This Date in Weather History

Late January of 1922 saw the Virginia and North Carolina experience one of the greatest snowstorms ever recorded in the region. Automobile and truck traffic had just become established as the main mode of transport for people and goods in the region and the storm of January 27 1922 brought that traffic to a complete halt for more than a week. With virtually no way to clean off the roads connecting farms and towns over a wide expanse of the countryside, travel just stopped. Almost 20” of snow fell in Richmond, Virginia; two feet in Washington DC and Baltimore and in Roxboro, North Carolina an incredible 36” of snow fell.

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On January 25, 1978 one of the greatest blizzards in North American history struck a wide area from the great Lakes and Mid-west all the way toward the east coast of the United States and northward into parts of Canada. The bitter cold artic air had been holding across the large region for more than a week and had been reinforced by successive waves of air from the Yukon and Siberia. Then a storm developed on the Gulf coast and came sweeping northward right into the cold air. Significant support gathered in the high levels of the atmosphere for the storm and resulted in a system that some said rivaled a hurricane in strength. Pittsburgh reached its lowest barometric pressure ever at 28.49” – just like that in a hurricane. The Paralyzing blizzard that ensued killed more than 100. Winds gusted to 100 mph producing 25’ drifts. Many roofs collapsed from heavy snow. 28.14” was the pressure reading at Cleveland, the lowest recorded at an inland US station. 120,000 cars and trucks were abandoned in Michigan. In Canada the Ravaging winter storm caused $41 million in damage and contributed to 9 deaths. Hurricane force winds blew out windows in Toronto’s skyscrapers, where the air pressure plunged to 27.80”; also, an all-time low reading.

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On January 25, 1990 at least 39 people, some of them children, died in the worst weather to hit England and Wales in decades. Hurricane-force winds gusting in from the south-west brought chaos with many railway stations, roads and ports forced to close and some flights to major airports in England were diverted. The severe weather also affected other parts of Europe, killing at least 21 people in France, the Netherlands and Belgium, and caused disruption and damage in western Germany. Police in Britain described the situation as "chaotic", with cars and overturned lorries blocking motorways, buildings collapsing and power and telecommunications lines being blown down. At least half a million homes are without electricity. The storm was marginally less powerful than its better known predecessor of 1987. But no storm had caused such loss of life in the UK since the East Coast Flood disaster in 1953. The trail of destruction from the British Isales to Denmark left 100 people dead. The centre of the storm crossed the birthplace of Robbie Burns on his birthday and became known as the "Burns Day Storm".

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During the total solar eclipse in December 1834, the Gettysburg, PA Republican Banner reported that in some places, the eclipse caused the temperature to drop by as much as 28 degrees Fahrenheit, from 78 degrees F to 50 degrees F. During a total solar eclipse on the Norwegian island of Svalbard in March 2015, temperatures dropped from 8 degrees F to minus 7 degrees F. The change in temperature during a total eclipse will vary based on location and time of year. The temperature change created by the loss of light from the sun's disk will be similar to the difference between the temperature at midday and the temperature just after sunset, except the change will occur more suddenly, which is why this is often one of the very noticeable effects of a total solar eclipse. On January 24, 1925 a total solar eclipse over the far northern part of New Jersey, under clear skies, the temperature fell significantly during the afternoon to near 0.

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On January 23, 1916 the World record 24-hour variation in temperature was set. Browning, Montana, in the northern part of the state, hard against the Canadian border reached a temperature of 44 degrees F in the late morning hours as warm air surged in from the southeast. The air mass that held sway in the region came all the way from the Gulf of Mexico and the folks in Browning that morning were looking forward to a relatively balmy day. The average high temperature on January 23 is 33 and the record high is near 50 – so it was quite warm for that time of the year. But the weather was about to turn a “Siberian Express” cold front came through, quickly dropping the temperature below freezing. The temperature continued to drop, reaching 56 degrees below zero F. A one-day variation of exactly 100 degrees and also the greatest 24-hour temperature drop in history.

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The Black Hills area of South Dakota can experience spectacular temperature variations. Day-to-day changes occur as cold and warm fronts cross the northern Plains. However, temperature ranges across the area at a given time can be just as great. They happen rapidly as the wind direction changes, most notably the warming Chinook winds. Other temperature differences are caused by inversions, when warm air flows over a shallow pool of cold air. Because the Black Hills rise above the plains like an island in a body of water, they are in the warm air layer. The most notable temperature fluctuations occurred on January 22, 1943 when temperatures rose and fell almost 50 degrees in a few minutes. 

