This Date in Weather History

The eruption of Krakatoa, in August 1883 was one of the deadliest volcanic eruptions of modern history. It is estimated that more than 36,000 people died. Many died as a result of thermal injury from the blasts and many more were victims of the tsunamis that followed the collapse of the volcano into the sea. The eruption also affected the climate and caused temperatures to drop all over the world. The island of Krakatau is in the Sunda Strait between Java and Sumatra. In May 1883, the captain of the Elizabeth, a German warship, reported seeing clouds of ash above Krakatau. He estimated them to be more than 6 miles high. For the next two months, commercial vessels and chartered sightseeing boats frequented the strait and reported thundering noises and incandescent clouds. At 12:53 p.m. on August 26, 1883, the initial blast of the eruption sent a cloud of gas and debris an estimated 15 miles into the air. The following morning, four tremendous explosions, heard as far away as Perth, Australia, some 2,800 miles away cracked the dawn. The initial explosion ruptured the magma chamber and the water flash-boiled, creating a cushion of superheated steam that carried the pyroclastic flows up to 25 miles at speeds in excess of 62 mph. The eruption is estimated to have had the explosive force of 200 megatons of TNT, or nearly ten thousand times more explosive than the nuclear bomb that destroyed Hiroshima. Volcanic rock fragments and hot volcanic gases overcame many of the victims in western Java and Sumatra, and thousands more were killed by a devastating tsunami. The wall of water, nearly 120 feet tall, was created by the volcano's collapse into the sea. It completely overwhelmed small nearby islands. Inhabitants of the coastal towns on Java and Sumatra fled toward higher ground. One hundred sixty-five coastal villages were destroyed. The steamship Berouw was carried nearly a mile inland on Sumatra; all 28 crewmembers were killed. Another ship, the Loudon, had been anchored nearby. The ship's captain Lindemann succeeded in turning its bow to face the wave, and the ship was able to ride over the crest. The explosions hurled an estimated 11 cubic miles of debris into the atmosphere, darkening skies up to 275 miles from the volcano. In the immediate vicinity, the sun light did not return for three days. Ash fell as far away as 3,775 miles (landing on ships to the northwest. Barometers around the globe documented that the shock waves in the atmosphere circled the planet at least seven times. Within 13 days, a layer of sulfur dioxide and other gases began to filter the amount of sunlight able to reach Earth. The atmospheric effects made for spectacular sunsets all over Europe and the United States. The impact of the weather was profound as average global temperatures were as much as 1.2 degrees cooler for the next five years.

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The Great Colonial Hurricane of 1635 hit the Jamestown Settlement in Virginia and the Massachusetts Bay Colony during August 1635. It is considered to be one of the earliest hurricanes to have struck New England, occurring just 15 years after the settlement at Plymouth rock. Although the hurricane’s exact track remains unknown, several historical accounts describe the storm. The storm is first mentioned on August 24, 1635, as it moved rapidly to the east of the Jamestown Colony in Virginia, but did not cause any damage. Massachusetts Bay Governor, John Winthrop, kept a running journal of his experiences in the Boston area at that time. On August 25 he described a storm arriving before midnight on August 25, blowing with “such violence” and “an abundance of rain”. Historian and writer William Bradford, who lived in Plymouth Plantation, stated that the hurricane “was such a mighty storm of wind and rain as none living in these parts, ever saw… It caused the sea to swell to the southward [of this place] above 20 feet right up and down…” Reverend Richard Mather, who was traveling on the ship the James at the time of the storm, recounted strong, shifting winds while aboard the vessel. The hurricane produced a storm surge of 20 ft in Narragansett Bay. Due to strong winds, heavy rainfall, and high tide, hundreds of trees were toppled, homes were destroyed, and ships were blown off their anchors. An estimated 46 people died. The damage to structures and the losses described were similar to the descriptions from the 1938 New England Hurricane, so, historians believe the intensity of the Great Colonial Hurricane was comparable.

