JANUARY 11TH - 20TH WEATHER HISTORY
http://www.examiner.com/weather-in-wilmington/charlie-wilson
Charlie Wilson Wilmington Weather ExaminerSubscribeSponsor an Examiner A member of the American Meteorological Society, 
Charlie Wilson has combined his knowledge of Meteorology & Weather History with his Education background in Communications.
 (Ref. Charlie Wilson Weather History) 
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- January 11th: 1898 A late night F4 tornado hit Fort Smith, AR killing 55 people and injuring 113 others. This made it one of the deadliest twisters in Arkansas’ history. A street sign was found 22 miles away. 1911 The coldest day in Alberta Canada occurred as the temperature dropped to -78° at Fort Vermillion. The temperature at Rapid City, SD plunged 47 degrees in just 15 minutes. 1918 A tremendous blizzard completely immobilized the Midwest, stopping mail service for two weeks. The vast storm then moved through the Great Lakes Region and Ohio Valley. Winds reached 60 mph at Toledo, OH, and the temperature plunged from 28° to -15° during the passage of the cold front. Many locations mainly from the Rockies to the Mississippi River Basin reported record low temperatures for the date including: Sioux Falls, SD: -32°, Valentine, NE: -32°, Kennebec, SD: -29°, Mobridge, SD: -27°, Watertown, SD: -27°, Norfolk, NE: -26°, Sioux City, IA: -26°, Lincoln, NE: -23°, Omaha, NE: -22°, Concordia, KS: -20°, Grand Island, NE: -20°, Dodge City, KS: -19°, Peoria, IL: -19°, Springfield, IL: -18°, Springfield, MO: -18°, Colorado Springs, CO: -17°, Goodland, KS: -17°, Columbia, MO: -17°, Kansas City, MO: -16°, Moline, IL: -16°, Pueblo, CO: -15°, Topeka, KS: -15°, Wichita, KS: -14°, St. Louis, MO: -14°, Clayton, NM: -10°, Winslow, AZ: -9°, Amarillo, TX: -8°, Oklahoma City, OK: -7° (followed by an afternoon high of 2; their coldest high temperature on record), Lubbock, TX: -7°, Fort Smith, AR: -6°, Roswell, NM: -6°, Tulsa, OK: -5°, Memphis, TN: -3°, Albuquerque, NM: 0°, Abilene, TX: 1°, Dallas (DFW), TX: 4°, Dallas (Love Field), TX: 5°, Birmingham, AL: 8°, Waco, TX: 10°, Austin, TX: 12°, Del Rio, TX: 12°, San Antonio, TX: 12°, Meridian, MS: 13°, El Paso, TX: 14°, Houston, TX: 14°, Beaumont-Port Arthur, TX: 16°, Galveston, TX: 16°, Victoria, TX: 17°, Tucson, AZ: 18°, Corpus Christi, TX: 21° and Escondido, CA: 26°. An F3 tornado destroyed a small rural school in Houston County, Alabama killing 7 students and the teacher. Nearly every building in the town of Webb, AL was damaged by the twister. 1930 Two inches of snow fell at Palm Springs, CA, their greatest daily snowfall on record. The only other daily measurable snowfall on record was 1.5 inches on 1/31/1979. Several locations across the West reported record lows for the date including: Medford, OR: -3°, Pendleton, OR: -2°, Eugene, OR: 10°, Astoria, OR: 18° and Downtown Los Angeles, CA: 36°. 1939 New South Wales in Australia recorded their hottest day on record when the high at Wilcannia reached 122°. 1942 Rhode Island's record low temperature of 23 degrees below zero was set at Kingston. This record was broken on 2/5/1996. Locations across the eat that reported daily record low temperatures for the date included: Concord, NH: -24°, Allentown, PA: -11°, Hartford, CT: -10°, Worcester, MA: -8°, Williamsport, PA: -8°, Richmond, VA: -8°, Greensboro, NC: -5°, Charleston, WV: -4°, Asheville, NC: -2°, Newark, NJ: 2°, Wilmington, DE: 3°, Raleigh, NC: 6°, Greensville-Spartanburg, SC: 12°, Charleston, SC: 14°, Macon, GA: 15°, Baton Rouge, LA: 19°, Tallahassee, FL: 19°, Gainesville, FL: 24°-Tied and Fort Myers, FL: 37°-Tied. Out west, Palomar Mountain, CA set their January record high with 82°. 1951 An unusually strong F2 tornado struck Los Gatos and Sunnyvale, CA, causing $1.5 million dollars in damage. San Jose, CA also was hit by an F2 tornado causing $50,000 damage. 1952 A major January snowstorm between the 11th and 16th set several California snowfall records. Marlette Lake received 44 inches with an amazing 149 inches at Tahoe. 1963 Arctic high pressure behind a strong cold front brought record cold to parts of the Rockies and West Coast. Denver, CO tied their all-time record low with -25°. This also broke their previous daily record by 15 degrees. Cheyenne, WY recorded their all-time lowest high temperature with -21°. Locations that reported daily record low temperatures included: Lander, WY: -32°, Missoula, MT: -27°, Casper, WY: -27°, Sheridan, WY: -25°, Billings, MT: -21°, Colorado Springs, CO: -18°, Pocatello, ID: -17°, Goodland, KS: -17°-Tied, Grand Junction, CO: -16°, Clayton, NM: -16°, Lewiston, ID: -11°, Pendleton, OR: -11°, Salt Lake City, UT: -9°, Olympia, WA: 6°, Portland, OR: 11°, Seattle, WA: 12° and Astoria, OR: 15°. Brownsville, TX set a record high with 88°. 