This Date in Weather History

Fog and low clouds have been the bane of travelers since the beginning of time. As more people travel in groups and because of modern technology those going from place to place sometimes find themselves at the mercy of the low clouds and fog with no way to escape. From the recent tragic helicopter crash involving Kobe Bryant and his companions to a pile up of cars on an interstate highways, low visibility or lack of visibility at all, contributes to the horrible outcome. Despite the best efforts of those involved and modern technology, sudden loss of visibility can, in an instant, turn clear skies to total lack of vision. Those traveling the interstates of the northeast near snow squall areas know this well when white-outs occur and lead to massive pile ups. This type of event can also happen on the seas and especially near the coastline. Such a tragedy struck on February 22 1901 when a Pacific mail steamer struck a rock in near San Francisco as it attempted to enter the bay during a dense fog, visibility was almost zero and those piloting the ship where unable to see where they were headed. The ship went down claiming 128 lives.

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1971 had been a relatively mild winter east of the Mississippi. Many areas had been bathed in warmth and humidity for much of February. Such was the situation on the morning of February 21. Meanwhile bitter cold that had been locked in the Artic hinterlands of Canada was finally able to break free as the jet stream, that up to the point in the winter has remained far north, finally plunged southward. As the brutal cold moved into the nation’s heartland it came into direct conflict with the early springtime conditions. In areas where the cold became quickly established snow developed and tuned into an all-out blizzard. By the morning of February 22, 1-3 feet of snow-covered areas from Texas to Iowa, including drifts to 20 feet high. But the most violent impact of the clash of airmasses occurred in the warm sector where a vicious tornado outbreak killed 212 people. Three long track tornados accounted for all but three of the deaths. The longest track of a single tornado was more than 200 miles long from Louisiana-Mississippi boarder to Tennessee during the mid-day hours of February 21. The other two twisters had tracks of 90 and 70 miles. The outbreak ended on the night of February 21 as the arctic cold swept rapidly across the region and eventually off the east coast ending the severe weather threat.

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In 1805 the nations’ capitol had only been established at its current site on the Potomac for a few years, having moved from Philadelphia. Originally know during its construction as Federal City, Congress met in newly named Washington City, as it was then known, for the first time in November 1800, the man for whom the city was named had died in December of the previous year, and in February 1801 the District of Columbia, which at the time also included the cities of Alexandria and Georgetown, was placed under the control of Congress. In January 1791, President George Washington had announced his choice for the federal district: 100 square miles of land ceded by Maryland and Virginia, in 1846, the Virginia land was returned to the state, shrinking the district by a third. The Potomac River, at that time, especially in the area around Washington, was shallow and its shores consisted of large areas of mud flats, where the water was only inches deep. During harsh winters the shallow waters easily froze putting an end to navigation until the spring. On February 20, 1805, after being frozen over for more than 2 months, leaving those in Washington City in desperate straits because of lack of supplies the Potomac River was once again deemed fit for navigation as the ice jams broke and commerce resumed.

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The Pineapple Express is a non-technical term for a meteorological phenomenon characterized by a strong and persistent flow of moisture and associated with heavy rain and snow from the waters near the Hawaiian Islands and extending to locations along the Pacific coast of North America, mainly California. Such weather patterns set up every few years during the winter, the winter is the rainy season on the west coast of the US. In February of 1980 an extreme version of this pattern set up and lasted for almost a week reaching its height on February 19. Rain had been falling in Los Angles since February 13th, in the first in a series of storms pushed along by the Pineapple Express. Downtown L.A. recorded more than 12" of rain from the 13th to the 19th. In the mountains south of Monterey, more than 22 inches of rain totaled by the 19th. Unofficially, 19 deaths were attributed to the storms in Southern California alone, with more than $100 million in damage, $325 million in 2022 dollars. Estimates in Arizona indicate at least 4 storm related deaths and an additional $35 million in damage. There was also flooding in Arizona, especially in Phoenix. Shortly after 2:00 PM on February 19, 1980 a tornado touched down at the Fresno Airport, which broke the plate glass windows and damaged the roof at the terminal building. Trees were uprooted and cars overturned.

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A massive storm developed in Georgia, on February 18th, 2016 spreading snow up the Appalachians and into New England. Blizzard conditions developed in Pennsylvania by the 19th. These conditions forced a closing of Interstate 80 in Pennsylvania. Winds clocked at up to 50 mph during the storm shipped snow into drifts as deep as 20 feet in some sections of north Central Pennsylvania. Drifting snow stranded thousands of motorists, as radio stations remained at full power during the night relaying information and requesting help from 4-wheel drive vehicles and snowmobiles. Tides of 6-8' above normal caused severe flooding at coastal areas along the east coast north of Virginia. Thousands became homeless in New England due to coastal flooding. Breakers moved 8-ton concrete seawall blocks in across coastal roadways in Maine. Winds clocked to 110 mph at Eastham on Cape Cod. This massive storm said to have some hurricane characteristics, such as an eye.

