This Date in Weather History

Brackettville, the county seat of Kinney County in Texas, is on U.S. Highway 90 twenty-two miles northeast of the Rio Grande and 125 miles west of San Antonio. It is named after Oscar Brackett, who established the first general dry goods store near the site of Forth Clark in 1852. Brackett, as it was called originally, was established on the San Antonio-El Paso Road, and by 1857 its Sargent Hotel and small restaurant were a regular stop for the San Antonio-San Diego stage line. The Texas State Historical Association reports that the community experienced a period of steady growth after the Civil War, attracting cattle rustlers, buffalo hunters and gamblers a true town of the wild west. In 1868 Brackett had ten homes and a population of fifty. It was designated the county seat of Kinney County when the county was established in 1876. Brackettville enjoyed a period of exceptional prosperity during the period by 1878, as nearby Fort Clark swelled with thousands of soldiers. The town grew rapidly, and many businesses, constructed of limestone blocks quarried nearby, were established. The population soared to near 1,500 and seemed on the way to prosperity. But on May 28, 1880 dry air sweeping in from New Mexico met up with moisture streaming out of the Gulf of Mexico. The dynamics of the weather system produced a cloudburst that dumped more than a foot of rain in less than 2 hours devastating the town. Much of the town was rebuilt on higher ground nearby , but it would never be the same again. Despite the population of Texas increasing from 1.5M in 1880 to almost 30M today, 20 times increase, Brackettville’s population remains close to its total from 140 years ago.

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In 1896 St. Louis was listed as the 5th largest city in the United States, trailing only New York, Chicago, Philadelphia and what was then the separate city of Brooklyn. More than half a million people lived there on the banks of the Mississippi River. The morning of May 27, 1896 dawned calm and steamy and belied what was coming that afternoon. One of the greatest natural disasters to strike one of the largest US cities was awaiting residents in the afternoon. In what remains the third most deadly tornado in U.S. history struck St. Louis, on the afternoon of May 27, 1896. According to the National Centers for Environmental Education; shortly before five o’clock that Wednesday afternoon, May 27, the devastating tornado struck the city from the southwest, near the Compton Heights district. From there, the tornado made its way down the Mill Creek Valley, destroying countless homes as it headed toward the Mississippi River. Once the tornado made it to the Mississippi, it decimated the steamboats and other vessels in the harbor, breaking them to pieces and scattering them from the Missouri shore to the Illinois shore. Even the Eads Bridge, which was considered “tornado proof” as the first major bridge constructed by making use of true steel, was damaged by the powerful tornado, with nearly 300 feet of its eastern approach torn away. Much of the central portion of St. Louis was also destroyed, as were factories, saloons, hospitals, mills, railroad yards, and churches throughout the city. Across St. Louis, the tornado completely destroyed block after block of residential housing. Hundreds of miles of electric wires and thousands of telephone and telegraph poles were torn down by the fierce winds. The tornado also uprooted trees more than half a century old and hurled them a distance of several blocks. Heavy iron fences, like the one that surrounded Lafayette Park, were twisted and tangled until they were nearly unrecognizable. During the less than half an hour that the tornado was on the ground, it tracked a three-mile-wide path of destruction across St. Louis, killing 255 people, injuring 1,000, and rendering countless families homeless.