1969 Heavy snow fell across northern Oregon through the 12th. There was heavy damage to trees, which knocked out 90% of power to the area. Blizzard conditions brought traffic to a standstill, particularly over Mt. Hood, where traffic was backed up at one point for 18 miles. 1970 This was the last day of record lows across parts of the East as the arctic high pressure moved off the southeast coast and the upper level over Eastern Canada bagne to move out. Locations that reported record lows included: Elkins, WV: -15°, Sterling (Dulles Airport), VA: 0°, Myakka River, FL: 24°, Mountain Lake, FL: 25°, Weekiwachee, FL: 25°-Tied, Vero Beach, FL: 28°, Winter Haven, FL: 28°, Bartow, FL: 28°-Tied, Tampa, FL: 30°-Tied, Fort Myers, FL: 33° and Key West, FL: 48°. 1972 A deep and very strong upper level trough dug in west of the Mississippi River. Idaho hit hard by wind and snowfall that was said to be the worst in memory. 2,000 travelers were stuck on the road and had to spend the night in the National Reactor Test Facility near Idaho Falls. Downslope winds hit the eastern slopes of the Rockies in northern Colorado and southeastern Wyoming. The National Center for Atmospheric Research at Boulder, CO reported a wind gust of 144 mph. A wind gust of 105 mph was reported at Rocky Flats south of Boulder, 90 mph in downtown Boulder, 81 mph further north at Cheyenne, WY and 53 mph at the former Stapleton Airport in Denver. The greatest damage from the windstorm occurred in Boulder where at least 25 mobile homes were destroyed either by wind or fire resulting from when they were overturned. In addition car windows were blown out, utility poles & power lines were downed, traffic lights downed and structural damage. Damage was estimated at $25 million dollars. 1975 An intense low pressure system moved nearly straight northward from south central Iowa to southeast Minnesota producing a severe blizzard in the tri-state area. This storm turned out to be one of the worst winter events of all time and is often referred to as "The Blizzard of the Century". Snow amounts of 8 to 15 inches were accompanied by wind gusts to 75 mph. Snow drifted to 20 feet paralyzing the entire area. Thousands of motorists were stranded. In northwest Iowa, 15 deaths were attributed to the storm. In addition, livestock losses were substantial. Estimates included 15,000 cattle; 15,000 hogs; 1,500 sheep; and 70,000 chickens totaling to about $20 million dollars in losses. The governor of Iowa requested that 40 northwest counties be declared as Federal Disaster areas. Behind the storm, Alamosa, CO set a record low with -28°. 1979 Arctic high pressure across the Midwest brought record low temperatures from the Midwest to the Great Lakes including: St. Cloud, MN: -36°, Madison, WI: -28°, Houghton Lake, MI: -25°, Marquette, MI: -25°, Green Bay, WI: -25°, Rockford, IL: -24°, Grand Rapids, MI: -21° (broke previous record by 18 degrees), Alpena, MI: -18°, Moline, IL: -17°, Toledo, OH: -14°, Rochester, NY: -12°, Fort Wayne, IN: -11°, Akron, OH: -9°, Flint, MI: -8°, Detroit, MI: -7°-Tied, Youngstown, OH: -6° and Pittsburgh, PA: -3-Tied°. It was a frigid day in Milan, Italy as the morning temperature dropped to 15°. The daytime temperature made it to just 24.4°. 198 The temperature at the Great Falls, MT International Airport rose from -32° to 17° in just 7 minutes as a Chinook wind warmed the arctic air. This temperature rise stands as the most rapid temperature change ever registered in the United States. A strong area of low pressure resulted in strong winds of 35 to 45 mph with gusts to 70 mph across Minnesota through the 12th. Blowing and drifting snow made roads hazardous or impassible. The strong winds also caused some damage. There were areas in western Minnesota that had a lot of blowing dirt. 1982 Snow squalls buried Buffalo, NY under 25.3 inches of snow to set a new 24-hour record up until that time. 800 fans were stranded at the Buffalo Municipal Auditorium after a hockey game snowed them in the previous night. Buffalo, NY was buried under 28 inches of snow from snow squalls with 25.3 inches falling in 24 hours to set a new 24 hour record until 1995. A huge arctic outbreak invaded the Deep South as high pressure was centered over eastern Texas. The zero degree isotherm was all the way to central Alabama and Georgia. The freezing line was all the way into central Florida. Locations that reported record low temperatures for the date included: Rapid City, SD: -21°, Akron, OH: -9°-Tied, Jackson, KY: -8°, Erie, PA: -8°, Youngstown, OH: -8°, Pittsburgh, PA: -8°, Oak Ridge, TN: -8°, Asheville, NC: -6°, Huntington, WV: -6°, Atlanta, GA: -5°, Lynchburg, VA: -3°, Huntsville, AL: -2°, Atlantic City, NJ: -2°, Newark, NJ: -2°, Birmingham, AL: -1°, Wilmington, DE: -1°, Athens, GA: 0°, Harrisburg, PA: 0°, Roanoke, VA: 0°, Augusta, GA: 1°, Baltimore, MD: 1°, Philadelphia, PA: 1°, Chattanooga, TN: 1°, Washington, D.C.: 2°, Greensville-Spartanburg, SC: 2° (broke previous record by 10 degrees), Bridgeport, CT: 