This Date in Weather History

February 1899 marked the arrival of perhaps the coldest airmass in move into the United States in recorded history. For more than a week the bitter arctic cold ravaged North America with Blizzards and ice. Records were established that hold even today more than century later. By February 12, 1899 the cold was already firmly established. In previous days the mercury had already dipped to minus 20 in Columbus and Pittsburgh. The day before on the 11th parts of Montana had seen temperatures below minus 60. In Tallahassee 2 below was recorded, a state of Florida record that still stands today. A foot and a half of snow had not only fallen in Philadelphia and Baltimore, but Richmond and Raleigh. By February 12 the storm was in full swing, in Boston winds gusted to 65 mph and maintained an average of 50 mph throughout the entire day. 24-36" of snow just north of Boston in Beverly. The Boston Herald declared: "Rarely, if ever, has Boston been so completely snowbound as it has been by this blizzard." At the end of the storm, the snow depth measured 23" in Boston. But the snow extended far southward bringing unheard of snow totals including 4 in Charleston SC and 2.8” in Tallahassee. The cold persisted well behind the storm, Tulia, Texas recorded a morning temperature of minus 23, a state record. The arctic grip was not lessening, far from it, some places would suffer even more from the cold in coming days.

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February 11, 1994 dawned cold across the Tennessee Valley, an air mass that originated in the arctic snow fields of the Yukon had in previous days blasted across the northern plains state and by the 11th had settled into much of the nation east of the Rockies. Far to the south a storm was brewing on the Texas Gulf coast and pulling plenty of moisture northward out ahead of it. The cold air was holding on stubbornly in the lowest several thousand feet of the atmosphere in the Tennessee and Ohio valleys even as it began to warm up higher up in the air. As the moisture form the Gulf of Mexico was forced to rise up and over that cold layer of air near the ground it began to rain – but with temperatures still well below freezing at the surface the rain froze on everything. The result was Severe ice storm across parts of Tennessee, Alabama, and much of Kentucky. 1.45" of rain fell at Memphis --all with a temperature below freezing. Power was knocked out in many areas as ice accumulated on tree limbs and wires. In some cases, power was not restored for as much as 2 weeks. As the storm turned northward and into deeper cold air snow broke out on a wide front along the I-95 corridor and dumped heavy snow reaching depths of close to 1-2’ from Harrisburg and Allentown Pa into New England, including New York City, snar

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Calama, Chile is one of the driest cities in the world with average annual precipitation of just 0.20”. Located on the Atacama Desert, a plateau in South America. The desert is one of the driest places in the world, as well as the only true desert to receive less precipitation than polar regions. In many locations in the desert it rains but once every 10 years and then in small amounts. But on February 10,1972 a torrential downpour depositing several inches of rain caused catastrophic floods and landslides, isolating the town and cutting off electricity. Prior to this event, the town had been known as THE driest place on earth, having had virtually no rain for 400 years.

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On February 9 1969 the fortunes of New York City Mayor John Lindsay were riding high. Mentioned often as possible Presidential contender in the upcoming decade of the 70’s he had done much to win the support of Democrats and Republicans, serving a Democratic city as a Republican. His policies where often hailed as progressive and finically responsible. But his future in politics was about to be undone by the weather. Warned in advance of an impending storm his administration was ill prepared. Budget cuts had slashed the available snowplows by 40% and a recent strike with city workers has not been fully overcome. What became known as the “Mayor Lindsay Storm” dumped 15.3" at New York City; Central Long Island 12-18"; Scarsdale, NY 24"; Falls Village, CT 35"; Bridgeport, CT 17.7"; Hartford, CT 15.8"; Bedford, MA 25"; Blue Hill 21"; Boston 11.1"; Portland, ME 21.5"; 800 cars stranded on Tappan-Zee Bridge. Property damage totaled more than $10 million in New England. Thousands of homes lost utility service. Drifts reached 10-20' deep. Thousands were stranded on highways, the New York Thruway was closed from New York City to Albany. The storm was named for Mayor Lindsay's failure to clear the streets of New York City and more than 40 New Yorkers died as a result of the storm. Worst hit was the NYC borough of Queens where 21 people died. The storm came to a swift end late in the day of February 9 and with it came the end of Mayor Lindsey political career, despite being re-elected in 1969 he never held political office again after leaving office as Mayor, despite unsuccessful runs for senate and president.

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Citrus, namely oranges have been farmed commercially in Florida groves since the early 1800s. The first citrus was brought to the Western Hemisphere in 1493 by Christopher Columbus. In the mid-1500s one of the early Spanish explorers, most likely Ponce de Leon, planted the first orange trees around the current location of St. Augustine, Florida. Florida's unique sandy soil and subtropical climate proved to be ideal for growing the seeds that the early settlers planted and have flourished ever since. Today it is a $9 billion industry, employing nearly 76,000 Floridians. In 1835 the citrus industry was just getting on it’s feet, but it almost ended before it got going. On February 8, 1835 a bitter cold arctic blast reached into the southern part of the United States and produced low temperatures unknown in that region. The mercury reached below zero as far south as Savannah Georgia and on the morning of February 8 the temperature read 8 degrees in Jacksonville killing most of the orange trees and setting back the citrus industry more than 10 years. The first groves were originally planted in northern Florida far from where they currently exist. As time went on and more killing freezes occurred the groves were moved further and further south and are now hundreds of miles south of their original loculation.