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The term Pneumonia front, first coined by Milwaukee Weather Bureau Office in the 1960s,  is used to describe a rare meteorological phenomenon observed on the western Lake Michigan shoreline during the warm season. These fronts are defined as lake-modified small scale cold fronts that result in one-hour temperature drops of 16 °F or greater.  They do not necessarily have to be large scale, cold fronts to bring weather changes to an entire region. Very often in the spring to early summer the temperature difference between the cold lake waters and the warmer air over land can be as much as 35–40 °F . Under weak prevailing winds, an air current can often develop in the form of a lake breeze that moves from that water to the adjacent shoreline to as much as several miles inland. This "lake-breeze cold front" can drop temperature in places like Chicago, Milwaukee and Green Bay significantly as they cross the area. There has been many a spring day at Wrigley Field that surprises Cub fans who may have travelled from an inland location toward the shore to take in an afternoon game at Wrigley just a few blocks from the lakeshore, only to feel the effects of the "pneumonia front" as that cold blast of air comes through. On May 26, 2008 such a front caused temperatures to drop in Chicago from 72 at 10 pm to 55 an hour later. Winds had gone from light and westerly to northeasterly with gusts up to 40 mph along the lake. Other areas along the lake dropped from the mid 76 to the upper 40s

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The number of people killed by lightning in recent years is a far cry from annual lightning deaths decades ago. In the 1940s, for instance, hundreds of people were killed each year by lightning. In 1943 alone, 432 people died. The sharp drop in lightning deaths over the past 75 years " coincides with a shift in population from rural to urban regions," wrote meteorologist Ronald Holle in an article in the Journal of Applied Meteorology. In the 1940s, "there were many, many more small farmers who were out working in fields," which meant many more chances to be struck by lightning. In addition to better lightning safety awareness and medical advances, all phones were corded decades ago, leading to quite a few deaths due to people speaking on the phone. Additionally, there has been better lightning protection, suppression and grounding in electrical and phone lines. But on May 25, 1987 as a line of heavy thunderstorms crossed Louisiana a group of men fishing in Lake struggled to get to shore out of harm’s way as they approached the shore a man standing in a ski boat was struck and killed by lightning. News reports claim the man had said, "Here I am, come get me" when he was suddenly struck. 4 companions were not injured.

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Another Spring Day and another round of wild weather in the state of Texas. Severe weather is most prevalent in Texas in the Spring and May 24, 1986 was no different, severe thunderstorms blasted the area. Damage was heaviest from just north of Downtown Fort Worth and across the east side of town to southwest of Arlington where a roof collapsed over portions of a bowling alley injuring seven people. Windows were blown in with roof damage at motel across the street. Hail as large as golf balls blew in drifts two feet deep in spots. 3-5“ of rain fell in one hour, flooding many city streets in Arlington. A 29-year-old woman and her 6-year-old daughter drowned in their car, which was found submerged in an underpass. Other reports indicated that more than 3” of rain fell in one hour at Newark in Wise County. 95 mph winds were reported at WBAP Radio, Tarrant County. Baseball size hail fell near Ivan, Stephens County.

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By May 23, 1908 4-8" of rain fallen across much of northern and central Texas in the preceding days on already saturated land especially on the upper Trinity and Brazos River Basins. The rise in the rivers continued for several days toward the end of the month. Large crowds of onlookers gathered on bridges all over Texas the view the unusual site of rising rivers. Most times the rivers were almost dry trickles or brief raging white water torrents spurred on by brief cloudbursts from thunderstorms. But the days and days of steady rains in the part of the state brought something unusual in the form of broad rising rivers not seen by most of the growing populace of Texas. Record floods resulted from the rain at Grand Prairie, Dallas and Rosser (38.0'). 3 people drowned in Fort Worth and 8 in Dallas.

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The May 1957 tornado outbreak took place across the US Central Plains from May 19 to May 21, 1957. An F5 tornado, the strongest on the tornado intensity scale, on May 21 was the most significant in the outbreak and is known as the the Ruskin Heights Tornado where the area where the worst of the damage occurred, a suburb and housing development south of Kansas City. 57 tornadoes were reported from Colorado to the Mississippi Valley and 59 people were killed during the outbreak. But in the Kansas City area and specifically Ruskin Heights the impact was devastating. The Kansas City Star reported in its story from the next day that “At least 31 persons were reported killed, at least 200 persons were injured and many were made homeless by a tornado which struck the southern part of the metropolitan area shortly after 7pm. Everywhere there were scenes of jumbled debris, death and chaos as rescue workers struggled in the darkness to rescue the injured and maintain some semblance of emergency aid. Observers at the disaster scene in Ruskin Heights said there could be no count of the number killed, missing or injured until daylight. Rescue workers had only flashlights and motor car lights to search through the wreckage. With roads blocked with debris and cars, workers were doing well to get ambulances out of the disaster area. Glenn Rapp, director of the American Red Cross disaster unit in Jackson County, said hospitals in the metropolitan area had reported more than 200 injured, and efforts were being made to compile the names as rapidly as possible. Witnesses told of cowering in what shelter they could find as the winds ripped away houses and buildings. Cars were piled in tangled masses of metal in streets, in parking lots and in used car lots.”

