This Date in Weather History

Fog and low clouds have been the bane of travelers since the beginning of time. As more people travel in groups and because of modern technology those going from place to place sometimes find themselves at the mercy of the low clouds and fog with no way to escape.  Such a tragedy struck on February 22 1901 when a Pacific mail steamer struck a rock in near San Francisco as it attempted to enter the bay during a dense fog. The ship went down claiming 128 lives.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

1971 had been a relatively mild winter east of the Mississippi. Many areas had been bathed in warmth and humidity for much of February. Such was the situation on the morning of February 21. Meanwhile bitter cold that had been locked in the Arctic regions of Canada was finally able to break free as the jet stream, that up to the point in the winter has remained far north, finally plunged southward.

As the brutal cold moved into the nation’s heartland it came into direct conflict with the early springtime conditions. In areas where the cold became quickly established snow developed and tuned into an all-out blizzard. By the morning of February 22 1-3 feet of snow-covered areas from Texas to Iowa, including drifts to 20 feet high. But the most violent impact of the clash of airmasses occurred in the warm sector where a vicious tornado outbreak killed 212 people. 

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The Pineapple Express is a non-technical term for a meteorological phenomenon characterized by a strong and persistent flow of moisture and associated with heavy rain and snow from the waters near the Hawaiian Islands and extending to locations along the Pacific coast of North America, mainly California. Such weather patterns set up every few years during the winter, that is actually the rainy season on the west coast of the US. In February of 1980 and extreme version of this pattern set up and lasted for almost a week reaching it’s zenith on February 19. Rain had been falling in Los Angeles in the first in a series of storms pushed along by the Pineapple Express first began Feb. 13th. Downtown L.A. has recorded more than 12" of rain in that time period. In the mountains south of Monterey, 22.24” of rain totaled by the 19th. Unofficially, 19 deaths were attributed to the storms of the previous week in Southern California alone, with over $100 million in damage, more than $325 million in today’s dollars. 

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

A massive storm developed in Georgia, on February 18th,2016 spreading snow up the Appalachians and into New England. Blizzard conditions developed in Pennsylvania by the 19th. These conditions forced a closing of Interstate 80 in Pennsylvania. Winds clocked at up to 50 mph during the storm shipped snow into drifts as deep as 20 feet in some sections of north Central Pennsylvania.  Tides of 6-8' above normal caused severe flooding at coastal areas along the east coast north of Virginia. Thousands became homeless in New England due to coastal flooding. Breakers a 8-ton concrete seawall blocks in across coastal roadways in Maine. Winds clocked to 110 mph at Eastham on Cape Cod. This massive storm said to have some hurricane characteristics, such as an eye.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The Dust Bowl is generally associated with extreme drought and heat. The "Dust Bowl" years of 1930-36 brought some of the hottest summers on record to the United States, especially across the Plains, Upper Midwest and Great Lake States.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

February 16, 1958 marked the end of a massive snowstorm that had developed in the lower Mississippi Valley a few days earlier. By the morning of the 16th already more than a foot of snow was on the ground in DC.. 2’ pf snow clogged Boston by the evening of the 16 with an incredible 30-36” from the Catskills in New York to the White Mountains of New England. After the storm moved out to sea later that night the toll was staggering 43 had died and more than $500 million dollars of destruction, more than $4.5 billion in today’s dollars was totaled.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The Texas Gulf coast is know for hot steamy weather and has been the site of some of the most destructive and deadly hurricanes ever to strike the United States, but on February 15, 1895 arctic cold plunged into the south with a vengeance. 15, 1895 a record snowfall was measured from Texas to Alabama: Rayne, Louisiana recorded 22" a state record; Houston, also had, 22"; an incredible 15.4” feel on the beaches of Galveston, Texas, there was 8.2” in New Orleans, Louisiana, 8.2"; 6” in Brownsville, and Mobile, Alabama. Nothing like it has ever been seen since.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

On February 14, 1958 in Haleyville, AL 16” of snow fell, an extreme snow event for that area of the country. The weight of the snow was extremely heavy and it caused many chicken coops in the poultry region to collapse leading to the crushing of many of the chickens inside. The coops were not constructed to withstand the heavy wet snow that fell, since the entire average winter’s snowfall in the region was a mere 1-2”.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

By February 13, 1899 much of the nation had been suffering under the icy grip of the worst artic outbreak since the founding of the republic. Records that stand today had been set in previous days and more were to fall in the next few days. The temperature on the morning of February 13, 1899 along the Gulf coast sat at incredibly low readings; -16 degrees Minden, LA a record for state, in New Orleans the mercury was 6.8 degrees; at in Mobile -1 degree; Pensacola 7 degrees; Brownsville Texas was 12 degrees all time low for the city. Temperatures all the way southward to Ft Myers were in the 20s and snowflakes where observed all across Florida. But father up the East Coast the brunt of the outbreak was being felt as a Great Blizzard paralyzed the region on the 13th and 14th

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.