This Date in Weather History

Heavy rain across West Virginia on October 19, 1961 as a strong storm moved up the east coast. At the same time cold air was moving southward through the Great Lakes region and into the Ohio valley. Because the storm was moving slowly the cold air moved in behind the storm before it moved away and out to sea. The rain changed to a record early, heavy, wet snow over the southern mountains – several places in the high terrain got more than a foot of the white stuff. Leaves were still on the trees, resulting in the worst forest disaster since forest fires in 1952. Reports from the time said that “It got on the power lines and froze and broke some of those. The trees had such heavy loads of snow and leaves on them. They fell down across the roads and across the power lines.”

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A strong Hurricane battered western Cuba in the middle of October 1910. The system then headed northeastward across southern Florida dumping heavy rain and causing high water to inundate southeastern Fla with water many feet above sea level. Many of the barrier islands that today house cities like Miami Beach where covered over with water – but there was little built up on those islands and so damage was minimal. One strange impact of the hurricane was that because it moved very slowly with strong constantly blowing winds from the direction of the northeast all across the region, that on the west coast of Florida the wind then was blowing away from the land and so the opposite of a storm surge occurred. On October 18, 1910 the wind actually blew the water out of Tampa Bay and the Hillsboro River and pushed it into the Gulf of Mexico. The water level lowered to 9 feet below average low water; and there was little water left for several hours in the river and Tampa Bay, 40 ships were grounded. It was the exact opposite of a storm surge.

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Early on the morning of October 17, 1781, Lieutenant General Charles, Lord Cornwallis, found himself hunkered down in a cave near the southern shoreline of the York River. Above him was the disintegrating hamlet of Yorktown, Virginia, now being systematically bombarded into rubble by American and French cannon fire. Cornwallis understood that imminent surrender was the certain fate of his entrapped military force, an army that consisted of about 8,000 British, Hessian, and loyalist soldiers, in addition to wives and even children. An attempted breakout had failed just hours before. A sudden storm disrupted an effort to move his army northward across the York River to Gloucester Point—and possible escape. Now with the ground continually shaking all around him, Cornwallis prepared to order a white flag hoisted above his battered entrenchments.

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An early snowstorm dropped several inches of snow through portions of the Northeast on October 16, 2009. Normally snow during this time of year easily melts on most surfaces with ground and air temperatures usually above the freezing mark. To overcome this, it has to snow very hard and that is what it did. In Coudersport, PA 10” of snow fell. Other Pennsylvania cities like Wellsboro and Haneyville had 8” of snow. Nearly 3” fell in South Vestal, NY. Lesser amounts fell in other places, but in most of these areas early snowfall records were broken. Since the snow arrived this early there were still leaves on the trees leading to several power outages and downed tree limbs.

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It has been 66 years since powerful Hurricane Hazel made landfall close to the North Carolina/South Carolina border near Myrtle Beach, S.C., on the morning of Oct. 15, 1954. The storm wreaked havoc across the eastern United States and Canada on its way to the record books.  Hazel is considered one of the worst natural disasters in North Carolina's history, and one of the most destructive hurricanes to impact the U.S.. 

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 On October 14, 1988 off the coast of Alaska, a thick layer of ice had already formed along the north shore that blocked the southward migration of California gray whales near Point Barrow, Alaska and could have disastrous effects on those whales. So, on that day American and Soviet rescuers worked together and cleared a passage to the open sea and prevented the whales from drowning and continue on a migration path.

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The Battle of Saratoga occurred in September and October, 1777, during the second year of the American Revolution. It included two crucial battles, fought eighteen days apart, and was a decisive victory for the Continental Army and a crucial turning point in the Revolutionary War.

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For roughly 16 hours on October 12 2006, the Buffalo, NY, area was pounded by an unprecedented lake-effect snow event. An unusually cold air mass flowing over the warm waters of Lake Erie set up the small-scale but severe event. The waters of Lake Erie were a mild 62 degrees, three degrees above normal for October 12. After the snow ended the morning of the 13th the final snowfall tally at the Buffalo airport was 22.6“. That amount of snow easily surpassed the previous all-time October record of 6“ in 1909 and went down in history as the 7th greatest snowfall total ever in Buffalo. Other snowfall totals included 24“ at Depew and Alden, 22“ in Amherst, 15“ in Downtown Buffalo and 14“ in West Seneca. The heavy weight of the snow caused the worst tree damage in memory across the region, especially in the many historic parkways and parks in Buffalo. Almost a million residents lost power. Some people had to sit in the dark for as long as a week.

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On October 11, 1737 a furious hurricane hit the mouth of the Ganges river near Calcutta, India. At the same time there was a violent earthquake, which threw down a great many houses along the river just as the hurricane approached, many communities nearby had most of their buildings destroyed and then the hurricane hit. The because of the damaged infrastructure and wreckage from the earthquake, the hurricane was devastating. Estimates were made that the water was pushed up the Ganges river to Calcutta at a height of 40 feet – totally destroying the city that at the time numbered more than 25,000 people. Most ships in the river were capsized and then washed well inland. The flood waters from the hurricane spread over the vast inland plain of what is now parts of India and Bangladesh. The result of hurricane and earthquake was one of the greatest natural disasters in world history. More than 300,000 people are thought to have perished.

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Winter often comes early to the plans of western Canada. Cold air builds up in the artic regions and plunges southward unhindered through the vast flatlands. This often leads to quick changes in temperatures and more importantly the weather. On October 10, 1989 across the Canadian province of Alberta Temperatures dropped from the middle 60’s into the 40’s in just 10 minutes with the passage of a strong cold front. Powerful winds with the front took down trees and power lines. Reduced visibility due to windblown dust led to a 14-car pileup in near zero visibility near Bassano.

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