This Date in Weather History

On September 25, 1939 “El Cordonazo” or “The Lash of St. Francis” a tropical storm, hit Southern California and causes the greatest September rainfall ever. The storm lost hurricane status shortly before moving onshore at San Pedro as a tropical storm. Torrential rains hit, with Los Angles getting 5.42” in 24 hours, and Mt. Wilson 11.60” both records for the month of September. 3.62” fell in Needles, 1.51” Palm Springs. Needles measured 8 and half inches of rain for the month of September 1939, about double the seasonal average. 45 were killed in floods all over Southern California, and 48 more were lost at sea with $2 million damage to structures along the coast and to crops. Rain from tropical systems are unusual but not rare in southern California, but this storm brought rains never seen before and it was the only tropical storm to make landfall in California in the twentieth century.

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1888 was a cold year in the eastern half of he United States. The Great Blizzard of '88, or the Great White Hurricane in March 1888 was one of the most severe recorded blizzards in American history. The storm paralyzed the East Coast as well as the Atlantic provinces of Canada. Snow fell from 10 to 58 inches in parts of New Jersey, New York, Massachusetts, Rhode Island and Connecticut, and sustained winds of more than 45 miles per hour produced snowdrifts in excess of 50 feet. Railroads were shut down and people were confined to their homes for up to a week. Railway and telegraph lines were disabled, and this provided the impetus to move these pieces of infrastructure underground. The winter leading up to the Blizzard had been quite cold with one bitter blast after another. The summer of 1888 returned to more normal temperatures especially in the southern states with usual bouts of heat and humidity. But on September 24, 1888 a sever frost struck South Carolina, Georgia and even reached into northern Florida effectively putting an end to the growing season at least a month and a half early.

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Over the course of a three-month period in the summer of 1993, a slow-moving and historic flooding disaster unfolded across the midwestern United States, leaving economic ramifications that would be felt for years to come. More than 17 million acres were flooded across nine states in the Midwest during the summer of 1993, starting in June and lasting through August. This is an area larger than the entire state of West Virginia. “The magnitude and severity of this flood event was simply overwhelming, and it ranks as one of the greatest natural disasters ever to hit the United States,” said the Hydrologic Research Laboratory. This long-duration river flooding caused hundreds of levees failures, 50 fatalities and an estimated $15 billion in damages. While the worst of the flooding occurred in the summer of 1993, impacts across the region lasted for years. In St. Louis, the Mississippi remained above flood stage for 144 days between April 1 and September 30, 1993. Of the 17 million acres that were flooded, a majority was being used as farmland. This had a long-term impact on the industry as some of the land was not able to be used again for farming for several years after flood waters had receded. Shipping and transportation industries were also severely impacted during the height of the flooding. High water also rendered some bridges that spanned across the Mississippi River unusable for weeks, disrupting travel across the region. In some cases, this meant taking a detour of over 100 miles just to make it to the other side of a flooded river. The historic flooding was not caused by one single rainfall event, but rather an extended period of above-normal rainfall across the same region. On September 23, 1993 the summer was over, indicative of the rainfall was Cedar Rapids, Iowa that measured 35 inches of rain for the summer, the 3 summer months brought them the average rainfall for the entire year.

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Hugo was still at hurricane strength as the storm advanced quickly north-northwest across central SC and into western NC during the early morning hours of September 22, 1989. Considerable damage occurred in Sumter, SC where winds gusted over 100 mph. Winds gusted to 90 mph in the Charlotte/Mecklenburg County, NC area, which was declared a disaster area. 90% of Charlotte was without power. Tornado touchdowns were reported in Burke and Caldwell counties in NC. Charlotte airport recorded 3.16" of rain. Hickory recorded an 82-mph wind gust, while Greensboro had a 54-mph gust. Hugo was downgraded from a hurricane to a tropical storm while crossing western NC during the mid-morning hours of the 22nd. Tropical Storm Hugo advanced rapidly northward at about 50 mph during the afternoon, moving across southwest VA and western WV. By 6:00 PM EDT, Hugo was downgraded and was located just east of Youngstown, OH. Storm reports during the day included Shenandoah, VA - gust to 67 mph; Snow Shoe, WV -gust to 60 mph. 6" of rain at Poor Mountain, VA. 1.5-3" of rain across Dickenson, Russell, Tazewell and Buchanan counties of VA in a 3-hour time period. Hugo turned out to be the costliest hurricane to hit the U.S. mainland until Andrew in 1992, with damage totaling over $7 billion dollars. 82 deaths were attributed to Hugo, 27 were in SC.

