This Date in Weather History

Wednesday, February 2

The extraordinary 1952 Groundhog Day Storm was the only Atlantic tropical cyclone on record in February. First observed in the western Caribbean Sea on February 2, it moved rapidly throughout its duration and struck southwestern Florida early the next day as a gale-force storm. The 1952 Atlantic hurricane season was the last Atlantic hurricane season in which tropical cyclones were named using the Joint Army/Navy Phonetic Alphabet. It was a near normal Atlantic hurricane season, although it was the least active since 1946. The season officially started on June 15; however, that pre-season storm formed on Groundhog Day, becoming the only storm on record in the month of February. On February 2 1952, a low-pressure area formed in the western Caribbean two months after the end of the1951 hurricane season. It moved quickly north-northwestward and acquired gale-force winds as it brushed the northern coast of Cuba. Early on February 3, the storm struck Cape Sable, Florida and quickly crossed the state. The Miami National Weather Bureau office recorded a wind gust of 68 mph during its passage. The winds damaged windows and power lines. The storm also dropped 2–4 inches of rain along its path, causing crop damage in Miami-Dade County. Then the storm continued rapidly northeastward, reaching peak winds of 70 mph. On February 4 it moved by off the coast of North Carolina. Later that day, it passed over Cape Cod, and dissipated after crossing into Maine. The storm caused scattered power outages and gusty winds across all across New England. 

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On February 1, 2011 a massive storm moved across the northern and central plains states to start off February on a very wintry note. Oklahoma City was pounded with heavy snow that accumulated almost a foot. This crushed the 5.5” record for the date set in 1913. It was also the snowiest February day on record in Oklahoma City. Chicago, Illinois also had the snowiest February day ever with 13.6”. Other ”big” snowfall winners were Claremore, Oklahoma at 20” and Hannibal, Missouri also at 20”. As this system spread moisture eastward there was significant icing in the Ohio Valley and snow continued to develop over New England and the Northeast although not as high accumulations as Oklahoma to Illinois. Most roads like Interstate 80 became impassable from Chicago eastward to Pennsylvania and most truck traffic from Missouri to Chicago was halted for several days.

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On January 31, 1911 the weather records show that Tamarack, California, closed the books for the month on snowfall there with 390 inches or 32.5 feet of snow that had fallen. That established a record that still holds well more than a hundred years later as the most snow in a calendar month in the United States. Tamarack, formerly known as Camp Tamarack, is an unincorporated community in Calaveras County, California, in the United States. It was founded in the 1920s. It sits at an elevation of 6,913 feet on the west slope of the Sierra Nevada near Bear Valley and south of Lake Tahoe. It is prone to getting huge snowfalls as storms blow into northern California from off the Pacific ocean.

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The most intense cold arctic outbreak to strike the southern states in modern times plunged into that region on January 29 1966 and by the morning of January 30 set record unrivaled in the history of the region before or since. The mercury in Corinth. Mississippi dipped to 19 below zero the lowest in state history. New Market, Alabama reached a morning reading of 27 below also a state record. In Greensboro, North Carolina the afternoon temperature reached just 13 the lowest high temp ever seen. Many homes were not insulated for that kind of cold and water pipes burst all across the deep south – in some places it took weeks to restore the water. Many automobiles and trucks did not have proper ant-freeze and engine blocks froze and where ruined. The cold made it into Florida and significantly damaged the citrus crops there. This cold air had swing into the region behind a massive storm that was moving up the eastern seaboard and as the cold gained form control in the south in the wake of the storm up the east coast heavy snow was falling that would reach deeps of 10” of more in Philadelphia and Harrisburg and as much as 20” in and around Washington DC.

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The Great Olympic Blowdown of January 29, 1921, also called the Big Blow, was a compact, intense windstorm that struck the coast of Washington on January 29, 1921. The storm is remembered for the massive number of trees destroyed. At the time, it was the greatest loss of timber in the country, according to the U S Forest Service. Hurricane-force. winds destroyed billions of board-feet of timber across the Olympic Peninsula. More than 40 percent of the trees on the southwest side of the Olympic Mountains were blown down. The Great Olympic Blowdown felled eight times more trees than the eruption of Mount St. Helens. The old-growth timber that was destroyed created a fire hazard, and fire suppression crews were deployed by the U. S Forest Service, the state of Washington, and the Washington Forest Fire Association. Air patrols to support the fire suppression crews were provided by the U.S. Army. A herd of 200 elk were killed near the town of Forks by tree branches and flying debris and hundreds of domestic farm animals were also killed. Power and telephone lines were downed. Moored boats were dashed on the beaches. Twenty-one barges were adrift in Puget Sound after breaking from their mooring lines. Smokestacks and chimneys collapsed.