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The Dust Bowl is generally associated with extreme drought and heat. The "Dust Bowl" years of 1930-36 brought some of the hottest summers on record to the United States, especially across the Plains, Upper Midwest and Great Lake States. For the Upper Mississippi River Valley, the first few weeks of July 1936 provided the hottest temperatures of that period, including many all-time record highs The string of hot, dry days was also deadly. Nationally, around 5000 deaths were associated with the heat wave. Several factors led to the deadly heat of July 1936. A series of droughts affected the U.S. during the early 1930s. The lack of rain parched the earth and killed vegetation, especially across the Plains states. Poor land management and farming techniques across the Plains furthered the impact of the drought, with lush wheat fields becoming barren waste lands. Without the vegetation and soil moisture, the Plains acted as a furnace. The climate of that region took on desert qualities, accentuating its capacity to produce heat. But also, like hot desserts there are also cold desert climates – the lack of vegetation and drought allows for cold air to sweep across these regions, unchecked and creating unheard of cold extremes. The situation that set up for several years in the plans states in the 1930’s created these extremes of both hot and cold. So, it was on the morning of February 17, 1936, when the mercury dipped to -58 degrees at McIntosh, SD... the state record low temperature. Later that very same year, at the height of the Dust Bowl on, July 5, 1936, the state record high temperature of 120 degrees was set at Gann Valley, SD. A difference in the state in less than 6 months’ time of 178 degrees.

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February 16, 1958 marked the end of a massive snowstorm that had developed in the lower Mississippi Valley a few days earlier. The system moved slowly eastward all day on the 14th gathering moisture from the Gulf of Mexico rain fell along the Gulf Coast with increasing intensity. Just as the storm was moving into position to turn up the eastern seaboard an injection of bitter arctic air moved out of eastern Canada and down the coast settling as far south and North Carolina. As the storm moved northward snow began falling on the 14th in southern Virginia and by the time night fell Washington DC was already shut down, by the morning of the 16th already more than a foot of snow was on the ground in DC.. 2’ pf snow clogged Boston by the evening of the 16 with an incredible 30-36” from the Catskills in New York to the White Mountains of New England. After the storm moved out to sea later that night the toll was staggering; 43 had died and more than $500 million dollars of destruction, more than $4.5 billion in today’s dollars was totaled.

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The Texas Gulf coast is known for hot steamy weather and has been the site of some of the most destructive and deadly hurricanes ever to strike the United States, but on February 15, 1895 a weather extreme of another sort struck the region. In the days leading up to the February 15th artic cold plunged into the south with a vengeance. At the same time a storm was spinning inland in southern California. The cold weather was firmly established by the 14th and that western storm was forced southward into northern Mexico. It set the scene for the greatest snowfall event to ever hit the Gulf coast. Snow began to fall in some places on the evening of the 14th and by the time it stopped in the afternoon of February 15, 1895 record snowfall was measured from Texas to Alabama: Rayne, Louisiana recorded 22" a state record; Houston, also had, 22"; an incredible 15.4” fell on the beaches of Galveston, Texas, there was 8.2” in New Orleans, Louisiana, 6” in Brownsville, Texas and Mobile, Alabama. All land travel came to a halt for days and the extreme cold and snow killed many livestock. No accurate accounting of the impact on the people of the region was recorded, but estimates are than many perished in the cold and snow that was more usual for the northern plains states. Most homes had inadequate heating and people attempted to heat their homes with fires inside and that led to further disaster. The scale of winter weather was unprecedented. Nothing like it has been seen since.

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On February 14, 1958 in Haleyville, AL 16” of snow fell, an extreme snow event for that area of the country. Because of the snow’s high water equivalent, that is the total water content of the snow, the weight was extremely heavy and it caused many chicken coops in the poultry region to collapse leading to the crushing of many of the chickens inside. The coops were not constructed to withstand the heavy wet snow that fell, since the entire average winter’s snowfall in the region was a mere 1-2”. Following the snow storm many chicken coops in the poultry rich region where rebuilt to higher standards. In the north, chicken coop building standards have been and remain much more sturdy due to snowfall. In addition in many places housing poultry that don’t need coops, foul are kept in wire cages. The only impact is that when snow is heavy enough people must be called out to knock the snow off the wire confinements. 

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By February 13, 1899 much of the nation had been suffering under the icy grip of the worst arctic outbreak since the founding of the republic. Records that stand even to today had been set in the days previous to February 13, 1899 and more were to fall in the next few days. Because of the persistent week-long cold, Ice flows had formed in Gulf of Mexico causing a hazard to navigation. The temperature on the morning of February 13, 1899 along the Gulf coast sat at incredibly low readings; -16 degrees Minden, LA a record for state, in New Orleans the mercury was 6.8 degrees; at in Mobile -1 degree; Pensacola 7 degrees; Brownsville Texas was 12 degrees an all time low for the city. Temperatures all the way southward to Ft Myers were in the 20s and snowflakes where observed all across Florida. But father up the East Coast the brunt of the outbreak was being felt as a Great Blizzard paralyzed the region on the 13th and 14th: 36" of snow fell at Cape May, New Jersey. 20.5" at Washington, D.C. and many other areas along the coast saw snowfall totals at more than a foot. The cold finally broke in the following days, after a week of misery, and with the warmup came several inches of rain that on top of melting snow produced flooding in the Northeast.

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