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Hurricane Hugo intensified on September 21, 1989 as the storm moved northwestward toward Charleston, South Carolina. Hugo made landfall just prior to midnight over Sullivan’s Island, north of Charleston, with winds estimated between 130 and 150 mph northeast of the storm's center. A reconnaissance aircraft measured the pressure at 27.58" when Hugo made landfall. Wind gusts up to 119 mph were recorded in downtown Charleston, with extensive damage along with low-lying flooding. Most buildings on the barrier islands northeast of Charleston were destroyed due to a storm surge of up to 20'. All bridges to the barrier islands were washed out. The Charleston airport, miles inland from the city, had an 84-mph wind gust, while Sumter, SC had a 106-mph gust. A storm survey team estimated that the swath that had 100 mph plus winds extended from Charleston northeastward about 50 miles up the coast. The band of 100 mph or greater winds pushed inland 5-8 miles before the friction of land broke the winds into shorter, but often just as powerful, gusts. The area that had wind gusts over 100 mph extended as far as Sumter, which is 80 miles inland. Damage was extreme in the areas which experienced sustained 100 mph winds and severe in areas where gusts hit 100 mph. Damage was much less severe south of the storm's center where top winds were just over 75 mph. Hugo was the strongest hurricane to landfall on the contintenal United State in two decades. Along the coast of South Carolina, Hugo set new records for storm surge heights along the US east coast, reaching 20.2 ft near McClellanville, SC. The surge and winds wrought extensive damage across South Carolina's barrier islands, destroying many beachfront homes and other coastal installations. Hugo's northward acceleration at landfall led to unusually large and significant impacts to forests between South Carolina and Virginia, inflicting further damage to property; in South Carolina alone the loss of timber was estimated at $1.04 billion. Flood and wind impacts followed Hugo across much of the eastern United States and into eastern Canada.  The cleanup and recovery efforts that followed were extensive throughout the areas affected by Hugo. There were at least 39 fatalities during the post-storm recovery phase; more people died in South Carolina in the hurricane's aftermath than during its passage.  

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Snow fell on September 20, 1792 across northern Pennsylvania, in and early season storm that all but put an end to the growing season. A blast of cold air from Canada arrived just before a storm system moved up along the Atlantic seaboard. Life was a hardscrabble mixture of hunting, trapping and faming across the region and everything needed to go just right to make it through each coming winter. The autumn of 1792 was cold and harsh in the agricultural valleys of northern Pennsylvania. Mary B. Lantx, Historian in Milton, PA, reported that on September 20, 1792 "A very cold morning. It was surprising to see so much snow on the ground at this season of the year. The limbs of the peach trees broke, and large limbs of the oaks broke down, and saplings bent across the road. It began to snow last night before we went to bed".

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Lightning is a major cause of storm related deaths in the United States. A lightning strike can result in a cardiac arrest at the time of the injury, although some victims may appear to have a delayed death a few days later if they are resuscitated but have suffered irreversible brain damage. According to the National Weather Service Storm Data, over the last 30 years the U.S. has averaged 43 reported lightning fatalities per year. Only about 10% of people who are struck by lightning are killed, leaving 90% with various degrees of disability. More recently, in the last 10 years, the U.S. has averaged 27 lightning fatalities. On September 19, 1992 a lightning bolt struck a high school football player on the practice field in Silver Springs, Maryland and smashed his football helmet. 40 other players felt the shock. Amazingly no one was seriously injured.

