This Date in Weather History

1841: 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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1999: On April 11, 1999 more than 3” of rain fell in Hong Kong during a cloudburst as heavy thunderstorms racked across 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, it 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 in 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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1996: 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 night 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 off the coast, but close enough to fist push snow only 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” on 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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1993: 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. Other areas of the world that have frequent tornadoes include significant portions of Europe, South Africa, Philippines, Bangladesh, parts of Argentina, Uruguay, and southern and southeast Brazil, 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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1938: In the early days of April 1938 arctic cold that had been building and 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 finally 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 places. 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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1977: April 7, 1977 marked the first home game in the history of the Toronto Blue Jays. 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 not played at the home of some southern American League team – 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 – 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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1936: April 6, 1936 , brought one of the worst weather-related disasters in Georgia history. A series of strong tornado struck the southern United State but none was deadlier than the one that struck Gainesville 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 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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1815: 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.” 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 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 killed - 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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1933: In the 1930s, lighter than air ships or dirigibles where the rage for long distance flight. Trans-ocean flight by airplanes was virtually impossible, especially as a passenger service. Planes having to hop and skip from one re-fueling station to another. Long distance non-stop flight was still a way off not coming into practical availability until well after world War II. So, the big balloons where the rage. Many of them would ultimately meet with disaster including the US Shenandoah and the famous explosion and crash of the German Hindenburg in Lakehurst New Jersey in 1937. The Shenandoah had crashed 12 years earlier in 1925 when it flew through a thunderstorm. But the big ships kept flying. The Akron made many flights across the US as a promotion for the US Navy. The Akron was on such a flight on the early morning of April 4, 1933 off the coast of New jersey. It soon encountered severe weather, which did not improve when the airship passed over Barnegat Light, New Jersey. The Akron broke up rapidly and sank in the stormy Atlantic. The crew of the nearby German merchant ship saw lights descending toward the ocean at about 12:23 a.m. and altered course to investigate. The Akron slowly sunk in the ocean, the accident left 73 dead, and only three survivors. The day of the lighter than air ships would continue for several more years only to meet with one disaster after another almost all fueled by encounters with violent weather.

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The last few days of March 1974 and the first couple of days of April 1974 brought unseasonable warmth to much of the nation east of the Mississippi River. Across Ohio and northern Kentucky, the daffodils were blooming and grass had turned a bright green and, in some places, there was a hint of blue that marks many types of grasses in Kentucky. Birds had already started to build their nests as the unseasonable warmth lasted for several days. But it was a false sign of spring and trouble was brewing in the vast frozen hinterlands of artic Canada. Bitter cold from the departed winter still held sway and when the jet stream that had pulled way north to transport the out of season warmth to the Ohio valley buckled, the cold was unleashed. Once the cold spilled over that region record low temperatures would wreak havoc with the blossoming buds and leave a skiff of snow on the ground. But before that happened, a violent cold front marking the leading edge of the bitter blast would rake across the region. It spanned killer twisters that went into the record books as the "Super Tornado Outbreak " - In 18 hours mostly on April 3, 1974, 148 tornadoes struck 13 states from Georgia to the Canadian border. 315 were killed and 6100 injured. Damage reached 1/2 billion dollars or almost 3 billion in 2020 dollars. Brandenburg, KY was completely destroyed with 28 killed and half of Xenia, OH was leveled with 33 dead.

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