2°-Tied, Montgomery, AL: 4°, Macon, GA: 4° (broke previous daily record by 11 degrees), Raleigh, NC: 4°, New York (LaGuardia), NY: 4°, Shreveport, LA: 5°, San Angelo, TX: 5°, New York (Kennedy Airport), NY: 5°-Tied, Columbus, GA: 6°, Columbia, SC: 6°, Mobile, AL: 7°, Waco, TX: 7°, Norfolk, VA: 7°, Wallops Island, VA: 7°, Pensacola, FL: 8°, Wilmington, NC: 8°,. Baton Rouge, LA: 10°, Charleston, SC: 10°, Austin, TX: 11°, Savannah, GA: 12°, Cape Hatteras, NC: 12°, Houston, TX: 12°, Austin (Bergstrom), TX: 14°, Victoria, TX: 14°, Beaumont-Port Arthur, TX: 15°, Lake Charles, LA: 15°-Tied, Tallahassee, FL: 15°, Jacksonville, FL: 17°, Corpus Christi, TX: 20°-Tied, Brownsville, TX: 25°, Daytona Beach, FL: 27°, Tampa, FL: 27° and Orlando, FL: 29°. 1987 A storm in the northeastern U.S. buried the mountains of central Vermont with up to 26 inches of snow, and snowfall totals in Maine ranged up to 27 inches at Telos Lake. Winds gusted to 45 mph at Newark, NJ and Albany, NY. 1988 Snow and high winds in Utah resulted in a 50-car pile-up along Interstate 15. Winds in Wyoming gusted to 115 mph at Rendezvous Peak. A few locations across the East reported record low temperatures for the date including: Hartford, CT: -14°, Williamsport, PA: -8°-Tied, Providence, RI: -5°, Sterling (Dulles Airport), VA: -5°, Harrisburg, PA: -1° and Islip, NY: 1°. 1989 A cold front which the previous day produced 21 inches of snow at Stampede Pass, WA and wind gusts to 75 mph at Mammoth Lakes, CA, spread snow across Colorado. Totals in Colorado ranged up to 17 inches at Steamboat Springs. Santa Ana winds raked southern California with sustained winds of up to 100 mph. The Pepsi Slice blimp was destroyed by the high winds at the Ontario Airport. Some trucks on I-10 and I-15 were blown over by the winds. 1990 Strong northwesterly winds associated with a deep low pressure system crossing the Upper Great Lakes Region ushered cold air into the central U.S. Winds gusted to 75 mph at Yankton, SD, 72 mph at Fort Dodge, IA, 67 mph at Sioux Falls, SD and 61 mph at Pierre, SD. Across Minnesota winds gusted to 70 mph creating blizzard conditions across northwestern Minnesota. The winds downed signs, blew high profile vehicles off of roads, and whipped up large amounts of blowing dust. Across northwest Iowa several walls were leveled at construction sites, roofs were damaged, and blowing dust reduced visibilities to a few hundred feet at times. In some open farm areas soil erosion was estimated at a devastating two to three tons per acre. Squalls produced heavy snow in parts of Upper Michigan and northern Lower Michigan, with 16 inches reported at Wakefield. An upper level ridge kept most of the under a warm off shore flow. Locations that reported record highs included: Austin, TX: 85°, Borrego Springs, CA: 85°, Tucson, AZ: 82°-Tied, Bakersfield, CA: 80°, Fresno, CA: 74°, Flagstaff, AZ: 63° and Ely, NV: 60°. 1991 A 3-day winter storm was in progress across the Midwest. Across parts of Indiana and Illinois, trees and power lines suffered extensive damage due to freezing rain. Once the freezing rain changed to snow, 4 to 7 inches of snow fell. 1993 As a strong storm moved from the Rockies and across the Plains, snow piled up across much of South Dakota, Iowa, and Minnesota. A train was derailed near Beresford, SD during the storm spilling 10,000 bushels of grain. Amounts of over 6 inches occurred in southeast South Dakota while portions of northwest Iowa had 8 to 12 inches. 1995 A combination of an ice storm, heavy frost accumulation, and strong winds over a period of several days caused widespread damage to electrical systems resulting in power outages across central and north central South Dakota. The initial ice storm occurred on this day through the 12th. In the days following, widespread fog developed and resulted in heavy additional deposits of ice and frost on power lines and other surfaces. Much of the damage occurred when strong winds, mainly from the 16 through the 18th, caused the heavily weighted power lines and poles to collapse. Power outages lasted as long as 8 days. Several electric cooperatives had never experienced damages of this magnitude. Some traffic accidents resulted from the icing and many vehicles slid off the roads. Property damage was estimate at $3.5 million dollars. 1997 Arctic cold air gripped much of the central United States, with temperatures averaging 30 degrees below normal across the region, and wind chills as low as -81° in parts of North Dakota. 16 foot snowdrifts were reported in South Dakota. At least 31 people died. A few locations reported record lows for the date including: Havre, MT: -41°, Sheridan, WY: -31° and Billings, MT: -23°. An emergency was declared in Buffalo, NY as the city experienced its 4th heaviest blizzard. Two feet of snow fell in some areas. Driving was banned for a time so that snowplows could do their jobs without running into stalled cars. 1998 The first major snow in 6 years fell in Jerusalem, Israel putting a festive spirit in the air. 2004 The temperature plunged to 18° at North Myrtle Beach, SC breaking the old record for the day by 7 degrees. 