This Date in Weather History

It has been 67 years since powerful Hurricane Hazel made landfall close to the North Carolina/South Carolina border near Myrtle Beach, S.C., on the morning of Oct. 15, 1954. The storm wreaked havoc across the eastern United States and Canada on its way to the record books. Hazel is considered one of the worst natural disasters in North Carolina's history, and one of the most destructive hurricanes to impact the U.S.. The National Hurricane Center, says Hazel made landfall as a Category 4 hurricane with wind gusts up to 150 mph. Records for the most rain ever received in one calendar day in October were set in Greensboro, N.C., with 6.24 inches and in Pittsburgh, Pa., with 3.56 inches. Philadelphia, Washington, D.C., and New York City all recorded their highest wind gusts on record at 94 mph, 98 mph and 113 mph respectively. Winds were actually sustained above hurricane force in Washington DC at 78 mph. Wind gusts were measured at 100 mph on the shore of Lake Ontario in northern New York. The storm's winds remained so strong inland as it traveled north at an amazing 55 mph and reached Ontario, Canada, that night. The hurricane was the strongest ever to strike so far to the north. All fishing piers from Myrtle Beach to Cedar Island, N.C., were destroyed and 15,000 homes and structures were destroyed in North Carolina alone. The devastation along the North Carolina beaches was enhanced as Hazel made landfall during the full moon of October, which was the highest lunar tide of the year. Storm surge reached a remarkable 18 feet in some locations, wiping out beaches. Dozens of people were killed in the U.S. and Canada.

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Very cold weather had firmly established itself across the Arctic in the late summer and early autumn of 1988. Ice began forming almost 45 days earlier than normal on the regions close to the Alaskan and Siberian coast lines. This impeded coastal travel much earlier than in a normal season. It also disrupted the seasonal migration of wildlife. On October 14, 1988 off the coast of Alaska, a thick layer of ice had already formed along the north shore that blocked the southward migration of California gray whales near Point Barrow, Alaska and could have had disastrous effects on those whales. So, on that day American and Russian rescuers worked together and cleared a passage to the open sea and prevented the whales from drowning.

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The Battle of Saratoga occurred in September and October, 1777, during the second year of the American Revolution. It included two crucial battles, fought eighteen days apart, and was a decisive victory for the Continental Army and a crucial turning point in the Revolutionary War. After a failed Canadian invasion left much of the Continental Army beaten, sick and in retreat, the British hoped to quash rebellion once and for all by isolating the New England colonies. They also hoped to discourage potential American allies such as France from joining the fight. To accomplish this, the British Redcoats needed to take upstate New York and then control the Hudson River. In the spring of 1777, the British ordered three of their armies to merge in Albany, New York. Only one army, however, commanded by General John Burgoyne, made the final push toward its destination. Waiting for them was the heavily-fortified Northern Department of the Continental Army, commanded by General Horatio Gates. The opposing armies came face to face on September 19. Known as the Battle of Freeman’s Farm or the First Battle of Saratoga, the fierce fighting lasted for several hours. Momentum changed sides several times, but neither side gained significant ground until Burgoyne ordered his column of German troops to support the faltering British line and forced the Americans to pull back. Still, the British suffered twice the number of casualties than the Americans and couldn’t continue their drive to Albany. Burgoyne decided to stay put and wait for reinforcements from New York City. In the meantime, the number of Gates’ American troops increased to over 13,000 and continued to grow. By October 7, with supplies dwindling fast, Burgoyne realized waiting for backup was in vain. He sent out a reconnaissance force to attack the American’s left flank in the wooded area of Bemis Heights, south of Saratoga. The Americans got wind of the movement, however, and beat back the British and sent them into retreat – winning the day. Burgoyne decided to take his army north to safety, but heavy rain and frigid temperatures slowed their retreat On October 13, 1777. Within two days, Gates’ soldiers surrounded what remained of Burgoyne’s army and they surrendered. The news of the first defeat of a large British army sent shockwaves around the world and ultimately brought the French into the War on the side of the Americans turning the tide and helping secure American independence – all aided by nasty weather. 

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For roughly 16 hours on October 12 2006, the city of Buffalo, NY, was pounded by an unprecedented lake-effect snow event. An unusually cold air mass flowing over the warm waters of Lake Erie set up the small-scale, but severe event. The waters of Lake Erie were a mild 62 degrees, three degrees above normal for October 12. After the snow ended the morning of the 13th the final snowfall tally at the Buffalo airport was 22.6“. That amount of snow easily surpassed the previous all-time October record of 6“ set in 1909 and went down in history as the 7th greatest snowfall total ever in Buffalo. Other snowfall totals included 24“ at Depew and Alden, 22“ in Amherst, 15“ in Downtown Buffalo and 14“ in West Seneca. The heavy weight of the snow caused the worst tree damage in memory across the region, especially in the many historic parkways and parks in Buffalo. Almost a million residents lost power. Some people had to sit in the dark for as long as a week.

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On October 11, 1737 a furious hurricane hit the mouth of the Ganges river near Calcutta, India. At the same time there was a violent earthquake, which threw down a great many houses along the river just as the hurricane approached, many communities nearby had most of their buildings destroyed by the earthquake and then the hurricane hit. Because of the damaged infrastructure and wreckage from the earthquake, the hurricane was devastating. Estimates were made that the water was pushed up the Ganges river all the way into Calcutta at a height of 40 feet – totally destroying the city that at the time numbered more than 25,000 people. Most ships in the river were capsized and then washed well inland. The flood waters from the hurricane spread over the vast inland plain of what is now parts of India and Bangladesh. The result of hurricane and earthquake was one of the greatest natural disasters in world history. More than 300,000 people are thought to have perished.

