Historical Weather Events

HISTORICAL WEATHER EVENTS - 19 February

FOR YOUR INFORMATION:

FEBRUARY FULL MOON --

From the files of the Aviation Weather Center, Kansas City, MO and Intellicast

...1871...Professor Cleveland Abbe of the U.S. Army Signal Service issued the first government weather synopsis and forecasts along with warnings to mariners for the Great Lakes. (National Weather Service files)
...1884...Severe thunderstorms spawned at least 50 tornadoes in the southeastern U.S., including the states of Mississippi, Alabama, Georgia, Kentucky, Tennessee, and the Carolinas. Estimates indicate that 182 people were killed and 1056 were injured. Thirty-seven tornadoes were rated F2 or greater on the Fujita scale. No town was directly hit but damage totaled $4 million, a very large sum for the rural South for this time period. Georgia and the Carolinas hardest were hit in the torn ado outbreak. (David Ludlum) (Intellicast)
...1888...A tornado, rated F4, struck Mount Vernon, IL. The tornado killed twenty-four persons and injured 80 along its 20-mile path. Approximately 300 homes and 50 businesses were either damaged or destroyed. (David Ludlum) (Intellicast)
...1954...High winds across the southern half of the Great Plains, gusting to 85 mph, caused the worst dust storm since the 1930s. Graders were needed in places to clear fence-high dirt drifts. (The Weather Channel)
...1972...A vicious coastal storm dumped 10 to 20 inches of snow over interior sections of the mid-Atlantic and Northeast states and caused some of the worst coastal damage this century in New England. Twenty-three inches of snow fell at McHenry, MD, 23 inches piled up at Williamsport, PA, and Syracuse, NY recorded 20 inches. Twenty-foot drifts were reported in northeastern Pennsylvania. Storm surges up to 4.5 feet and winds gusting to over 80 mph along coastal Rhode Island, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, and Maine resulted in extensive property damage and tremendous beach erosion. Twenty-seven houses were destroyed and 3000 damaged in Massachusetts alone. (Intellicast)
...1979...The "President's Day snowstorm" struck the Mid-Atlantic States. This storm was grossly under-forecasted by the computer models and surprised many forecasters as well. Dover, DE recorded 25 inches of snow and Baltimore, MD was buried under 20 inches. (Intellicast)
...1987...A winter storm over the southern and central Rockies produced 28 inches of snow at Echo Lake, CO, and two feet of snow at Gascon, NM and Los Alamos, NM. Mora County, NM was declared a disaster area following the storm. (The National Weather Summary) (Storm Data)
...1988...Showers and thunderstorms in the southeastern U.S. drenched Valdosta, GA with more than five inches of rain, and the 24-hour rainfall total of 7.10 inches at Apalachicola, FL more than doubled their previous 24-hour record for February. (The National Weather Summary) (Storm Data)
...1990...A moist Pacific storm worked its way into New Mexico and southern Colorado. Up to 36 inches of snow blanketed the Wolf Creek and Red Mountain passes of southwest Colorado, and up to 15 inches of snow was reported around Trinidad. In New Mexico, the eastern slopes of the Sangre de Cristo Mountains were blanketed with 9 to 28 inches of snow, and 50 to 60 mph wind gusts were reported from Taos to Albuquerque. (The National Weather Summary) (Storm Data)
...2011...The 46-year-old blue spruce that had been used as the National Christmas Tree was blown over by 50-mph wind gusts in Washington, DC. It was the third instance of the National Christmas Tree being blown down since the tradition started in 1923. (National Weather Service files)