2005 A big storm produced heavy rain and mountain snows across the Sierra Nevada area in California. Farewell Gap, CA recorded 152.5 inches of snow over a 5-day period beginning on the 7th. 123 inches of snow fell at Wet Meadow and 108” at Ostrander Lake, West Woodchuck Meadow and Pascoes, CA. For the 15 day period beginning 12/28/2004 through this date, Reno, NV picked up 81 inches of snow. The storm produced unprecedented rainfall across the lower elevations. Opid's Camp, CA measured 31.25 inches of rain in a 108 hour period. From 12/26/2004 through this date, the site picked up an amazing 51.77 inches of rain. 2008 Widespread flooding developed over much of northern and central Illinois, in response to heavy rainfall of 2 to 4 inches a few days prior, as well as rapid snow melt. Much of Pontiac was under water, with one fatality. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- January 12th: 1882 A cold winter storm that started on this day and ended on the 14th brought lots of snow to the lowlands across southern California. 15 inches of snow fell at San Bernardino. Three feet of snow fell at Campo over four days. 2 to 5 inches fell in outlying San Diego, including 4 inches along Poway Grade, 3 inches at El Cajon and one inch at Poway. Light snow fell at Del Mar. Snow flakes fell, but did not stick at San Diego Lindbergh Field. Birds and livestock were killed and telegraph lines were knocked down. 2.49 inches of precipitation fell in San Diego on this day, the tenth wettest calendar day on record and the second wettest January day. This day was also remarkable in that low temperature records were set for both the minimum and maximum temperatures of 50° and 34° respectively. Yuma, AZ reported a record low of 27°. 1886 Record cold prevailed from the upper Midwest to the East Coast. Key West, FL tied their all-time record low with 41°. Locations that reported daily record lows for the date included: Burlington, VT: -20°, Milwaukee, WI: -12°, Cincinnati, OH: -10°, Boston, MA: -10°, Cleveland, OH: -9°, Nashville, TN: -8°, Pittsburgh, PA: -5°, Knoxville, TN: -5°, Charlotte, NC: -1°, Atlanta, GA: 2°, Washington, D.C.: 3°, Baltimore, MD: 4°, Philadelphia, PA: 4°, Athens, GA: 5°, Augusta, GA: 6°, Norfolk, VA: 11°, Savannah, GA: 12°, Wilmington, NC: 12°, Montgomery, AL: 13° and Galveston, TX: 21°. 1888 The “Schoolhouse Blizzard of 1888” struck without warning from the Dakotas to Texas. Thousands of children were stranded in one room schoolhouses. The storm arrived on a warm, spring-like morning, catching many people off guard. As many as 500 people were killed, including many school children. Subzero temperatures and mountainous snow drifts killed tens of thousands of cattle. 1890 A tornado touched down at St. Louis, MO and crossed the Mississippi River, ending just south of Venice. The worst damage from this tornado occurred in St. Louis. Further east and northeast, one tornado in McLean County passed through downtown Cooksville, damaging at least a dozen buildings, while a tornado in Richland County destroyed four homes northeast of Olney. In all, over 100 homes and other buildings were unroofed or damaged. The tornado caused 4 deaths and 15 injuries. 1911 The thermometer at Rapid City, SD read 49° at 6am. Two hours later, the temperature had plunged to -13°, setting a record for a 2-hour temperature drop in the United States. 1912 A strong area of arctic high pressure brought extreme cold to the plains & Upper Midwest. The morning low of -47° at Washta, IA established a state record. The record would be tied on 2/3/1996 at Elkrader. Other locations that reported all-time record lows included: Aberdeen, SD: -46°-Tied, Timber Lake, SD: -46°, Huron, SD: -43°, Norfolk, NE: -39°, Sioux City, IA: -35°, and Winona, MN: -35°. Locations that reported January record lows: Williston, ND: -42°-Tied, Sioux Falls, SD: -38°, Grand Meadow, MN: - 38°, Mauston, WI: -37°, Charles City, IA: -34°, New Hampton, IA: -34°, Grand Island, NE: -29° and Muskegon, MI: -21°. Locations that reported daily record lows: St. Cloud, MN: -40°, Rochester, MN: -39°, Fargo, ND: -38°, Grand Forks, ND: -37°, Duluth, MN: -34°, La Crosse, WI: -34°, Waterloo, IA: -32°, Minneapolis, MN: -31°, Ste. St. Marie, MI: -30°, Des Moines, IA: -29°, Omaha, NE: -27°, Valentine, NE: -27°, Dubuque, IA: -26°, Lincoln, NE: -26°, Green Bay, WI: -25°, Madison, WI: -25°, Scottsbluff, NE: -24°, Moline, IL: -21°, Concordia, KS: -21°, Rockford, IL: -20°, Goodland, KS: -20°, Kansas City, MO: -20°, Topeka, KS: -19°, Columbia, MO: -19°, Dodge City, KS: -18°, Peoria, IL: -16°, Wichita, KS: -15°, Milwaukee, WI: -14°, Lansing, MI: -14°, Springfield, MO: -14°, Grand Rapids, MI: -9°, St. Louis, MO: -9°, Amarillo, TX: -8°, Oklahoma City, OK: -7°, Tulsa, OK: -6°, Avoca, PA: -4°, Fort Smith, AR: 0°, Harrisburg, PA: 1°, Dallas (DFW), TX: 1°, Abilene, TX: 2°, Waco, TX: 3°, Little Rock, AR: 5°, Memphis, TN: 6°, Austin, TX: 13°, Houston, TX: 15°, Victoria, TX: 18°, Galveston, TX: 20° and Corpus Christi, TX: 23°. 