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Hurricane Andrew was a powerful and destructive Category 5 hurricane that struck the Bahamas, Florida and Louisiana in August 1992. It is the most destructive hurricane to ever hit Florida in terms of structures damaged or destroyed, and was the costliest in financial terms until Hurricane Irma surpassed it 25 years later. It was the strongest landfalling hurricane in decades and the costliest hurricane to make landfall anywhere in the United States, until it was surpassed by Katrina in 2005. In addition, Andrew is one of only four Category 5 hurricanes to make landfall in the United States. Andrew caused major damage in the Bahamas and Louisiana, but the greatest impact was felt in South Florida, where the storm made landfall as a Category 5 hurricane, with sustained wind speeds as high as 165 mph. Passing directly through the city of Homestead south of Miami, Andrew stripped many homes of all but their concrete foundations. In total, Andrew destroyed more than 63,500 houses, damaged more than 124,000 others, caused $27.3 billion in damage, and left 65 people dead. Andrew began as a tropical depression over the eastern Atlantic Ocean on August 16. After spending a week without significantly strengthening itself in the central Atlantic, it rapidly intensified into a powerful Category 5 hurricane while moving westward towards the Bahamas on August 23. Though it briefly weakened to Category 4 status while traversing the Bahamas, it regained Category 5 intensity before making landfall in Florida on Elliot Key and then Homestead on August 24 1992. With a barometric pressure of 27.23’ of mercury at the time of landfall in Florida, Andrew is the sixth most-intense hurricane to strike the United States. Several hours later, the hurricane emerged over the Gulf of Mexico at Category 4 strength. After turning northwestward and weakening further, Andrew moved ashore near Morgan City Louisiana, as a low-end Category 3 storm. After moving inland, the small hurricane curved northeastward and rapidly lost its intensity. Andrew first inflicted structural damage as it moved through the Bahamas, lashing the islands. About 800 houses were destroyed, and there was substantial damage to the transport, water, sanitation, agriculture, and fishing sectors. Andrew left four dead and $250 million in damage throughout the Bahamas. In parts of southern Florida, Andrew produced severe winds; a wind gust of 177 mph was observed. The cities of Florida City and Homestead received the brunt of the storm. As many as 1.4 million people lost power at the height of the storm; some for more than one month. In the Everglades, 70,000 acres of trees were downed. Rainfall in Florida was substantial, peaking at 13.98 inches in western Dade County. In Florida, Andrew killed 44 and left a record $25 billion in damage. Prior to making landfall in Louisiana on August 26, Andrew caused extensive damage to oil platforms in the Gulf of Mexico, leading to $500 million in losses for oil companies. It produced hurricane-force winds along its path through Louisiana, damaging large stretches of power lines that left about 230,000 people without electricity. Over 80% of trees in the Atchafalaya River basin were downed, and the agriculture there was devastated. 23,000 houses damaged, 985 others destroyed, and 1,951 mobile homes demolished, property losses in Louisiana exceeded $1.5 billion. The hurricane caused the deaths of 17 people in the state. Andrew spawned at least 28 tornadoes along the Gulf Coast. In total, Andrew left 65 dead and caused $27.3 billion in damage.

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During the first few centuries of European settlement in North America the English Colonies were known to experience the direct and indirect impacts of tropical storms and hurricane. The collective memories of the indigenous people who originally inhabited the region warned the Europeans of the huge storms that could create massive flooding and strong, powerful and damaging winds. Then, as now, preparations still cannot stave off certain massive impacts of the tropical systems. On August 23, 1724 and event known as the "Great Gust of 1724" occurred. Almost all tobacco and much of the corn crops were destroyed by this violent tropical storm, which struck the Chesapeake Bay. Intense floods of rain and a huge gust of wind were seen on the James River. Just as recovery was underway to salvage what crops they could, a week later another tropical system inundated the region with more heavy rain and flooding leading to an almost total failure of the corn crop and the suspension of the export of corn from the region for the next 12 months.

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Cut Bank, Montana is located in eastern Glacier County, located in extreme northwestern Montana just 30 miles south of the US Canadian border, just east of the cut bank of gorge along Cut Bank Creek. Cut Bank experiences a semi-arid climate with long, cold, dry winters and short, warm, wetter summers. In winter, bitterly cold arctic air masses move south and impact the eastern side of the American Continental Divide – right where Cut Bank is situated. During such invasions Cut Bank, with its comparatively high elevation and topography is frequently the coldest location in the lower 48 U.S. States. Being close to the eastern slopes of the Rocky Mountains also makes the area subject to occasional Chinook winds that blow down of the Rockies and heat up the air rapidly increasing the local temperature. This can also lead to rapid change in temperatures, especially in the spring and autumn. August 19 1992 was a typical summer day as the mercury soared to 90 in Cut Bank Montana, not a record, but still very high. But extremely cold air though had been building in Alaska and it came barreling down the Canadian plains and right into Cut Bank by the early morning hours of August 22, 1992. The high temperature that day only reached 33 degrees. 8-12” of snow fell just to the north in parts of Alberta. Glacier Park Mt. had 12” of snow and 8.3" of snow covered the ground at Cut Bank.

