This Date in Weather History

This Date in Weather History

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This Date in Weather History episodes

  • 1986: World's heaviest hailstone falls in Bangladesh
    The National Weather Service reports that Hail is a form of precipitation consisting of solid ice that forms inside thunderstorm updrafts. Hail can damage aircraft, homes and cars, and can be deadly to livestock and people. Hailstones are formed when raindrops are carried upward by thunderstorm updrafts into extremely cold areas of the atmosphere and freeze. Hailstones then grow by colliding with liquid water drops that freeze onto the hailstone’s surface. Hail falls when it becomes heavy enough to overcome the strength of the thunderstorm updraft and is pulled toward the earth by gravity. Although Florida has the most thunderstorms, Nebraska, Colorado, and Wyoming usually have the most hailstorms. The area where these three states meet – “hail alley” – averages seven to nine hail days per year. Other parts of the world that have damaging hailstorms include China, Russia, India, Bangladesh and northern Italy. The largest hailstone recovered in the United States fell in Vivian, South Dakota, with a weight of 1 lb. 15 oz. But the world’s heaviest hailstone fell on April 14, 1986 in the Gopalganj district of Bangladesh. It likely fell to the ground at 90 mph and it weighed 2.25 lbs.

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    3 min
  • 1981: Person talking on phone killed by lightning
    The New York Times reports that chatting on the telephone connected to a land-line during a thunderstorm can electrocute you, it is no urban legend. A bolt of lightning that strikes a telephone line can cause an electrical surge to shoot through the wires and enter a handset. The odds of this are relatively small, and most phone companies have protective measures in place. Still, the risk exists, and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration recommends that people avoid using telephones and other appliances during electrical storms. Cases of customers' being jolted while on the phone in a storm are well documented. In fact, on April 13, 1981 a person was killed while talking on the phone in Kincaid, IL when lightning struck an outside telephone line and traveled to the house via a phone line; the phone exploded. What about cell phones? Because the danger comes from lightning traveling through outdoor wiring, cordless and cellular phones are generally safe.

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    2 min
  • 1841: 12" of snow falls in Philadelphia

    The average annual snowfall in Philadelphia is slightly more than 22”. In April, Philly averages a half an inch of snow and there is measurable snow in April there only once every other year. 1841 was not so kind to Philadelphia. Unusual late season cold lingered for much of the month and a series of storms swept out of the Gulf of Mexico and up the East Coast of the United States bringing one snow event after the other. 6” of snow fell in the city on April 10th  and 3” fell on Aril 13 and 14th, but the heaviest snowfall occurred in between those two systems when a foot of the white stuff piled up on April 12, 1841. Almost 20” of snow fell on Philadelphia in April 1841 – the average for an entire winter season.




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    2 min
  • 1999: 3" of rain brings flooding to Hong Kong

    On April 11, 1999 more than 3” of rain fell in Hong Kong during a cloudburst as heavy thunderstorms pounded the region. Streets were flooded and stores were forced to shut. The 3” of rain was more than Hong Kong had received in the first 3 months of 1999. As it turns out that is only half as much rain as is normal in Hong Kong from January to March when more than 6” is normal – still not a huge amount of rain. But rainfall is abundant, in Hong Kong when looked at through the lens of a full year. In fact, the normal yearly rainfall is around 94.5 inches per year. The rainiest period is from May to September, when the rainfall exceeds 12" per month in the city, while the least rainy period is from November to January, when it drops below 2 inches per month. To put that in perspective, Hong Kong’s 94.5” per year towers over places in the United States that are considered rainy like. Seattle, Washington with 38” average rainfall a year or 62” in Miami or 64” a year in New Orleans.

     


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    2 min
  • 1996: Spring storm dumps snow on US East coast

    The winter of 1995-1996 in the Northern part of the United State just didn’t seem to want to end. Cold air lingered on well past the start of Spring. April was cold in that region of the country, especially New England and the first half of the month seemed more like winter than Spring. At the start of the second week of April temperatures were below freezing most nights and even during the daytime, readings had a tough time reaching 40. Meanwhile a strong storm was organizing off the coast of South Carolina and started to make its way up the coast, but a bit offshore, but close enough to first push snow on to the southern New Jersey coast dumping almost 5” of the white stuff on Atlantic City, an April record. The storm took a turn a bit to the northwest and pushed snow into New York City, JFK Airport had 4” of snow. But the heaviest snowfall was reserved for New England. By the time the snow stopped flying on the evening of April 10, 1996 Boston had 6”, Worcester, Ma 16” and Storrs, Conn 17”.




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    2 min
  • 1993: Several tornadoes rip through West Bengal, India
    Tornadoes have been recorded on all continents except Antarctica. The United States has the most tornadoes of any country, as well as the strongest and most violent tornadoes. A large portion of these tornadoes form in an area of the central United States. Canada experiences the second most tornadoes in the world. Other areas of the globe that have frequent tornadoes include significant portions of Europe, South Africa, Philippines, Bangladesh, parts of Argentina, Uruguay, and southern and southeast Brazil, along with northern Mexico, New Zealand, and far eastern Asia. Bangladesh and the eastern parts of India are very exposed to destructive tornadoes causing higher deaths and injuries. On April 9, 1993 several tornadoes ripped through the India in the State of West Bengal killing 100 people and injuring 400.