1916 Glasgow, MT recorded the coldest maximum temperature ever recorded in the lower 48 of -44°. This followed their all-time record low of -56. Other locations across the West that reported daily record lows included: Havre, MT: -49°, Bismarck, ND: -40°, Grand Forks, ND: -39°, Great Falls, MT: -35°, Valentine, NE: -29°, Kalispell, MT: -21°, Missoula, MT: -19°, Flagstaff, AZ: -16° and Clayton, NM: -7°. 1918 Many locations from the Plains to the Ohio Valley and Southeast reported record arctic cold. Fort Wayne, IN set their all-time record low with -24° and Bloomington, IL reported their all-time record low of -23°, which was tied 1/20/1985. Memphis, TN tied their January record low with -8°. Locations that reported daily record lows included: Peoria, IL: -21°, Springfield, IL: -20°, Indianapolis, IN: -19°, South Bend, IN: -19°, Springfield, MO: -19°, Columbia, MO: -19°-Tied, Lansing, MI: -17°, St. Louis, MO: -17°, Colorado Springs, CO: -16°, Evansville, IN: -16°, Detroit, MI: -16°, Cincinnati, OH: -16°, Dayton, OH: -16°, Mansfield, OH: -15°, Toledo, OH: -15°, Louisville, KY: -15°, Chicago, IL: -14°, Lexington, KY: -14°, Grand Rapids, MI: -14°, Columbus, OH: -13°, Tulsa, OK: -13°, Fort Smith, AR: -11°, Nashville, TN: -10°, Lubbock, TX: -10°, Cleveland, OH: -9°-Tied, Little Rock, AR: -8°, Erie, PA: -8°, Huntsville, AL: -7°, Beckley, WV: -7°, Akron, OH: -7°-Tied, Pittsburgh, PA: -5°-Tied, Asheville, NC: -1°, Roswell, NM: 0°, Birmingham, AL: 1°, Dallas, TX: 3°, Jackson, MS: 5°, Meridian, MS: 7°, Greenville-Spartanburg, SC: 8°, Austin, TX: 8°, Baton Rouge, LA: 11°, Houston, TX: 11°, Montgomery, AL: 12°, San Antonio, TX: 12°, Victoria, TX: 14°, Columbia, SC: 15°, Del Rio, TX: 15°, Mobile, AL: 17°, Galveston, TX: 17°, Pensacola, FL: 18°, Corpus Christi, TX: 20° and Brownsville, TX: 26°. 1939 Adelaide Australia recorded their hottest day on record as their temperature peaked at 115°. 1962 An impressive cold wave gripped the Lower Mississippi Valley in to the Southwest. Locations that reported record lows for the date included: Roswell, NM: -10°, Jackson, MS: -1°, Meridian, MS: 0°, Tupelo, MS: 0°, El Paso, TX: 0°, Charleston, WV: 0°, Paducah, KY: 3°, Shreveport, LA: 3°, Midland-Odessa, TX: 7°, Mobile, AL: 10°, San Antonio, TX: 10°, San Angelo, TX: 11°, Baton Rouge, LA: 11°-Tied, Austin (Bergstrom), TX: 12°, Pensacola, FL: 13°, Del Rio, TX: 13°, Beaumont-Port Arthur, TX: 14°, Corpus Christi, TX: 14°, Lake Charles, LA: 16°, New Orleans, LA: 17°, Las Vegas, NV: 17°, Brownsville, TX: 19° and Phoenix, AZ: 22°. 1963 A snowstorm blanketed the upper Midwest under 6 to 12 inches of snow. Behind the storm, bitterly cold air invaded areas from the southern Plains, Rockies to the West Coast. Wind chill readings easily fell under -40° in some areas. Laramie, WY plummeted to -50°, their all-time coldest reading on record. Denver, CO tied their all-time record low with -25°. Locations that reported daily record lows included: Lander, WY: -37°, Alamosa, CO: -37°, Pueblo, CO: -26°, Elko, NV: -26°, Ely, NV: -25°, Casper, WY: -25°, Winnemucca, NV: -24°, Sheridan, WY: -24°, Missoula, MT: -23°, Pocatello, ID: -22°, Colorado Springs, CO: -21°, Grand Junction, CO: -21°, Flagstaff, AZ: -20°, Billings, MT: -18°, Salt Lake City, UT: -18°, Clayton, NM: -17°, Boise City, OK: -17°, Burns, OR: -11°, Roswell, NM: -10°-Tied, Amarillo, TX: -9°, Winslow, AZ: -7°, Boise, ID: -7°, Albuquerque, NM: -1°, Midland-Odessa, TX: 5°, Olympia, WA: 5°, Wichita Falls, TX: 7°, Medford, OR: 8°, San Angelo, TX: 8°, Portland, OR: 13°, Seattle, WA: 13°, Las Vegas, NV: 14°, Stockton, CA: 24°, Santa Maria, CA: 25° and San Francisco Airport, CA: 32°. 1964 Tornadoes and severe thunderstorms associated with a vigorous squall line struck Duval, Marion, Polk, Volusia, Lake Counties in central Florida. Many trees were uprooted and antennas and signs blown down. Some damage occurred to windows and commercial buildings. No serious injuries were reported. 1968 La Crosse, WI received 3.5 inches of snow. This was the latest in a winter that La Crosse had gone without having a one inch or greater snowfall. Many locations across the East reported record low temperatures for the date including: Albany, NY: -26°, Burlington, VT: -23°, Portland, ME: -18°, Concord, NH: -16°, Syracuse, NY: -16°, Binghamton, NY: -13°, Buffalo, NY: -11°, Hartford, CT: -11°, Rochester, NY: -11°, Williamsport, PA: -11°, Avoca, PA: -10°, Allentown, PA: -6°, Providence, RI: -3°, Sterling (Dulles Airport), VA: -2°, Worcester, MA: -2°-Tied, Atlantic City, NJ: 0°, Wilmington, DE: 2°, New York (Central Park), NY: 2°, Bridgeport, CT: 3°, New York (Kennedy Airport), NY: 3°, Baltimore, MD: 3°, Newark, NJ: 3°, New York (LaGuardia), NY: 4° and Wallops Island, VA: 10°. 