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What would be termed an historic winter storm moved through the southern part of the United States on January 28 2014. Snow and ice stretched from far eastern Texas into Florida and the Carolinas. Heavy sleet and freezing rain led to power outages, including in Pensacola FL. and Charleston SC. Ice and snow in Atlanta GA. led to an incredible gridlock that left thousands of stranded motorists on I-75. People were trapped in their cars through the day and night, Heavy snow fell farther north from Columbia SC to Norfolk VA, and Temperatures were mainly in the teens. Some stranded in the Atlanta area overnight slept in grocery store aisles for warmth.

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Late January of 1922 saw the Virginia and North Carolina experience one of the greatest snowstorms ever recorded in the region. Automobile and truck traffic had just become established as the main mode of transport for people and goods in the region and the storm of January 27 1922 brought that traffic to a complete halt for more than a week. With virtually no way to clean off the roads connecting farms and towns over a wide expanse of the countryside, travel just stopped. Almost 20” of snow fell in Richmond, Virginia; two feet in Washington DC and Baltimore and in Roxboro, North Carolina an incredible 36” of snow fell. The storm would become known as the Knickerbocker storm because the 2 feet of snow that fell in Washington D. C., caused the roof of the Knickerbocker theatre to collapse crushing those in attendance and killing over 100 movie patrons.

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On January 26, 1978, one of the greatest blizzards in North American history struck a wide area from the great Lakes and Mid-west all the way toward the east coast of the United States and northward into parts of Canada. The bitter cold arctic air had been holding across the large region for more than a week and had been reinforced by successive waves of air from the Yukon and Siberia. Then a storm developed on the Gulf coast and came sweeping northward right into the cold air. Significant support gathered in the high levels of the atmosphere for the storm and resulted in a system that some said rivaled a hurricane in strength. Pittsburgh reached its lowest barometric pressure ever at 28.49” – just like that in a hurricane. The Paralyzing blizzard that ensued killed more than 100. Winds gusted to 100 mph producing 25’ drifts. Many roofs collapsed from heavy snow. 28.14” was the pressure reading at Cleveland, the lowest recorded at an inland US station. 120,000 cars and trucks were abandoned in Michigan. In Canada the ravaging winter storm caused $41 million in damage and contributed to 9 deaths. Hurricane force winds blew out windows in Toronto’s skyscrapers, where the air pressure plunged to 27.80”; also, an all-time low reading.

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On January 25, 1990 at least 39 people, some of them children, died in the worst weather to hit England and Wales in decades. Hurricane-force winds gusting in from the south-west brought chaos with many railway stations, roads and ports forced to close and some flights to major airports in England were diverted. The severe weather also affected other parts of Europe, killing at least 21 people in France, the Netherlands and Belgium, and caused disruption and damage in western Germany. Police in Britain described the situation as "chaotic", with cars and overturned lorries blocking motorways, buildings collapsing and power and telecommunications lines being blown down. At least half a million homes are without electricity. The storm was marginally less powerful than its better known predecessor of 1987. But no storm had caused such loss of life in the UK since the East Coast Flood disaster in 1953. The trail of destruction from the British Isales to Denmark left 100 people dead. The centre of the storm crossed the birthplace of Robbert Burns on his birthday and became known as the "Burns Day Storm".

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During the total solar eclipse in December 1834, the Gettysburg, PA Republican Banner reported that in some places, the eclipse caused the temperature to drop by as much as 28 degrees Fahrenheit, from 78 degrees F to 50 degrees F. During a total solar eclipse on the Norwegian island of Svalbard in March 2015, temperatures dropped from 8 degrees F to minus 7 degrees F. The change in temperature during a total eclipse will vary based on location and time of year. The temperature change created by the loss of light from the sun's disk will be similar to the difference between the temperature at midday and the temperature just after sunset, except the change will occur more suddenly, which is why this is often one of the very noticeable effects of a total solar eclipse. On January 24, 1925 a total solar eclipse over the far northern part of New Jersey, under clear skies, the temperature fell significantly during the afternoon to near 0.

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