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When Colorado became a state in 1876, its state fair was already earning its place in history. The first recorded gathering was in 1869, when approximately two thousand people converged on what is now Pueblo for a horse exhibition; from that meager beginning was born the Colorado State Fair. The Colorado State Fair is an event held annually in late August in Pueblo. The state fair has been a tradition officially since October 9, 1872. The fairgrounds also host a number of other events during the rest of the year. Organizationally, the fair is one of the divisions of the Colorado Department of Agriculture. On August 21, 1984 for the first time ever the Fair was closed after a vicious hailstorm struck. 9 people were injured; 500 light bulbs were broken by golf ball sized hail; 1 person among the injured was knocked unconscious. Damage totaled $40 million. In 2020 because of COVID gone were the concerts, the rodeo and the shopping exhibitions, The Colorado State Fair board canceled a majority of the events and concerts. In 2021 the fair is back to in person events held August 27 to September 6.

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The wildfire season started early in 1910 in the western U S because the winter of 1909–1910 and the spring and summer of 1910 were extremely dry, and the summer sufficiently hot to have been described as "like no others." The drought resulted in forests that were teeming with dry fuel, which had previously grown up on abundant autumn and winter moisture. Hundreds of fires were ignited by hot cinders flung from locomotives, sparks, lightning, and backfiring crews. By mid-August, there were 1,000 to 3,000 fires burning in Idaho, Montana, and Washington. August 20, 1910 brought hurricane-force winds to the interior northwest, whipping the hundreds of small fires into one or two much larger blazing infernos. Such a conflagration was impossible to fight; there were too few men and supplies. The National Forest Service was only five years old at the time and unprepared for the possibilities of the dry summer or a fire of this magnitude, though all summer it had been urgently recruiting as many men as possible to fight the hundreds of fires already burning, many with little forestry or firefighting experience. Earlier in August President Taft had authorized the addition of military troops to the effort, and 4,000 troops, including seven companies from the U S Army’s 25th Regiment known as the Buffalo Soldiers, were brought in to help fight the fires burning in the northern Rockies. The arrival of the Black regiment of Buffalo Soldiers helped stem the tide for a while, but they were not enough and Smoke from the fire was said to have been seen as far east as Watertown, New York and as far south as Denver Colorado. It was reported that at night, five hundred miles out into the Pacific Ocean, ships could not navigate by the stars because the sky was cloudy with smoke. The fire burned after the strong winds caused those numerous smaller fires to combine into a firestorm of unprecedented size. It killed 87 people, mostly firefighters, destroyed numerous structures, including several entire towns, and burned more than three million acres of forest with an estimated billion dollars' worth of timber lost. It is believed to be the largest, although not the deadliest, forest fire in U.S. history. The extensive burned area was approximately the size of the state of Connecticut.  In the aftermath of the fire, the Forest Service received considerable recognition for its firefighting efforts, including a doubling of its budget from Congress. The outcome was to highlight firefighters as public heroes while raising public awareness of national nature conservation. The fire is often considered a significant impetus in the development of early wildfire prevention and suppression strategies. In Idaho, one third of the town of Wallace was burned to the ground. Passenger trains evacuated thousands of Wallace residents to Spokane and Missoula. Another train with 1,000 people from Avery took refuge in a tunnel after racing across a burning trestle. The fire was finally extinguished when a cold front swept in, bringing steady rain and even some early season snowfall.

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In this age, where everyone has a cell phone, and almost every kind of event on planet Earth is recorded it is sometimes hard to harken back to the days when interesting events were missed entirely of if not missed, not recorded or remembered. But on August 19, 1896 one of the best documented sightings ever recorded of a waterspout occurred. It was visible by thousands of people about 8 miles north of Chappaquiddick Island, off the coast of Massachusetts. Three spouts altogether occurred between 12:45PM and 1:25PM. The largest of the 3 lasted 18 minutes with a diameter estimated at 240'. Water was agitated to a height of 400' and column was 3600' high. Rev. Crandall J. North reported; "the Whirlwind lashed the sea into foam, spray and vapor...it stood for many minutes before the wondering gaze of thousands, a variable pillar of cloud by day"