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Winter often comes early to the plans of western Canada. Cold air builds up in the artic regions and plunges southward unhindered through the vast flatlands. Many times this leads to quick changes in temperatures and more importantly the weather. On October 10, 1989 across the Canadian province of Alberta Temperatures dropped from the middle 60’s into the 40’s in just 10 minutes with the passage of a strong cold front. Powerful winds with the front took down trees and power lines. Reduced visibility due to windblown dust led to a 14-car pileup in near zero visibility near Bassano.

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The 1804 Snow hurricane was the first tropical cyclone in recorded history known to produce snowfall. An unusual late-season storm in 1804 it produced vast amounts of snow, rain, and powerful winds across the northeastern United States. Prior to its approach to the East Coast of the US, it passed through the Caribbean on October 4th, and later tracked just off the South Carolina coast. By early on October 9th, the storm turned up the coast and toward New England as it did so its tropical moisture was pushed across New England just as very cold air came plunging southward from Canada. While located off the Massachusetts coast, it reached its peak intensity wind of 110 . Due to its unusual nature, both heavy snowfall and strong winds caused a swath of devastation stretching from the Mid-Atlantic states to northern New England. In the Middle-Atlantic region, moderate damage occurred at sea coast but little was noted inland. In New England, strong gusts inflicted significant damage to numerous churches. Thousands of trees were knocked over, obstructing roads and damaging the timber industry throughout the region. Cold temperatures, wet snow, and high winds downed numerous branches in fruit orchards and froze crops, flattened dozens of barns, and killed cattle. In general, the agriculture, shipping, timber, and livestock trades suffered most acutely following the passage of the snow hurricane, while structural damage was widespread but generally inconsequential. The storm's most severe effects were concentrated at sea and led to a majority of the hurricane's deaths. Winds swept dozens of watercraft and multiple ships ashore, while high waters capsized many others. Several wharves were destroyed, subsequently harming local shipping businesses as a consequence. Snow and rainfall totals varied widely. Parts of Massachusetts received up to 7 in of rain, in contrast to snow totals upward of 48 in was measured in Vermont. In all, the hurricane caused more than 15 deaths at sea and one inland. The snow hurricane of 1804, generally described as the most severe storm in the United States since the Great Colonial Hurricane of nearly 200 years earlier, set several major precedents which have only infrequently occurred since. It was the first known tropical cyclone to generate significant snowfall, and its early and extensive accumulations throughout New England were unprecedented and unusually heavy.

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September 1900 brought to Galveston, Texas the worst natural disaster in U S history. A massive hurricane hit the city head on. Destroying most of what was then the 2nd leading port on the Gulf of Mexico, after New Orleans and leaving between 6 and 12,000 dead. Galveston had been the scene of two prior hurricanes, one in 1837 and then again in 1867 that caused severe damage. The city was rebuilt each time – but with little change to the structure of Galveston Island, which basically is a sand bar that sits off the Texas coast southeast of Houston in the Gulf of Mexico. After the 1900 storm the citizens had enough and pumped in sand off the nearby floor of the Gul and by the fall of 1901 were in the midst of raising the island by as much as 12 feet in some locations for protection. But on October 8, 1901 A deluge produced nearly 12" of rain in about a six-hour period. The torrential rains came to Galveston precisely 13 months following the day of that famous 1900 Galveston Hurricane disaster and caused much damage. More hurricane disasters would follow in Galveston during the next 20 years – but the raising of the island well above the level of the Gulf and a 20-foot-high seawall protected the city enough to stave off any more horrendous loss of life.

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A slow-moving tropical depression in early October 1970 centered on October 7, resulted in rainfall over multiple days across Puerto Rico and set the stage for the devastating floods. The focus of the rainfall core shifted from day to day, but some areas experienced copious amounts of rainfall on consecutive days, causing rainfall amounts that could be measured in feet. The highest total over those 6 days was 38.42 inches at Jayuya and 41.68 inches at a station nearby.. Flooding was widespread during the period. One of the hardest hit areas was the densely populated San Juan area. There were reports of bridge washouts, stranded vehicles, flooded homes, electrical outages and road closings due to both flood inundations and landslides. The volume of runoff was a record for Puerto Rico since there were numerous peaks at various times during the flood duration. With the small basin sizes and the typical rains that occur across the region, rivers usually flood within 6 to 12 hours of the heaviest rain. These floods lasted days, creating unique challenges for the affected communities. There were 18 confirmed fatalities, 34 people missing, $65 million (equivalent to more than ½ billion 2021 dollars worth of damage, 10,000 were left homeless, 600 houses destroyed and another 1,000 damaged. The damage to agriculture alone was approximately $8 million with $12 million tallied for road and bridge damage. President Nixon declared the territory a disaster area; the worst in Puerto Rico’s history.

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Ucluelet, British Columbia is located on the west coast of Canada on Vancouver Island. It has an oceanic climate like that of Ireland, with mild, rainy winters and cool summers owing to its coastal location. As such, precipitation is high, averaging around 132 inches per year, with most of it concentrated in the winter months. Even so, precipitation is significant in all months with no month averaging below 3 in of precipitation. Although it has an average snowfall of 12.8 inches, the median is 0, meaning more than 50% of years do not experience a single snowfall; this makes this climate unique in Canada. The region is prone to massive storms that sweep in off the Pacific Ocean, mainly in the winter. One reason it does not get much snow is because of the influence of the warming of the Pacific waters on the atmosphere. In October 1967 an early season winter-type storms blasted southward from the Gulf of Alaska and brought the region 19.61” of rain in 24 hours on October 6. That total of close to 20” in a day is the greatest 24 hours rainfall total ever in Canada.

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