This Date in Weather History

In the decades prior to 1888 there had been no large snowstorm to impact the cities in the area. That all changed starting on March 11, 1888 and reached it’s height on March 13. In what would go down in history as the fabled Blizzard of ’88. The storm was slow to organize on the mid-Atlantic coast with 10” in Philadelphia, then it strengthened rapidly turning into a bomb cyclone. When the snow stopped flying the damage was done; more than 20” in New York 45” in Albany and New Haven Conn. New York City ground to a near halt in the face of massive snow drifts and powerful winds from the storm. At the time, approximately one in every four Americans lived in the area between Washington DC and Boston, more than 400 people perished in the storm. Even though it happened more than 130 years ago it is still the benchmark that all other storms are measured by in the region.

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In mid-March winter broke and it did so by completely flipping the script. Warm air started to build across the Plains states by March 10th the jet stream that had dropped far south in the United States bring cold air with it as it retreated quickly northward into Canada. That allowed the warm air out west to pour into the East. March 12 , 1990 saw unheard of record high temperatures. The mercury reached 90 in Raleigh, NC, 87 in Norfolk, Va. 86 on the beaches of Atlantic City. And amazing 95 in Baltimore Md, breaking a record that had stood for 100 years. Meanwhile cool air still helped out over New England and Long Island. While readings in northern New Jersey soared into the upper 80s, central Long Island was chilly. LaGuardia Airport, a mere 60 miles away in New York City reached no higher than 47. But the winter was clearly on the run on March 12, 1990 and no more artic air reached into the Eastern states until the following winter. 

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Tamarack, California sits up in the Sierras of that state at an elevation of 6,913 feet. Located just south of Reno and Lake Tahoe it is home to one of the premiere ski venues in the United States and even the world for that matter, and for good reason. Snowfall averages an incredible 443” a year.  During the winter of 1911 the central part of California was impacted by one snowstorm after another. By March 11, 1911 snow on the ground measured an incredible 471” – the greatest snow depth ever measured in one place in the United States, a record that still holds today. 

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Dust from the Sahara Desert in Africa is the main source of dust in the atmosphere on a yearly basis across the world. The dust has its origins principally in the remains of centuries old dry lake beds, mainly in the country of Chad. This dust is presentient and often times lifts into the low atmosphere creating a general haze across north central Africa. Because of its presence, storms and seasonal or trade winds often pick up huge amounts of the dust and dirt and send it thousands of miles away from Africa – sometimes halfway around the world. On March 10 1869 a reddish snow fell all day across central France. Some locals panicked because they thought it was colored in blood. Africans and scientists knew better what the source of the red appearance. The origin of the red color was the dust raised from the dry lake beds of Chad.

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 The Battle of the Monitor and Merrimack occurred on March 9, 1862,. It was the first battle between ironclad warships. The Northern-built Merrimack, a conventional steam frigate, had been salvaged by the Confederates from the Norfolk navy yard. With her upper hull cut away and armored with iron, this 263-foot improvisation that resembled, according to one contemporary source, “a floating barn roof.” The ship had destroyed a fleet of wooden warships off Newport News, Virginia in the days leading up to the battle. 

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On March 8, 2008, a major storm moving across the Tennessee Valley brought snow to the Midwest, strong thunderstorms to the Southeast and heavy rain and flooding the Northeast.

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It was an active start to the month of March across the United States in 2017. But the most prominent event was a storm that moved out of the Rockies and into the Plains on March 7th. This system developed thunderstorms from southwest Minnesota to eastern Nebraska in the mid afternoon of the 7th, then the systems expanded from northeast Minnesota and western Wisconsin and southward to Oklahoma by the early evening. A powerful tornado also ripped through Oak Grove, Kansas, an outlying suburb of Kansas City. The tornado and attending thunderstorms tore apart the region damaging or destroying nearly 500 homes and building and causing 12 injuries.

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In early March of 1962 a massive storm developed along the Carolina Capes, instead of riding up and along the coast as usually occurs, that system was blocked by a large and building high pressure system over New England. The storm stalled and got stronger, the result was a strengthening pressure difference known as a pressure gradient, between the high pressure area and the storm. The result of such a pressure difference is usually a stronger and stronger wind flow and such a situation developed in 1962. That flow piled up massive amounts of water on the coast, not unlike a Hurricane. This weather situation held relentlessly for days and the result was massive beach erosion, especially along the New Jersey coast. Waves reached 40’ high and several resort islands, like Long Beach Island, New Jersey were cut in several places and new inlets opened up. It would take years for the Army Corps of Engineers to make the Islands whole again.

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On March 5, 1899, one of the most powerful Tropical Cyclones ever to strike Australia caused unimaginable damage. Cyclone Mahina was the deadliest cyclone in recorded Australian history, and also likely the most intense tropical cyclone ever recorded in the Southern Hemisphere.

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On March 4 1909, William Howard Taft was to be sworn in as the 27th President of the united States. The night before a fierce storm struck the East Coast and all but shut down travel. The blizzard left more than 10” of snow. The inauguration ceremony was moved indoors, into the Senate Chamber.

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