1974 On this date in 1974 Scottsbluff recorded a low of -16°. It was the last of 15 consecutive days with a low temperature below zero, equaling the previous longest streak with lows below zero set on 1/30 - 2/13/1899. A few locations reported record cold across the Plains. Lincoln, NE set their all-time record low with -33. Other locations that reported daily record lows included: Bismarck, ND: -42°, Moljne, IL: -26°, Rockford, IL: -21°, Topeka, KS: -20° and Rapid City, SD: -14°-Tied. 1975 Beginning on the 10th through this date, one of the worst blizzards on record had a strangle hold on the central and Northern Plains. The blizzard affected all of eastern South Dakota, North Dakota, Eastern Nebraska, northwest Iowa, and Minnesota and is often referred to as the "Blizzard of the Century" because of the duration, sustained high winds, and extreme cold. Snow amounts of 6 inches to well over a foot accumulated and was blown into huge drifts. Sustained winds approached 45 mph with gusts over 60 mph. The temperatures were near 30°at the start of the storm, but had fallen to -5°to -10°by the morning of the 11th. Wind chill temperatures were from -50°to -70°. In some areas visibilities were reduced to under a quarter of a mile for over 24 hours, creating white-out conditions. A broadcast tower nearly 2,000 thousand feet tall collapsed during the storm with an estimated damage at $1.5 million dollars. 10,000 to 15,000 head of cattle were lost in South Dakota alone. 1981 A bitter cold arctic air mass was in place across the East. Chester recorded Massachusetts’ coldest temperature ever as the temperature dropped to -35°. Locations that reported daily record lows included: Concord, NH: -21°, Syracuse, NY: -18°, Rochester, NY: -15°, Hartford, CT: -14°, Williamsport, PA: -12°, Avoca, PA: -10°-Tied, Worcester, MA: -8°, Providence, RI: -8°, Youngstown, OH: -7°, Milton, MA: -6°, Atlantic City, NJ: -5°, Pittsburgh, PA: -5°-Tied, Harrisburg, PA: -4°, Bridgeport, CT: -3°, Wilmington, DE: -3°, Newark, NJ: -1°, Baltimore, MD: 1°, New York (LaGuardia), NY: 1°, Philadelphia, PA: 1°, Jackson, KY: 2°, Greensboro, NC: 2°, New York (Central Park), NY: 2°-Tied, Oak Ridge, TN: 3°, Lynchburg, VA: 4°, Roanoke, VA: 5°, Raleigh, NC: 6°, Wallops Island, VA: 7°, Chattanooga, TN: 8°, Columbia, SC: 11°, Wilmington, NC: 12°-Tied, Charleston, SC: 15°, Columbus, GA: 16°, Tallahassee, FL: 17°, Macon, GA: 17°, Cape Hatteras, NC: 17°, Orlando, FL: 24°, Daytona Beach, FL: 28°, Tampa, FL: 29°, Vero Beach, FL: 31° and Miami, FL: 37°. 1982 Birmingham, AL experienced one of its worst ice storms of the twentieth century as snow swept into Central Alabama around midday. The snow and ice arrived about eight hours earlier than anticipated in the Birmingham area turning roads in skating rinks. Thousands of motorists had to abandon their vehicles on roads and hike home or spend the night in shelters. Atlanta, GA was also hard-hit by the ice storm. An Arctic air mass continued its invasion across the East bringing many record lows for the date including: Syracuse, NY: -25°, Rochester, NY: -15°-Tied, Worcester, MA: -8°-Tied, Lynchburg, VA: 3°, Tallahassee, FL: 14°, Columbus, GA: 16°-Tied, Macon, GA: 17°-Tied, Daytona Beach, FL: 22°, Orlando, FL: 23°, Tampa, FL: 24°, Vero Beach, FL: 25°, Fort Myers, FL: 29°, West Palm Beach, FL: 29° and Miami, FL: 33°. 1985 The "Snowstorm of the Century" blasted southern Texas. San Antonio recorded more snow in a 24 hour period, 9 inches, than was received during any entire winter in he past 100 years. The palm trees were blanked with a total storm total of 13.5 inches. Del Rio measured 5.5 inches which was also their most snow ever in 24 hours as well as for any season. Potent north to northeast winds blew across the Sierra Nevada Mountains in California. Wind gusts reached 80 mph near the crest and numerous trees were blown down in Yosemite National Park. 1987 Many cities across the Upper Midwest reported new record high temperatures for the date. Afternoon highs of 76° at Rapid City, SD and 72° at Valentine, NE and set monthly records. Other record highs included: Kennebec, SD: 67°, Pierre, SD: 64°, Timber Lake, SD: 64°, Sisseton, SD: 61°, Aberdeen, SD: 58°, Wheaton, SD: 58°, Mobridge, SD: 57° and Watertown, SD: 49°. A strong winter storm brought heavy snow and strong winds to New Brunswick, Canada, burying Moncton with 20.5 inches of snow. The temperature plunged to -43.2° at La Brévine, Switzerland establishing the countries coldest night on record. Waves of 6 to 9 feet with sets up to 12 feet hit the coast. One suspected drowning occurred and an 11 foot boat was swamped at Channel Islands Harbor. 