This Date in Weather History

February 16, 1958 marked the end of a massive snowstorm that had developed in the lower Mississippi Valley a few days earlier. The system moved slowly eastward all day on the 14th gathering moisture from the Gulf of Mexico rain fell along the Gulf Coast with increasing intensity. Just as the storm was moving into position to turn up the eastern seaboard an injection of bitter arctic air moved out of eastern Canada and down the coast settling as far south and North Carolina. As the storm moved northward snow began falling on the 14th in southern Virginia and by the time night fell Washington DC was already shut down, by the morning of the 16th already more than a foot of snow was on the ground in DC.. 2’ pf snow clogged Boston by the evening of the 16 with an incredible 30-36” from the Catskills in New York to the White Mountains of New England. After the storm moved out to sea later that night the toll was staggering; 43 had died and more than $500 million dollars of destruction, more than $4.5 billion in today’s dollars was totaled.

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The Texas Gulf coast is known for hot steamy weather and has been the site of some of the most destructive and deadly hurricanes ever to strike the United States, but on February 15, 1895 a weather extreme of another sort struck the region. In the days leading up to the February 15th arctic cold plunged into the south with a vengeance. At the same time a storm was spinning inland in southern California. The cold weather was firmly established by the 14th and that western storm was forced southward into northern Mexico. It set the scene for the greatest snowfall event to ever hit the Gulf coast. Snow began to fall in some places on the evening of the 14th and by the time it stopped in the afternoon of February 15, 1895 record snowfall was measured from Texas to Alabama: Rayne, Louisiana recorded 22" a state record; Houston, also had, 22"; an incredible 15.4” feel on the beaches of Galveston, Texas, there was 8.2” in New Orleans, Louisiana, 6” in Brownsville, Texas and Mobile, Alabama. All land travel came to a halt for days and the extreme cold and snow killed many livestock. No accurate accounting of the impact on the people of the region was recorded, but estimates are than many perished in the cold and snow that was more usual for the northern plains states. Most homes had inadequate heating and people attempted to heat their homes with fires inside and that led to further disaster. The scale of winter weather was unprecedented. Nothing like it has been seen since.

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On February 14, 1958 in Haleyville, AL 16” of snow fell, an extreme snow event for that area of the country. Because of the snow’s high water equivalent, that is the total water content of the snow, the weight was extremely heavy and it caused many chicken coops in the poultry region to collapse leading to the crushing of many of the chickens inside. The coops were not constructed to withstand the heavy wet snow that fell, since the entire average winter’s snowfall in the region was a mere 1-2”. Following the snow storm many chicken coops in the poultry rich region where rebuilt to higher standards. In the north, chicken coop building standards have been and remain much more sturdy due to snowfall. In addition in many places housing poultry that don’t need coops, foul are kept in wire cages. The only impact is that when snow is heavy enough people must be called out to knock the snow off the wire confinements. 

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By February 13, 1899 much of the nation had been suffering under the icy grip of the worst arctic outbreak since the founding of the republic. Records that stand even to today had been set in the days previous to February 13, 1899 and more were to fall in the next few days. Because of the persistent week long cold, Ice flows had formed in Gulf of Mexico causing a hazard to navigation. The temperature on the morning of February 13, 1899 along the Gulf coast sat at incredibly low readings; -16 degrees Minden, LA a record for state, in New Orleans the mercury was 6.8 degrees; at in Mobile -1 degree; Pensacola 7 degrees; Brownsville Texas was 12 degrees an all time low for the city. Temperatures all the way southward to Ft Myers were in the 20s and snowflakes where observed all across Florida. But father up the East Coast the brunt of the outbreak was being felt as a Great Blizzard paralyzed the region on the 13th and 14th: 36" of snow fell at Cape May, New Jersey. 20.5" at Washington, D.C. and many other areas along the coast saw snowfall totals at more than a foot. The cold finally broke in the following days, after a week of misery, and with the warmup came several inches of rain that on top of melting snow produced flooding in the Northeast.

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February 1899 marked the arrival of perhaps the coldest airmass in move into the United States in recorded history. For more than a week the bitter arctic cold ravaged North America with Blizzards and ice. Records were established that hold even today more than century later. By February 12, 1899 the cold was already firmly established. In previous days the mercury had already dipped to minus 20 in Columbus and Pittsburgh. The day before on the 11th parts of Montana had seen temperatures below minus 60. In Tallahassee 2 below was recorded, a state of Florida record. A foot and a half of snow had not only fallen in Philadelphia and Baltimore, but Richmond and Raleigh. By February 12 the storm was in full swing, in Boston winds gusted to 65 mph and maintained an average of 50 mph throughout the entire day. 24-36" of snow just north of Boston in Beverly. The Boston Herald declared: "Rarely, if ever, has Boston been so completely snowbound as it has been by this blizzard." At the end of the storm, the snow depth measured 23" in Boston. But the snow extended far southward bringing unheard of snow totals including 4 in Charleston SC and 2.8” in Tallahassee. The cold persisted well behind the storm, Tulia, Texas recorded a morning temperature of minus 23, a state record. The arctic grip was not lessening, far from it, some places would suffer even more from the cold in coming days.