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The first week of February 2008 was a tough one for the western US as a powerful storm moved onshore. The storm’s height culminated on February 7. There were several areas of very heavy rain with some places having nearly 10“ while winds gusted to more than 100 mph. Loma Prieta, CA had nearly 10“ of rain and Marysville, Ca had just over 9“. Winds gusted to 163 mph near Tahoe City, CA with a 149 mph wind gust at Mammoth Mountain. Snow was also impressive with a whopping 132“ in Kirksville, CA and 62“ in Wolf Creek Pass Colorado. At height of the storm it was estimated that nearly 2 million people were without power through California, Nevada and Utah. Roads were blocked by snow, flooding was a problem not only from the rainfall but because of pounding waves and storm surge along the northern California coast. The heavy snow, rain and powerful winds caused huge airline delays that rippled across the US.

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February 6, 2010 marked the culmination of a coast to coast storm that brought parts of the Central United States snow and ice and snarled traffic and caused flight delays for the days leading up to the 6th. As the storm approached the East Coast on the afternoon of February 5, 2010 snow started to fall along the I-95 corridor in the Mid-Atlantic region. Already warned of the impending storm airlines had cancelled hundreds of flights and moved planes out of the snowfall zone. The storm intensified aided by a strengthening pocket of arctic cold settling in over New England. The result was a bomb cyclone – so called because of extreme strengthening, not unlike an explosion or bomb going off. By the time the snow was done flying on the afternoon of February 6, 28.5” of snow had fallen in Philadelphia making it the 2nd greatest snowfall in that city’s history. Baltimore totaled 24.8” an all-time record and in the nation’s capital 32.4” of measured smashing the old the record for the heaviest single season fall by almost 10”. Airports, roads and schools were closed for a week and as crews battled bitterly cold temps and strong winds in the aftermath of what would be termed the Blizzard of 2010.

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Weather records can be spotty when looking back more than 100 years ago and sometimes not as accurate as todays modern standards, but carefully recorded records of extreme events usually are on the mark. On February 5, 1892 record cold held most of the north Asia in its icy grip. In the Siberian town of Verkhoyansk in Tsarist Russia the mercury plunged to 90.4 degrees F below zero, making it the coldest temperature ever recorded in the Northern Hemisphere. Interestingly just two days later on February 7 of 1892 the thermometer once again hit that extreme low level. Verkhoyansk is notable chiefly for its exceptionally low winter temperatures and some of the greatest temperature differences on Earth between summer and winter. It holds the Guinness World Record for the greatest temperature range on Earth, from that 90.4 below zero to in winter to an all-time high temperature in that city of 99 the in summer, an incredibly high temperature for being located above the Arctic Circle. A swing of 189.4 degrees.

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On February 4, 2008 record warmth was surging northward from Mexico at the same time 14 states prepared to hold primary elections for the 2008 Presidential election cycle. Known as Super Tuesday, it was the biggest number of state presidential primaries held on the same day up to that point. As the heat pulsed into the country a strong storm roared out of the plains states and warmth added fuel to what would become known as the Super Tuesday Severe Weather Outbreak. Temperatures soared into the 80s and beyond all across the southern states. The mercury reached 85 in San Antonio, 82 in Austin, 83 in Baton Rouge and 81 in Augusta George – all records. As the heat reached its peak the storm from the west started to act on the hot air and moisture moving out of the Gulf of Mexico.  As the storm started to do its work it sparked an outbreak of severe storms from northeast Texas to the lower Ohio valley. The strongest thunderstorms spawned deadly and destructive tornadoes, which resulted in numerous injuries and at least 55 fatalities. One of the strongest tornadoes measured and EF4 on the enhanced Fujita scale, tore through eastern Jackson County, Alabama late that election Tuesday night.

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The winter of 1960-1961 was one of the harshest on record for the northeastern states. Winter came early with a massive snowstorm in the beginning of December then was punctuated by the John K Kennedy Inauguration storm of January 20, 1961. The last of 3 monumental snowstorms that winter hit on February 3, 1961. The deepest snow fell from just north of Baltimore to New England and paralyzed the region for days. The storm did not come without warning, in fact schools from Philadelphia northward were cancelled a day before the storm hit to prepare. Snowfall totals reached 10 inches in Philadelphia 14” in Boston more than 20” across the New York City area and an incredible 40" in Cortland, New York. The wind reached 73 mph winds at Long Branch, NJ. The storm was proceeded by an intense period of record cold starting just after that storm on Inauguration day. In Philadelphia the mercury remained below freezing from January 20 all the way to February 3. That period of continually below freezing temperatures is one of the longest on record in that city. Both major rivers that flow through the city were frozen solid. Many cities set or were close to setting their all-time winter snowfall records – but then the winter ended as abruptly as it began. There were no more snow storms or intense cold the rest of the winter. Two intense winter months that went down in history.

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