This Date in Weather History

As the month of July 1861 came to a close on July 31 Cherrapunji, India recorded a total of 366.14" of rain during July 1861, a world record for 1 month. Cherrapunji also holds world record rainfall for a 12-month period; 1,041.78" from August 1, 1860 to July 31, 1861

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The 1933 Florida–Mexico hurricane was the first of two Atlantic hurricanes to strike the Treasure Coast region of Florida in the very active 1933 Atlantic hurricane season. It was one of two storms that year to inflict hurricane-force winds over South Texas, causing significant damage there.

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July 29th is traditionally known as a “Rainy Day” in Waynesburg, PA. It all began in 1878 when a farmer casually told drug store clerk William Allison that it always seemed to rain on July 29th in this southwestern PA town. The clerk made a note of it and started keeping a yearly tabulation. It has rained 111 out of the past 135 years. 

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One the most notorious hail storms to hit an American city before the advent of better glass techniques occurred on July 28, 1898 in Chicago. According to the Morning Herald-Dispatch “Thousands of windowpanes were broken during a heavy hailstorm in the city. The rain which fell in torrents for an hours after the hail stones had done their work did great damage to the interiors of apartment building and school houses."

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During the morning hours of July 27, British pilots were training at Bryan Field in Bryan, Texas and were alerted about a hurricane approaching the Galveston area. Upon becoming informed that the planes would need to be flown away from the storm, they criticized this policy. Instead, US Colonel Joe Duckworth made a bet with the British pilots that he could fly his AT-6 Texan trainer directly into the storm. Duckworth requested that Lt. Colonel Ralph O'Hair, the only navigator at the field, fly into the hurricane with him. Because neither Duckworth nor O'Hair believed that the headquarters would approve the flight, they decided to proceed without permission. Thus, Duckworth and O'Hair became the first hurricane hunters, on July 27, 1943. Their impact of their flight would pave the way for today’s Hurricane hunters.

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July 26, 1890: The Lawrence tornado, called the “Great Cyclone,” struck South Lawrence, Massachusetts at 9:10 to 9:15 AM on Saturday, July 26, 1890. It took about two minutes to pass through any point. Damages were estimated at about $60,000. Eight people were killed and 65 were injured.

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July 25, 1956: As Stockholm and Andrea Doria were approaching each other head-on in the heavily used shipping corridor, the westbound Andrea Doria had been traveling in heavy fog for hours. The Andrea Doria collided with the Stockholm in dense fog 21 miles off the coast of Nantucket.

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The European continent is not free from tornado events. While in the USA, some 1.200 tornadoes could be observed annually, on the European continent only 300 events every year are recorded. Europe experiences less frequent events than USA, but., storms can be really devastating. Storms occur when warm humid air near the surface lay under drier air aloft with temperatures decreasing rapidly with height, providing energy for the storms through the production of instability. Large changes in wind with height or ‘‘wind shear’’ over both shallow and deep layers—combined with the instability and high humidity near the surface—create a situation favorable for tornadoes to form. Midwestern American areas are an incredible basin that in summer fills with hot air and humidity, provided by the Gulf of Mexico; the drier air comes from Canada, providing energy for the storms through the production of instability. In Europe the northeast of Italy is often the place in which cold air coming from the Alps encounter warm and humid air coming from the Adriatic Sea and Africa, cause widespread severe thunderstorms across the plains of northern Italy. On July 24, 1930 the vicinity of Montello in the Po river valley of northeastern Italy, just south of the southern foot of the Alps was hit by the strongest tornado in Europe on record. The tornado maxed out on the Fujita scale at F5 rating, producing extreme damage – even destroying strong masonry like churches. The area was devastated with more than 20 fatalities and whole villages wiped off the map.

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On July 23, 1788 after causing ship disasters southeast of Bermuda, A hurricane moved northwestward over the tidewater area of Virginia, and right over George Washington's Mt. Vernon Plantation. At Ocracoke Inlet, southwest of Cape Hatteras, 6 ships were wrecked and 11 were driven ashore with 2 dismasted. As the storm center passed just to the east of this point, the wind shifted. This caught ships unaware and added to the disaster. An account from Norfolk stated that: "at 3am the wind suddenly shifted from northeast to south and blew a perfect hurricane - tearing up large trees by the roots, removing houses, throwing down chimney, fences, etc. and laying the greatest part of the corn level." The following day on July 24th, George Washington wrote in his diary: "about noon the wind suddenly shifted from northeast to southwest and blew the remaining part of the day violently from that quarter. The tide this time rose higher than it was ever known to do, driving boats, etc. into fields where no tide had ever been heard of before, and must, it is apprehended, have done infinite damage on their wharves at Alexandria, Norfolk, Baltimore, etc. At home all day." It would take more than a year to repair the damage to those ports.

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On Christopher Columbus' third voyage, after leaving the Cape Verde Islands, his 4 ships drifted WSW in the equatorial current. A ship’s account from July 22, 1498 states that "The wind stopped so suddenly the heat was so excessive and immoderate that there was no one who dared to go below after the casks of wine and water which burst, snapping the hoops of the pipes; the wheat burned like fire; the bacon and salted meat roasted and putrefied." This calm area known to sailors around the world as the doldrums, is a belt around the Earth extending approximately five degrees north and south of the equator. Here, the prevailing trade winds of the northern hemisphere blow to the southwest and collide with the southern hemisphere’s driving northeast trade winds. Due to intense solar heating near the equator, the warm, moist air is forced up into the atmosphere like a hot air balloon. The rising air mass finally subsides in what is known as the horse latitudes, where the air moves downward toward Earth’s surface. Because the air circulates in an upward direction, there is often little surface wind in this region. That is why sailors well know that the area can becalm sailing ships for weeks. Columbus was caught in the doldrums or horse latitudes. The term horse latitudes came later, after Columbus when ships sailing to the western hemisphere were sometime stranded for weeks and as they baked, sailors reportedly pushed the horses they were transporting overboard to keep from running out of scarce water. Occasionally the ships were stranded and for longer periods and became ghost ships as entire crews perished, from heat and lack of food and water.

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