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February 11, 1994 dawned cold across the Tennessee Valley, an air mass that originated in the arctic snow fields of the Yukon had in previous days blasted across the northern plains state and by the 11th had settled into much of the nation east of the Rockies. Far to the south a storm was brewing on the Texas Gulf coast and pulling plenty of moisture northward out ahead of it. The cold air was holding on stubbornly in the lowest several thousand feet of the atmosphere in the Tennessee and Ohio valleys even as it began to warm up higher up in the air. As the moisture form the Gulf of Mexico was forced to rise up and over that cold layer of air near the ground it began to rain – but with temperatures still well below freezing at the surface the rain froze on everything. The result was Severe ice storm across parts of Tennessee, Alabama, and much of Kentucky. 1.45" of rain fell at Memphis --all with a temperature below freezing. Power was knocked out in many areas as ice accumulated on tree limbs and wires. In some cases, power was not restored for as much as 2 weeks. As the storm turned northward and into deeper cold air snow broke out on a wide front along the I-95 corridor and dumped heavy snow reaching depths of close to 1-2’ from Harrisburg and Allentown Pa into New England, including New York City, snarling traffic and closing airports.

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Calama, Chile is one of the driest cities in the world with average annual precipitation of just 0.20”. Located on the Atacama Desert, a plateau in South America. The desert is one of the driest places in the world, as well as the only true desert to receive less precipitation than polar regions. In many locations in the desert it rains but once every 10 years and then in small amounts. But on February 10, 1972 a torrential downpour depositing several inches of rain caused catastrophic floods and landslides, isolating the town and cutting off electricity. Prior to this event, the town had been known as THE driest place on earth, having had virtually no rain for 400 years.

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On February 9 1969 the fortunes of New York City Mayor John Lindsay were riding high. Mentioned often as possible Presidential contender in the upcoming decade of the 70’s he had done much to win the support of Democrats and Republicans, serving a Democratic city as a Republican. His policies where often hailed as progressive and finically responsible. But his future in politics was about to be undone by the weather. Warned in advance of an impending storm his administration was ill prepared. Budget cuts had slashed the available snowplows by 40% and a recent strike with city workers has not been fully overcome. What became known as the Mayor Lindsay Storm" dumped 15.3" at New York City; Central Long Island 12-18"; Scarsdale, NY 24"; Falls Village, CT 35"; Bridgeport, CT 17.7"; Hartford, CT 15.8"; Bedford, MA 25"; Blue Hill 21"; Boston 11.1"; Portland, ME 21.5"; 800 cars stranded on Tappan-Zee Bridge. Property damage totaled in New England more than $10 million. Thousands of homes lost utility service. Drifts reached 10-20' deep. Thousands were stranded on highways, the New York Thruway was closed from New York City to Albany. The storm was named for Mayor Lindsay's failure to clear the streets of New York City and more than 40 New Yorkers died as a result of the storm. Worst hit was the NYC borough of Queens where 21 people died. The storm came to a swift end late in the day of February 9 and with it came the end of Mayor Lindsey political career, despite being re-elected in 1969 he never held political office again after leaving office as Mayor, despite unsuccessful runs for senate and president.

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Citrus, namely oranges have been farmed commercially in Florida groves since the early 1800s. The first citrus was brought to the Western Hemisphere in 1493 by Christopher Columbus. In the mid-1500s one of the early Spanish explorers, most likely Ponce de Leon, planted the first orange trees around the current location of St. Augustine, Florida. Florida's unique sandy soil and subtropical climate proved to be ideal for growing the seeds that the early settlers planted and have flourished ever since. Today it is a $9 billion industry, employing nearly 76,000 Floridians. In 1835 the citrus industry was just getting on it’s feet, but it almost ended before it got going. On February 8, 1835 a bitter cold arctic blast reached into the southern part of the United States and produced low temperatures unknown in that region. The mercury reached below zero as far south as Savannah Georgia and on the morning of February 8 the temperature read 8 degrees in Jacksonville killing most of the orange trees and setting back the citrus industry more than 10 years. The first groves were originally planted in northern Florida far from where they currently exist. As time went on and more killing freezes occurred the groves were moved further and further south and are now hundreds of miles south of their original loculation.

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The first week of February 2008 was a tough one for the western US as a powerful storm moved onshore. The storm’s height culminated on February 7. There were several areas of very heavy rain with some places having nearly 10“ while winds gusted to more than 100 mph. Loma Prieta, CA had nearly 10“ of rain and Marysville, Ca had just over 9“. Winds gusted to 163 mph near Tahoe City, CA with a 149 mph wind gust at Mammoth Mountain. Snow was also impressive with a whopping 132“ in Kirksville, CA and 62“ in Wolf Creek Pass Colorado. At height of the storm it was estimated that nearly 2 million people were without power through California, Nevada and Utah. Roads were blocked by snow, flooding was a problem not only from the rainfall but because of pounding waves and storm surge along the northern California coast. The heavy snow, rain and powerful winds caused huge airline delays that rippled across the US.

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