This Date in Weather History

On January 23, 1916 the World record 24-hour variation in temperature was set. Browning, Montana, in the northern part of the state, hard against the Canadian border reached a temperature of 44 degrees F in the late morning hours as warm air surged in from the southeast. The air mass that held sway in the region came all the way from the Gulf of Mexico and the folks in Browning that morning were looking forward to a relatively balmy day. The average high temperature on January 23 is 33 and the record high is near 50 – so it was quite warm for that time of the year. But the weather was about to turn, a “Siberian Express” cold front came through, quickly dropping the temperature below freezing. The temperature continued to drop, reaching 56 degrees below zero F by late that night. A one-day variation of exactly 100 degrees and also the greatest 24-hour temperature drop in history.

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The Black Hills area of South Dakota can experience spectacular temperature variations. Day-to-day changes occur as cold and warm fronts cross the northern Plains. However, temperature ranges across the area at a given time can be just as great. They happen rapidly as the wind direction changes, most notably by the warming Chinook winds. Other temperature differences are caused by inversions, when warm air flows over a shallow pool of cold air. Because the Black Hills rise above the plains like an island in a body of water, they are in the warm air layer. The most notable temperature fluctuations occurred on January 22, 1943 when temperatures rose and fell almost 50 degrees in a few minutes. This phenomenon was caused when a frontal boundary separating extremely cold Arctic air from warmer Pacific air rolled like an ocean tide along the northern and eastern slopes of the Black Hills. In mid-January 1943, Arctic air pushed southward from Canada, bringing extremely cold temperatures across the central United States. By the morning of January 19, temperatures were well below zero as far south as Kansas and in the single digits to teens across Texas. On January 20, warmer air started to spread eastward from the Pacific over the Rockies while low temperatures ranged from -20 to -30 degrees across the Dakotas. The boundary separating this warmer air from the frigid air was near the front range of the Rocky Mountains and through Nebraska, with Casper WY at 22 degrees while Rapid City was -20 degrees. During the day, the warm air higher in the atmosphere reached the higher elevations of the Black Hills. Early morning temperatures on January 22 were already above freezing in the higher elevations of the Black Hills but still below zero along the foothills. Shortly after daybreak, the front moved northeast—down the slopes of the Black Hills—and temperatures warmed rapidly. Later in the morning, the front retreated to the southwest and temperatures plummeted just as quickly. The oscillations occurred several times during the morning; the front pushed east of Rapid City during the afternoon, allowing the airport to reach 50 degrees. It finally shifted south again during the late afternoon, and the cold air returned to the foothills. The change in temperature was noticeable as people rounded street corners. Motorists were unable to see out their windshields when thick frost formed as they encountered the front and plate glass windows cracked. Nearby Spearfish holds the world record for the fastest recorded temperature change. On January 22, 1943, at about 7:30 a.m., the temperature in Spearfish was −4 °F. The Chinook wind picked up speed rapidly, and two minutes later (7:32 a.m.) the temperature was +45 °F. The 49° rise in two minutes set a world record that still holds. By 9:00 a.m., the temperature had risen to 54 °F . Suddenly, the chinook died down and the temperature tumbled back to −4 °F . The 58 °F drop took only 27 minutes. The sudden change in temperatures caused glass windows to crack and shatter.  

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On January 21, 1863, Union General Ambrose Burnside’s Army of the Potomac began an offensive against General Robert E. Lee’s Army of Northern Virginia that quickly bogged down as several days of heavy rain turned the roads of Virginia into a muddy quagmire. The campaign was abandoned a few days later. The Union army was still reeling from the disastrous Battle of Fredericksburg, Virginia, on December 13, 1862. Burnside’s force suffered more than 13,000 casualties as it assaulted Lee’s troops along hills above Fredericksburg. Lee suffered around 5,000 casualties, making Fredericksburg one of the most one-sided engagements in the Eastern theater of operations. Morale was low among the Yankees that winter. In mid-January, Burnside sought to raise morale and seize the initiative from Lee. His plan was to swing around Lee’s left flank and draw the Confederates away from their defenses and into the open. Speed was essential to the operation. January had been a dry month to that point, but as soon as the Federals began to move, a drizzle turned into a downpour that lasted for four days. Logistical problems delayed the laying of a pontoon bridge across the Rappahannock River, and a huge traffic jam snarled the army’s progress. In one day, the 5th New York moved only a mile and a half. The roads became unnavigable, and conflicting orders caused two corps to march across each other’s paths. Horses, wagons, and cannons were stuck in mud, and the element of surprise was lost. Jeering Confederates taunted the Yankees with shouts and signs that read “Burnside’s Army Stuck in the Mud.” Burnside turned his Army around and abandoned the fight due primarily because of the weather.

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The Constitution of the United States had established March 4 as Inauguration Day in order to allow enough time after Election Day for officials to gather election returns and for newly-elected candidates to travel to the capital. On April 30, 1789, George Washington was inaugurated in New York City as our first president. Washington was scheduled to be inaugurated on March 4, however weather prevented Congress from being able to make quorum, and thus the beginning of our nation under the original Constitution was delayed almost two months. On March 4, 1801, Thomas Jefferson was the first president inaugurated in Washington, D.C., our new federal capital. After New York, Philadelphia had become our nation’s capital. Though, in order to appease Southern slave holders fearing a northern capital would be inordinately influenced by Northern Abolitionists, the nation’s capital was moved south to its current location. Inauguration was initially held inside the House and Senate chambers of the Federal Congress. James Monroe, the newly elected president in 1817, began the tradition of holding the inauguration outside, in front of Congress. The outdoor inauguration would prove fatal in 1841. With great hubris, the newly elected President William Harrison decided to ride on horseback, without a coat, to his inauguration – despite the winter weather. Harrison then delivered the longest inauguration speech in American history — a two-hour-long oration, which led to the shortest Presidency in American history as Harrison subsequently caught pneumonia and died 31 days later. The twentieth amendment of the Constitution, took effect before Franklin D. Roosevelt’s second term began. The twentieth amendment specified that the elected president would become president through inauguration at noon on Jan. 20, two months, instead of four, after the presidential election. The twentieth amendment also clarified the presidential secession plan. The first inauguration held on the new date of January 20, 1937 turned out to be the wettest inauguration ever with 1.77" rain in 24 hours. It was quite windy with temperatures just above freezing.

