This Date in Weather History

A powerful storm hit South Carolina and quickly moved its way up the coast. On Sunday August 30, 1839, as the storm headed for the open waters south of Cape Cod a surge of unseasonably cold air blasted out of eastern Canada and into New York state. Across the Catskill mountains temperatures plunged to near freezing, yet moisture was still being hurled inland. The result was one of those rare occurrences across the uplands of eastern New York – a snow hurricane. Several inches of the white stuff mounted up – the wind was still howling and the heavy wet snow plastered itself to everything in what could be described as a hurricane white-out.

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Hurricane Katrina was a large Category 5 Atlantic Hurricane that caused more than 1,200 deaths and $125 billion in damage in August 2005, particularly hard hit was the city of New Orleans and the surrounding areas. It was at the time, the costliest tropical cyclone on record, and is now tied with 2017's Hurricane Harvey.

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The 1990 Plainfield tornado was a devastating tornado that occurred on the afternoon of Tuesday, August 28, 1990. The violent tornado killed 29 people and injured 353. It is the only F5 tornado ever recorded in August and the only F5 tornado to strike the Chicago area.

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On August 27, 1893, a major hurricane which came to be known as the Sea Island Hurricane struck the United States near Savanah, Georgia. It was one of three deadly hurricanes during the 1893 Atlantic Hurricane Season; the storm killed an estimated 1,000–2,000 people, mostly from storm surge.

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The eruption of Krakatoa, in August 1883 was one of the deadliest volcanic eruptions of modern history. It is estimated that more than 36,000 people died. Many died as a result of thermal injury from the blasts and many more were victims of the tsunamis that followed the collapse of the volcano into the sea. The eruption also affected the climate and caused temperatures to drop all over the world. 

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The Great Colonial Hurricane of 1635 hit the Jamestown Settlement and the Massachusetts Bay Colony during August 1635. It is considered to be one of the earliest hurricanes to have struck New England, occurring just 15 years after the settlement at Plymouth Rock. Although the hurricane’s exact track remains unknown, several historical accounts describe the storm.

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Hurricane Andrew was a powerful and destructive Category 5 hurricane that struck the Bahamas, Florida and Louisiana in August 1992. It is the most destructive hurricane to ever hit Florida in terms of structures damaged or destroyed, and was the costliest in financial terms until Hurricane Irma surpassed it 25 years later. In total, Andrew left 65 dead and caused $27.3 billion in damage. 

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On August 23, 1724 and event known as the "Great Gust of 1724" occurred. Almost all tobacco and much of the corn crops were destroyed by this violent tropical storm, which struck the Chesapeake Bay. Intense floods of rain and a huge gust of wind were seen on the James River. Just as those as recovery was underway to salvage what crops they could a week later another tropical system inundated the region with more heavy rain and flooding leading to an almost total failure of the corn crop and the suspension of the export of corn from the region for the next 12 months.

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August 19 1992 was a typical summer day as the mercury soared to 90 in Cut Bank Montana, not a record, but still very high. But extremely cold air though had been building in Alaska and it came barreling down the Canadian plains and right into Cut Bank by the early morning hours of August 22, 1992. The high temperature that day only reached 33 degrees. 8-12” of snow fell just to the north in parts of Alberta. Glacier Park Mt. had 12” of snow and 8.3" of snow covered the ground at Cut Bank. 

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On August 21, 1984 for the first time ever the Colorado State Fair was closed after a vicious hailstorm struck. 9 people were injured; 500 light bulbs were broken by golf ball sized hail; 1 person among the injured was knocked unconscious. Damage totaled $40 million.

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