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Tornadoes are a weather reality that millions of Americans have learned to live with. Those living in the Midwest and Southeast regions of the United States have come to expect at least a few twisters every year. Depending on the intensity, the path, tornadoes result in varying degrees of damage, and sometimes, most tragically, even in death. According to statistics from NOAA the odds of being killed in a tornado in a given year are 1 in 5,693,092. Only 2% of tornadoes result in the loss of human life. 1 in 1,000 tornadoes documented in the United States are the strongest level, Category 5 tornadoes. While the combined totals of EF4 and EF5 tornadoes make up less than 1% of all tornadoes, together, though, they contribute nearly 70% of all of the deaths caused by tornadoes. Odds focusing on a particular location getting hit by a tornado more than once are hard to come by. Some would argue that the odds never change, that’s it like flipping a coin and each separate weather situation presents the same odds. But don’t talk to the folks in Cordell, Kansas about tornado odds. For 3 consecutive years on May 20, 1916, May 20 1917 and May 20 1918 incredibly a tornado struck the town.

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Extreme heat can be rather uncomfortable. But what actually happens to the human body as the mercury rises? On humid days, when the air is already saturated with water, sweat evaporates more slowly. This explains why it feels so much hotter in high humidity. When relative humidity reaches a high enough level, the body's natural cooling system simply can't work. Sweat evaporates very slowly, if at all, and the body heats up. According to the Mayo Clinic, the most serious level of this breakdown is heat stroke, and it occurs when the body’s temperature reaches an excess of 104 degrees Fahrenheit. During heat stroke, body functions grind to a halt, the brain shuts down the body’s natural coolant system, perspiration. Without sweat, the body can no longer keep its temperature in check, heat stroke causes the brain to swell, leading to headaches and even seizures in more extreme cases. Victims also experience an altered level of consciousness. The cardiovascular system is affected as well. Heat stroke causes blood pressure to drop and the heart to beat faster and more irregularly, heightening the risk for high-output cardiac failure. Heat-related deaths are one of the deadliest weather-related health outcomes in the world, in the United States an average of 658 people a year die due to extreme heat. AccuWeather’s patented Realfeel temperature is a measure that combines the effect of temperature, humidity and other factors. On May 19, 2007 in Pakistan, severe heat and humidity created deadly RealFeel temperatures. In Sibi, northwest Pakistan, the temperature reached 115 degrees with a dew point of 90; the RealFeel was 150 degrees, one of the highest ever recorded.

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Ever since people have traveled the Great Lakes, storms have sunk ships and taken lives. In fact, the very first recorded sailing vessel on the upper lakes, was lost in 1679. Since that time, massive and historical storms have swept the lakes, most numerous in the month of November. With the coming of modern technology and stronger vessels, fewer such losses have occurred. The large surface of the lakes allows waves to build to giant heights out in the open. Strong winds can cause storm surges that lower lake levels several feet on one side while raising it even higher on the other. The shallowest lake, Lake Erie, sometimes sees storm surge rises of 8 or 10 feet. On May 18, 1894 one such storm and wind event struck the Lakes. On lake Michigan off of Chicago 9 vessels were sunk with an uncounted loss of life.

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