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By September, 1926, the population of Dade County and the City of Miami had blossomed to well over 100,000; more than doubling from the census figure of 42,753 in 1920 - construction was everywhere. New buildings were constantly starting on Miami Beach, which had been built across Biscayne Bay on a series of barrier islands, bulldozed from their mangrove beginnings. Most of the new residents were unfamiliar with tropical storms and hurricanes. According to the National Weather Service, On September 11, 1926 a few ships in the central Atlantic reported on a tropical system moving west. It passed north of the Leeward Islands and Puerto Rico on the 14th, 15th, and 16th, avoiding normal channels of Caribbean information. In those days before satellite pictures and reconnaissance aircraft, the hurricane remained somewhat of a mystery, with only a few ship reports to tell of its existence. As late as the morning of September 17, less than 24 hours before the category 4 storm's effects would begin in South Florida, no warnings had been issued. At noon, the Miami Weather Bureau Office was authorized to post storm warnings. When barometric pressure began to fall rapidly around 11 PM the night of September 17, hurricane warnings were issued.  The eye of the hurricane passed over downtown Miami and parts of Cocoanut Grove and South Miami around 6:30 AM on September 18. The residents of the city, unfamiliar with hurricanes, thought the storm was over and emerged from their places of refuge out into the city streets. People even began returning to the mainland from Miami Beach. The lull lasted only about 35 minutes, during which the streets became crowded with people. The worst part of the hurricane, with onshore southeasterly winds bringing a 10-foot storm surge onto Miami Beach and the barrier islands, began around 7 AM and continued the rest of the morning. At the height of the storm surge, the water from the Atlantic extended all the way across Miami Beach and Biscayne Bay and into the City of Miami for several blocks. On October 9, well after the hurricane, the Red Cross reported that 372 persons had died in the storm and over 6,000 persons were injured. Damages in 1926 dollars were estimated at $105 million, which would be more than $164 billion in 2021 dollars.

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On the afternoon of September 17, 1923, just about everyone in Berkeley California had taken note of the uncommonly warm, dry wind blowing in from the northeast. What they didn’t know was that a small grass fire over the hill in Wildcat Canyon was growing fast, leaping from grass to brush to tree—and it was about to crest the hills of North Berkeley. When it did, near Berryman Reservoir, the fire was a half mile wide. A thick black cloud came pouring over the hill, followed by surging flames pressed low by warm, gale-force winds, known as Diablo winds. The fire raced and bore down on the Northside neighborhood. Just a few decades earlier, at the turn of the century, the area had been sparsely developed pastureland known as Daley’s Scenic Park. But, spurred in part by immigration across the bay after the San Francisco earthquake of 1906, there was a surge of subdivision and construction. As the fire roared downhill, the homes literally exploded in flames. Berkeley’s small contingent of firefighters was forced to repeatedly abandon their positions as the wind-propelled fire speedily advanced. The entire city, it seemed, might be consumed. But just as the flames reached the shopping district, the wind reversed direction and the fire was blown back onto itself. With nothing left to consume, it died out. When North Berkeley residents returned, there was nothing to salvage. It was a naked landscape of charred tree trunks and freestanding chimneys surrounded by bare foundations. At final tally, more than 500 homes were destroyed. Miraculously, no one was killed, but 4,000 people were left homeless, including more than 100 University employees and faculty and over 1,000 students.

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The Okeechobee hurricane of 1928, also known as the San Felipe Segundo hurricane, was one of the deadliest hurricanes in the recorded history of the North Atlantic basin, and the second deadliest hurricane in the United States, only behind the 1900 Galveston hurricane. The hurricane killed an estimated 2,500 people in the United States; most of the fatalities occurred in the state of Florida, particularly in Lake Okeechobee. The storm developed off the west coast of Africa in early September. About 72 hours later, the storm strengthened and became a Category 1. Still moving westward, the system reached Category 4 intensity before striking Guadeloupe on September 12, where it brought great destruction and resulted in 1,200 deaths. Around midday on September 13, the storm strengthened into a Category 5 hurricane and peaked with sustained winds of 160 mph. About six hours later, the system made landfall in Puerto Rico where strong winds resulted in severe damage in Puerto Rico, leaving over 500,000 people or 1/3 of the entire population homeless. Heavy rainfall also led to extreme damage to vegetation and agriculture. While crossing the island and emerging into the Atlantic, the storm weakened slightly, falling to Category 4 intensity. It began crossing through the Bahamas on September 16, where it resulted in 18 fatalities. The storm made landfall near West Palm Beach, Florida, later that night, with winds of 145 mph. In the city, more than 1,711 homes were destroyed; the effects were most severe around Lake Okeechobee. The storm surge caused water to pour out of the southern edge of the lake, flooding hundreds of square miles to depths as great as 20 feet. Numerous houses and buildings were swept at least 2,500 people drowned, while damage was estimated at $25 million. Overall, the hurricane caused $100 million in damage and killed at least 4,112 people.

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