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A strong snowstorm struck the Northeastern part of the United State on January 19, 1961. It was the day before the inauguration of President John K Kennedy, temperatures held steady during the 19th at 20 and snowfall fell at 1–2 inches per hour and a total of 8 inches fell during the night, causing transportation and logistical problems in Washington and serious concern for the inauguration. On inauguration day, January 20, 1961, the skies began to clear but the snow had created chaos in Washington, almost canceling the inaugural parade. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers was put in charge of clearing the streets during the evening and morning before the inauguration, and were assisted by more than 1,000 District of Columbia employees and 1,700. This task force employed hundreds of dump trucks, front-end loaders, sanders, plows, rotaries, and even flamethrowers to clear the route. Over 1,400 cars which had been stranded due to the conditions and lack of fuel had to be removed from the parade route. The snowstorm dropped visibility at Washington area airports to less than half a mile, preventing former President Herbert Hoover from flying into Washington and attending the inauguration.

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During the Dust Bowl days of the 1930s much of the Great plains of the United States was bone dry. Because there was little rainfall the ground was dry. Daytime heat is derived from the ground heating up from the sun and then heating the lowest level of the atmosphere from the warming ground. The amount of moisture in the ground has a great impact on this heating. A large percentage of the sun’s energy goose into evaporating the moisture on the ground surface. When the ground is dry to begin with the sun just gets to work warming things up. It’s not the sole reason that temperatures climb to record high levels – but it helps. During the 30’s in places like Oklahoma a significant number of high temperature records were set in part because of this dry weather phenomenon. Lack of moisture also has an impact of lowering temperatures. Moisture in the ground leads to higher humidity near the ground and that prevents temperatures from getting below the saturation point of moisture in the air. When there is little moisture temperatures can drop more. So, in additions to the extreme heat that we all hear about from the Dust Bowl – there was also extreme cold. On January 18, 1930 in Watts Oklahoma the mercury dipped to -27 degrees the coldest ever in state. It was the 1st day of string of 33 days when temperature averaged -2.8 degrees. 7.7 degrees colder than any other period since records commenced.

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In Edmonton, Alberta a massive snowstorm struck on January 17, 1994. Snow was whipped into huge drifts and visibility was severely limited. When storm like this strike they have widespread and even historic impacts. But all such events are personal and there are individual stories that amaze or are harrowing and don’t rise to the level of historic reporting – yet are extremely important to those involved. During this storm, blinded by blowing snow, a motorist drove her small car into the back of a tractor-trailer. The unsuspecting truck driver drove off with her vehicle stuck beneath the tanker. For 30 minutes, the coupled vehicles stayed together despite the woman’s frantic efforts to break free. Blowing snow kept other drivers from noticing. The truck driver stopped after he heard the car’s tires exploding. Luckily the diver of the car suffered only minor injuries in this storm fueled drive.

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January 16, 1916 brought a massive storm to California. Sweeping in off the Pacific Ocean the storm was pulling plenty of moisture northward all the way from Hawaii in what is often called the Pineapple Express. The storm struck with a vengeance with powerful gusts of wins that toppled trees and ripped off roofs from the San Francisco Bay area all the way to the Central Valley of California. Perhaps the most spectacular impact of the storm was the several inches of snow that fell in San Francisco and surrounding communities. With no way to clean off the snow on the hilly streets in the region those roads became slippery nightmares and travel halted for several days until the snow melted and transport was once again able to move.

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The winter of 1779-1780 had been fairly cold in the New York City area, with ice flows recorded on the North River – now known as the Hudson and the East River through the start of January 1780. But on January 15 the ice flows started to harden and merge together all the way out to the south of the city in the main harbor of New York freezing solid. The rivers and New York Harbor would see the ice thicken and hold firm all the way through the end of February. In fact, the ice became so thick that not only could sleigh and wagons move from Long Island to Manhattan and from Manhattan to Staten island and to New Jersey. With the Revolutionary War still in full swing the ice was even strong enough to support the movement of heavy cannons from place to place.

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Southern California's greatest snow occurred on this date. Fifteen inches blanketed San Bernardino, and even San Diego reported a trace of snow. According to the “History of Riverside, California” by Edgar Wallace Holmes, Jan. 11,1882 was a beautiful day. But the temperature dropped that night, it became overcast and snow began falling around daybreak. The snow fell all day on Jan. 12th and into the next day. By the 14th, Riverside and San Bernardino counties were totally snow-covered. The bitter winter weather extended up and down California and brought snow to all kinds of places that saw it very rarely, such as Los Angeles and San Francisco. In Riverside, snow fell to a depth of 8 to 12 inches. So much snow blew into area canals that they became blocked in places and severe breaks occurred. Only a minor amount of damage occurred to the citrus fruit still on the trees, as the snow acted as an insulator. However, many trees were damaged when the weight of the snow, combined with the weight of the fruit, and that caused branches to break and trees to split. The city of San Bernardino, being at a higher elevation than Riverside, got more snow. The city had an estimated 12 to 15 inches. All transport came to a halt in the region for a week in what went into the history books as the greatest snowfall ever seen, before or since in Southern California.

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