1988 Parts of North Dakota finally got their first snow of the winter season, and it came with a fury as a blizzard raged across the north central U.S. Snowfall totals ranged up to 14 inches at Fargo, ND, winds gusted to 65 mph at Windom, MN. Wind chill readings in parts of North Dakota fell to -60°. 1990 Gale force winds produced squalls with heavy snow in the Great Lakes Region. Totals in northwest Pennsylvania ranged up to 11 inches at Conneautville and Meadville. Barnes Corners, in western New York State, was buried under 27 inches of snow in two days. 1991 33 sailors died in a cargo ship which sunk during a major Atlantic storm southeast of Newfoundland. 1993 A storm system moved across the Rockies and into the Plains through the 13th. Snow and heavy snow fell over the northwestern three-quarters of Iowa. Snowfall amounts generally ranged from 5 to 8 inches with local amounts over 10 inches. One area of heavy snowfall was in a 60-mile wide band extending from Storm Lake to Lake Mills where 8 to 12 inches was common. Many schools were forced to close, but due to the lack of winds, major travel disruption did not occur. Snowfall totals included: Austin, MN: 10 inches, Elgin, MN: 9.8 inches, Rochester, MN: 8.4 inches, Oelwein, IA: 7 inches, Decorah, IA: 6 inches and Dodge, WI: 6 inches. 1996 The fourth and final in a series of snowstorms to strike the East Coast in only 10 days dumped 30 to 36 inches of snow at Oakland, PA, 26 inches at Franklin, NY, and 25 inches at Montrose, PA. Another 4 to 6 inches fell in the Baltimore-Washington area. The 10.8 inches at Harrisburg, PA raised their monthly snowfall to 38.8 inches, the city's snowiest month ever. After this snowfall, many places had over 40 inches of snow on the ground, including Grafton, NH with 50 inches, Danville, PA with 49 inches, Jaffery, NH with 46 inches, and West Granville, MA with 43 inches. Oddly enough, this deep snow cover would be completely eradicated in most areas over the next two weeks from warm temperatures and heavy rains, setting the stage for major flooding. 1997 A 4-day lake effect snow event from Lake Ontario was in full swing over the Tug Hill Plateau region of New York. Montague was buried under 77 inches of snow in 24 hours and 86 inches in 48 hours. Both North Osceola and Redfield recorded 90 inches of snow for this same event. A few locations across the northern Rockies reported record cold. Billings, MT tied their January record low with -30. Locations that reported daily record lows included: Sheridan, WY: -35°, Helena, MT: -33° and Rapid City, SD: -16°. A storm that started on this day and ended on the 13th gave the California coastal areas and valleys one to three inches of rainfall. Snow continued in the mountains and 18 inches of snow had fallen at Mt. Laguna by the 15th. Generally 18 to 36 inches of snow was reported above 2,500 feet. The ski resort at Snow Valley remained open until May 18th, the latest in their 78 year history. Dime size hail up to one foot deep covered a small area in Buena Park and Cypress. 13 people died from exposure near Pine Valley. A waterspout was reported two miles southwest of Lindbergh Field in San Diego and came ashore as a tornado at Shelter Island, causing damage to the resort. 2002 Downslope winds gusted to 70 mph blasted across central Montana. A 12 vehicle accident from near zero visibility and blowing dust killed two people and hurt four others southeast of Great Falls. Near East Glacier, 20 cars and 24 box cars of a train were blown off the tracks by winds of 80 mph. 2005 Dense fog blanketed Lower Michigan. Numerous highway accidents near Lansing killed two people and damaged almost 200 vehicles. At least 37 people were injured. One pileup involved 50 vehicles and forced the closure of 12 miles of Interstate 96 between Okemos and Webberville 2007 A major ice storm which lasted through the 14th left over 200,000 residents across southwestern Missouri without power and a landscape resembling a war zone. While the region was still coping with the damage from the November 30 - December 1, 2006 ice storm. This was the worst ice storm since the December 1987 Ice Storm, in terms of power outages. Officially at the National Weather Service office in Springfield reported one and a half inches of ice accumulation. 14 other counties along the I-44 corridor also reported at least an inch of ice. Communities across southeast Kansas into western Missouri also received 1 to 5 inches of a snow and sleet mixture. Three inches of snow fell in Yucaipa, CA. One inch fell in Highland and Redlands. Trace amounts of snow fell as low as 500 feet in elevation across the Inland Empire. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- January 13th: 1862 Flooding in California, known as the “Nochian Flood,” produced a vast sea in the Sacramento Valley. San Francisco, CA had a total rainfall for the month of 24.36 inches. 1888 The mercury plunged to -65° at Fort Keough, located near Miles City, MT. The reading stood as a record for the continental U.S. for 66 years. 