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    2 min
  • 1938: Blizzard leaves 20' snow drifts in Texas
    In the early days of April 1938 arctic cold that had been building and was bottled up in Alaska and the Yukon came crashing southward along the east slopes of the Rocky Mountains. The wintry chill reached cities like Cheyenne and Denver, Colorado Springs and Pueblo and then smashed eastward enveloping Omaha, Wichita and Amarillo. The cold modified as it headed eastward but held firm for several days from Montana to New Mexico and eastward into Nebraska, Kansas and the Oklahoma and Texas panhandles. Meanwhile off the coast of southern California a storm was brewing. That system headed eastward and spread a blanket of snow from Arizona and New Mexico into west Texas. The storm slowed and eventually stalled for several days in Texas. Moisture came streaming into the system from off the Gulf of Mexico and lifted up and over the cold air in place. The result was an all-out blizzard. It raged for 84 hours and when the storm finally moved eastward on the afternoon of April 8, 1938. Snow drifts reached 20 feet high. Winds at the height of the storm were clocked at 77 mph in Pampa, Texas and 8 deaths were blamed on the storm.

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    2 min
  • 1977: Wintry weather impacts first Blue Jays game
    April 7, 1977 marked the first home game in the history of the Toronto Blue Jays. Actually, for a while, in February 1976 , it looked as if the National League’s San Francisco Giants would move to Toronto, where there were buyers eager for the club. When the Giants were sold in March 1976 to new owners determined to keep them in San Francisco, the American League jumped in to establish Toronto as an American League city, setting up an expansion club, and announced the Blue Jays, who began play the next year. Despite being one of the northernmost cities with a baseball team. The first games of the season for the franchise were actually not played at the home of some southern American League team as you might have expected in a search for warmer temperatures – but rather in Toronto. It was not a wise choice. With a sellout crowd on hand at Exhibition Stadium, more than 44,000 fans packed the old stadium, filling not only a new section built for baseball but also the football grandstand beyond the outfield fence. It was a snowy day and the lines on the field had to be brushed off constantly during the game – but nothing short of a blizzard was going to see the first Major League Baseball game in Toronto cancelled. Temperatures were in the 20s. The wintry weather did not deter the team ether, and the Blue Jays won their first ever major league game beating the Chicago White sox 9-5.

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    3 min
  • 1936: Tornado devastates town of Gainesville, GA
    April 6, 1936 , brought one of the worst weather-related disasters in Georgia history. A series of strong tornadoes struck the southern United States but none was deadlier than the one that struck Gainesville, Georgia on April 6 1936. It was part of a devastating outbreak of 17 tornadoes across the South. And it wasn’t the first for Gainesville - another tornado killed more than 100 people in January 1903. In 1936, not one, but two tornadoes tore through the heart of town, destroying much of the business district and the county courthouse, trapping hundreds in debris. The funnel fueled fires all over the area, including the Cooper Pants manufacturing company, where 60 employees were killed. The storm left more than 200 dead, 1,600 injured, 2,000 homeless and millions of dollars in damage in Gainesville and 454 people were killed by the tornado outbreak across the south in the second deadliest ever recorded in US history. President Franklin Roosevelt toured the city three days later, and returned in 1938 to rededicate the courthouse and city hall after a massive citywide rebuilding effort.

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    2 min
  • 1816: The Eruption of Mount Tambora
    The summer of 1816 was not like any summer people could remember. The National Center for Atmospheric Research reported that, snow fell in New England and gloomy, cold rains fell throughout Europe. It was cold and stormy and dark. 1816 became known in Europe and North America as “The Year Without a Summer.” The year before on April 5, 1815, Mount Tambora, a volcano, started to rumble with activity. Over the following four months the volcano exploded - the largest volcanic explosion in recorded history. Many people close to the volcano lost their lives in the event. Tambora ejected so much ash and dust into the atmosphere that the sky darkened and the Sun was blocked from view. The large particles spewed by the volcano fell to the ground nearby, covering towns with enough ash to collapse homes. Smaller particles spewed by the volcano were light enough to spread through the atmosphere over the following months and had a worldwide effect on climate. They made their way high into the stratosphere, where they could distribute around the world more easily. Earth’s average global temperature dropped more than 5 degrees Fahrenheit. The Year Without a Summer had many impacts in Europe and North America. Crops were wiped out - either by frost or a lack of sunshine. This caused food to be scarce. The lack of successful crops that summer made the food which was grown more valuable, and the price of food climbed. Because the price of oats increased, it was more expensive for people to feed their horses. Horses were the main method of transportation, so with expensive oats, the cost of travel increased. The gloomy summer weather also inspired writers. During that summer-less summer, Mary Shelley wrote Frankenstein, a horror novel set in an often stormy environment.

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    3 min

About This Date in Weather History

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In this daily podcast, you’ll learn something new each day. AccuWeather Meteorologist, Evan Myers takes a look back on weather events that impacted this date in the past,…

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