's not normally this cold.