This Date in Weather History

The 1804 Snow hurricane was the first tropical cyclone in recorded history known to produce snowfall. An unusual late-season storm in 1804 it produced vast amounts of snow, rain, and powerful winds across the northeastern United States. It was the first known tropical cyclone to generate significant snowfall, and its early and extensive accumulations throughout New England were unprecedented and unusually heavy.

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September 1900 brought to Galveston, Texas the worst natural disaster in U S history. A massive hurricane hit the city head on. Destroying most of what was then the 2nd leading port on the Gulf of Mexico, after New Orleans and leaving between 6 and 12,000 dead. Galveston had been the scene of two prior hurricanes, one in 1837 and then again in 1867 that cause severe damage. But on October 8, 1901 A deluge produced nearly 12" of rain in about a six-hour period. The torrential rains came to Galveston precisely 13 months following the day of that famous 1900 Galveston Hurricane disaster and caused much damage.

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A slow-moving tropical depression in early October 1970 centered on October 7, resulted in rainfall over multiple days across Puerto Rico and set the stage for the devastating floods. The focus of the rainfall core shifted from day to day, but some areas experienced copious amounts of rainfall on consecutive days, causing rainfall amounts that could be measured in feet. There were 18 confirmed fatalities, 34 people missing, $65 million (equivalent to more than ½ billion 2020 dollars worth of damage, 10,000 were left homeless, 600 houses destroyed and another 1,000 damaged. The damage to agriculture alone was approximately $8 million with $12 million tallied for road and bridge damage. President Nixon declared the territory a disaster area; the worst in Puerto Rico’s history.

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Ucluelet, British Columbia is located on the west coast of Canada on Vancouver Island. It has an oceanic climate like that of Ireland, with mild, rainy winters and cool summers owing to its coastal location. As such, precipitation is high, averaging around 132 in per year, with most of it concentrated in the winter months. In October 1967 an early season winter-type storms blasted southward from the Gulf of Alaska and brought the region 19.61” of rain in 24 hours on October 6.

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The late summer of 1786 had been ideal for the growing of pumpkins and corn in Pennsylvania. In fact, pumpkin patches in central Pennsylvania, especially around the Susquehanna Valley were brimming with pumpkins. The ground was moist from a wet summer and the soil somewhat saturated. Then in early October torrential rainfall caused the Susquehanna River to flood. Reports of the time stated the river was anywhere between six and 10 feet higher than normal. These flood waters washed away the usual debris in addition to homes and unharvested crops like corn and pumpkins. Large numbers of pumpkins were seen floating down the river on October 5, 1786, and people of the time dubbed it the 'Great Pumpkin Flood.'

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Late on October 2, a hurricane formed in the Gulf of Mexico. Holding its intensity, the storm system paralleled the Texas coastline, causing "many" deaths. A storm tide value of 7 feet was reported in Ludlum, and it is possible that Brownsville, Texas, was in the western eyewall of the hurricane at the storms closest approach. Turning toward Louisianan, the storm made landfall on the state with winds of 100 mph, a Category 2 storm. Moving to the east and weakening, the storm made landfall on the state of Florida during the day on October 6.

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Like everyone else, Benjamin Franklin was affected by weather; but unlike most people of his time, he tried to explain the reasons for various weather-related phenomena, and even discovered some ways to predict the weather. In 1751 he was one of the founders of the Pennsylvania Hospital in Philadelphia and urged that they keep records of the weather each day. On October 3, 1769 it was recorded that snow fell in Philadelphia and covered the ground and buildings. This still stands as the earliest covering of snow in Philadelphia.

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Moisture from Tropical Storm Octive led to destructive flooding across Arizona on October 2, 1983. Floodwaters that left 10 people dead or missing surged through normally bone-dry land, washing out bridges road and power forcing thousands from their homes, and turning a slice of desert Southwest into “a raging river”. Rivers swollen to record levels burst their banks amid heavy rains swallowing buildings and bridges causing millions of dollars in damage across a 200-mile swath of Arizona.

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Texas won its independence from Mexico and officially became the Republic of Texas on March 2, 1836, remaining an independent nation until February 19, 1846 when it entered the Union. On October 1, 1837 a year and a half after independence, the new nation had to struggle with its first large-scale national disaster. A hurricane formed off the coast of Africa and took more than a week to make the journey into the gulf of Mexico. Then on October 1 the storm wrought destruction along the entire coast of Texas. 

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The Laguna Fire, was a 175,425-acre wildfire that burned from September 22, 1970 to October 4, 1970, and reached its height on September 30th in the Laguna Mountains and East County region and San Diego County in Southern California. It was the third-largest wildfire in the history of California at that time, after the Santiago Canyon Fire of 1889, and the Matilija Fire of 1932.

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