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On January 21, 1863, Union General Ambrose Burnside’s Army of the Potomac begins an offensive against General Robert E. Lee’s Army of Northern Virginia that quickly bogs down as several days of heavy rain turn the roads of Virginia into a muddy quagmire. The campaign was abandoned a few days later. The Union army was still reeling from the disastrous Battle of Fredericksburg, Virginia, on December 13, 1862. Burnside’s force suffered more than 13,000 casualties as it assaulted Lee’s troops along hills above Fredericksburg. Lee suffered around 5,000 casualties, making Fredericksburg one of the most one-sided engagements in the Eastern theater of operations. Morale was low among the Yankees that winter. In mid-January, Burnside sought to raise morale and seize the initiative from Lee. His plan was to swing around Lee’s left flank and draw the Confederates away from their defenses and into the open. Speed was essential to the operation. January had been a dry month to that point, but as soon as the Federals began to move, a drizzle turned into a downpour that lasted for four days. Logistical problems delayed the laying of a pontoon bridge across the Rappahannock River, and a huge traffic jam snarled the army’s progress. In one day, the 5th New York moved only a mile and a half. The roads became unnavigable, and conflicting orders caused two corps to march across each other’s paths. Horses, wagons, and cannons were stuck in mud, and the element of surprise was lost. Jeering Confederates taunted the Yankees with shouts and signs that read “Burnside’s Army Stuck in the Mud.” Burnside turned his Army around and abandoned the fight due primarily because of the weather.

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The Constitution of the United States had established March 4 as Inauguration Day in order to allow enough time after Election Day for officials to gather election returns and for newly-elected candidates to travel to the capital. On April 30, 1789, George Washington was inaugurated in New York City as our first president. Washington was scheduled to be inaugurated on March 4, however, weather prevented Congress from being able to make quorum, and thus the beginning of our nation under the original Constitution was delayed almost two months. On March 4, 1801, Thomas Jefferson was the first president inaugurated in Washington, D.C., our new federal capital. After New York, Philadelphia had become our nation’s capital. Though, in order to appease Southern slave holders fearing a northern capital would be inordinately influenced by Northern Abolitionists, the nation’s capital was moved south to its current location. Inauguration was initially held inside the House and Senate chambers of the Federal Congress. James Monroe, the newly elected president in 1817, began the tradition of holding the inauguration outside, in front of Congress. The outdoor inauguration would prove fatal in 1841. With great hubris, the newly elected President William Harrison decided to ride on horseback, without a coat, to his inauguration – despite the winter weather. Harrison then delivered the longest inauguration speech in American history — a two-hour-long oration, which led to the shortest Presidency in American history as Harrison subsequently caught pneumonia and died 31 days later. The twentieth amendment of the Constitution, took effect before Franklin D. Roosevelt’s second term began. The twentieth amendment specified that the elected president would become president through inauguration at noon on Jan. 20, two months, instead of four, after the presidential election. The twentieth amendment also clarified the presidential secession plan. The first inauguration held on the new date of January 20, 1937 turned out to be the wettest inauguration ever with 1.77" rain in 24 hours. It was quite windy with temperatures just above freezing.

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A strong snowstorm struck the Northeastern part of the United States on January 19, 1961. It was the day before the inauguration of President John K Kennedy, temperatures held steady during the 19th at 20 and snowfall fell at 1–2 inches per hour and a total of 8 inches fell during the night, causing transportation and logistical problems in Washington and serious concern for the inauguration. On inauguration day, January 20, 1961, the skies began to clear but the snow had created chaos in Washington, almost canceling the inaugural parade. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers was put in charge of clearing the streets during the evening and morning before the inauguration, and were assisted by more than 1,000 District of Columbia employees and 1,700. This task force employed hundreds of dump trucks, front-end loaders, sanders, plows, rotaries, and even flamethrowers to clear the route. Over 1,400 cars which had been stranded due to the conditions and lack of fuel had to be removed from the parade route. The snowstorm dropped visibility at Washington area airports to less than half a mile, preventing former President Herbert Hoover from flying into Washington and attending the inauguration.

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During the Dust Bowl days of the 1930s much of the Great plains of the United States was bone dry. Because there was little rainfall the ground was dry. Daytime heat is derived from the ground heating up from the sun and then heating the lowest level of the atmosphere from the warming ground. The amount of moisture in the ground has a great impact on this heating. A large percentage of the sun’s energy goose into evaporating the moisture on the ground surface. When the ground is dry to begin with the sun just gets to work warming things up. It’s not the sole reason that temperatures climb to record high levels – but it helps. During the 30’s in places like Oklahoma a significant number of high temperature records were set in part because of this dry weather phenomenon. Lack of moisture also has an impact of lowering temperatures. Moisture in the ground leads to higher humidity near the ground and that prevents temperatures from getting below the saturation point of moisture in the air. When there is little moisture temperatures can drop more. So, in additions to the extreme heat that we all hear about from the Dust Bowl – there was also extreme cold. On January 18, 1930 in Watts Oklahoma the mercury dipped to -27 degrees the coldest ever in state. It was the 1st day of string of 33 days when temperature averaged -2.8 degrees. 7.7 degrees colder than any other period since records commenced.

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