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Hurricane Diane was one of three hurricanes to hit the North Carolina coast during the 1955 Atlantic hurricane season. The system began as a tropical wave over the Atlantic Ocean, then developed into a tropical depression on August 7, 1955. Moving west-northwest, the depression became Tropical Storm Diane two days later. The storm turned north-northeast on August 11 and quickly developed into a hurricane about 400 miles northeast of San Juan, Puerto Rico. The hurricane reached its peak intensity at Category 3 status on August 12 with 120 mph sustained winds. It remained at Category 3 status for three days until cooler air behind Hurricane Connie, a Category 1 hurricane that struck the Outer Banks of North Carolina on August 12, became entangled in Diane’s circulation. As a result, Hurricane Diane weakened to Category 1 strength with winds of 74 mph before making landfall near Wilmington, NC on August 17, 1955. Diane’s landfall occurred just 150 miles southwest from Hurricane Connie’s point of landfall that was near Cape Lookout five days earlier, leaving residents of these areas with little time to prepare due to the close proximity of the two storms. Tides ran 6 to 8 feet above normal near Wilmington, and waves of up to 12 feet struck the southeast North Carolina coast. The resultant storm surge damaged beach houses, flooded coastal roads, and destroyed seawalls partially damaged by Hurricane Connie a few days earlier. Rainfall was most significant inland, where Hurricane Connie had saturated the ground and significantly raised water levels as it moved along the central North Carolina coast five days prior to the arrival of Hurricane Diane. Nationally, although Connie did not produce significant flooding, it set the stage for Hurricane Diane to create some of the most destructive floods the river valleys of eastern Pennsylvania, northwest New Jersey, southeast New York and southern New England had ever seen on August 18, 1955. Rainfall amounted to 20 inches in New England over the two-day period when Diane was a tropical storm off the Northeast coast. The state of Connecticut received the most rainfall, especially in areas north and west of Hartford, with up to 12 inches of rainfall in 24 hours. As a result, losses from Hurricane Diane were greatest in Connecticut, where damages amounted to $350 million or more than $3 billion in 2021 dollars, in Connecticut alone and 77 lives were lost. The city of Woonsocket, Rhode Island was heavily damaged as a dam broke to the north west of the city, pushing a 20-foot wall of water down the Blackstone River. Overall, between 180 and 200 total fatalities were estimated to be a result of Hurricane Diane. Although it was difficult to estimate total damages stemming from Hurricane Diane, it was determined that the floods and other impacts from the hurricane caused $1 billion in damage or almost 10 billion in 2021 dollars, making it the costliest hurricane in U.S. history at the time.

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On August 17, 1969, more than a half a century ago, Hurricane Camille slammed into the Mississippi coast, the storm still remains one of the most powerful and costly hurricanes on record to make landfall in the United States. Camille was the second-most-intense hurricane to hit the U.S. and remains one of only 4 category 5 hurricanes to strike the mainland U.S. The storm resulted in at least 259 fatalities and caused nearly $1.4 billion in damages at the time, which equates to more than $10 billion 2021 dollars. The hurricane formed in the Cayman Islands on Aug. 14 and continued to intensify rapidly before making landfall on Aug. 17, 1969, near Waveland, Mississippi. "Most hurricanes weaken as they approach landfall, but Camille is the exception," AccuWeather Forensic Meteorologist Steve Wistar explained. "That's unusual." Camille's intensity at landfall was 26.5 inches of mercury making it the second-strongest hurricane to make landfall in the continental U.S., exceeded only by 1935's Labor Day hurricane that ravaged the Florida Keys. The storm was slightly stronger than Hurricane Andrew and Hurricane Michael. The storm caused a devastating 24.6-foot storm surge, the greatest for the U.S. until Hurricane Katrina, and winds gusted to more than 170 mph along the coast. However, the actual maximum sustained winds of Hurricane Camille are not known as the hurricane destroyed all the wind-recording instruments in the landfall area. A number of residents along the Gulf coast underestimated just how powerful this hurricane was becoming and either lost their life or suffered injuries. “It’s unlikely that those who stayed had any idea that a Category 5 storm was coming,” AccuWeather Meteorologist Dale Mohler said, adding that the government did not forecast hurricane categories at the time. It wasn't until the 1973 hurricane season that Saffir-Simpson scale was available to the public. Camille was a two-part disaster, as the storm's deadly impacts affected both coastal and inland areas. Following Camille's landfall, the storm weakened as it moved inland over the next several days. However, the slow-moving system wreaked havoc on the mid-Atlantic, especially Virginia. In Virginia, the storm dumped more than 27 inches of rain. With most of the rain falling in three to four hours in the southwestern mountains of Virginia, more than 100 people died due to disastrous flooding and landslides. In 2005, Hurricane Katrina eclipsed Camille as the most destructive hurricane ever to strike Mississippi's Gulf coast.

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