1903 A tropical cyclone struck the Society Islands in the South Pacific, causing a storm surge as high as 40 feet. 1,000 people were killed. 1912 The Great Cold Wave of January 1912 a record cold wave gripped areas from the upper Midwest to the Mid-Atlantic. Records set in Maryland during this period remain to the present day. It was close, but not quite cold enough to break the records in Virginia set during the February 1899 "Great Arctic Outbreak". The cold wave of 1912 hit on January 5 and continued until February 16. It was one of the most severe and longest in duration on record. Ice formed on the rivers and the Chesapeake Bay Region. That makes this day one of only five days in the official climate history of Washington (11/1/1870- present) to have a maximum temperature less than 10°. The first time was on 12/30/1880 when the high was also 9°. A high temperature of 8° has occurred twice - (1/13/1912) and 1/19/1994. The coldest maximum ever recorded in Washington occurred on 2/10/1899: 4°. The record low temperature for the state of Maryland was set at Oakland when the temperature fell to -40°. Locations that reported daily record lows included: Mobridge, SD: -42°, Aberdeen, SD: -40°, Rochester, MN: -39°, Waterloo, IA: -32°, La Crosse, WI: -25°, Ste. St. Marie, MI: -25°, Green Bay, WI: -20°, Madison, WI: -20°, Elkins, WV: -20°, Columbia, MO: -19°, Dayton, OH: -19°, Dubuque, IA: -18°, Peoria, IL: -17°, Lansing, MI: -17°, Williamsport, PA: -17°, Rockford, IL: -16°, Akron, OH: -13°, Syracuse, NY: -13°, Kansas City, MO: -12°, Springfield, MO: -12°, Huntington, WV: -12°, Springfield, IL: -11°, Milton, MA: -11°, Erie, PA: -9°, Worcester, MA: -9°, St. Louis, MO: -8°, South Bend, IN: -8°, Washington, D.C.: -8°, Tulsa, OK: -6°, Evansville, IN: -6°, Indianapolis, IN: -6°, Charleston, WV: -6°, Hartford, CT: -6°, Pittsburgh, PA: -6°, Providence, RI: -6°, Wichita, KS: -5°, Boston, MA: -5°, Harrisburg, PA: -5°, Boston, MA: -5°, New York (Central Park), NY: -3°, Muskegon, MI: -2°, Wilmington, DE: -1°, Baltimore, MD: 0°, Philadelphia, PA: 0°, Oklahoma City, OK: 1°, Memphis, TN: 1°, Richmond, VA: 1°, Fort Smith, AR: 3°, Little Rock, AR: 3°, Waco, TX: 4°, Dallas (DFW), TX: 7°, Huntsville, AL: 11°, Meridian, MS: 12°, Norfolk, VA: 13°, Austin, TX: 14°, Houston, TX: 17°, Victoria, TX: 18°, San Antonio, TX: 18°, Galveston, TX: 22° and Brownsville, TX: 24°. 1913 The temperature at Rapid City, SD rose 64° in 14 hours. 1916 Extreme cold affected the Plains and Midwest. Bismarck, ND tied their all-time record low with -45°. Locations that reported daily record lows included: Williston, ND: -41°, International Falls, MN: -41°, Watertown, SD: -40°, Grand Rapids, ND: -40°, Huron, SD: -40°, Kennebec, SD: -39°, Wheaton, SD: -38°, Timber Lake, SD: -37°, Fargo, ND: -37°, Sioux Falls, SD: -36°, St. Cloud, MN: -35°, Duluth, MN: -33°, Valentine, NE: -30°, Minneapolis, MN: -30°, Norfolk, NE: -28°, Sioux City, IA: -28°, La Crosse, WI: -25°-Tied, Omaha, NE: -22°, Dubuque, IA: -22°, Madison, WI: -22°, Moline, IL: -22°, Lincoln, NE: -21°, Grand Island, NE: -20, Des Moines, IA: -20, Rockford, IL: -17, Peoria, IL: -17-Tied, Concordia, KS: -16°, Milwaukee, WI: -15°, Goodland, KS: -15°, Topeka, KS: -15°, Kansas City, MO: -14°, Tulsa, OK: -12°, Wichita, KS: -11°, Oklahoma City, OK: -4°, Lubbock, TX: 3°, Abilene, TX: 9° and Dallas, TX: 9°. 1937 The Ohio River floods covered most of the town of Jeffersonville, sending 13,000 people fleeing. 90,000 people were forced to evacuate Evansville, IN. 70% of Louisville, KY was inundated. Paducah, KY was deserted in the face of the rising water. 1944 A damaging ice storm paralyzed the area from Texas to Mississippi, causing $18 million dollars in damage. 1950 The coldest and snowiest month on record, 57.2 inches, at Seattle, WA was highlighted by a major blizzard that dumped up to 50 inches of snow in some areas and dropped temperatures to below 0°. 13 people died in the storm that paralyzed parts of eastern Washington, northern Idaho and Oregon. 21.4 inches of snow fell at the SEA-TAC airport. 1952 During the first days of this year, the Southern Pacific Railroad found itself battling a series of fierce winter snow storms that threatened all train operations. Their flagship passenger train, the Streamliner City of San Francisco finally set out over the Sierras on this date. The train became trapped in an avalanche. It would take 3 days to free the 226 passengers. Unfortunately, two rescuers perished. 1963 The low temperature reached 8 degrees, which tied the all-time coldest temperature ever recorded in Las Vegas. This also tied for the coldest day ever in Las Vegas with a daily average temperature of 20 degrees. Edwards AFB, CA dropped to a frigid 3 degrees, setting their all-time record low. Locations that reported daily record lows included; Lubbock, TX: -16°, Amarillo, TX: -8°, Big Bear Lake, CA: 2°, Paducah, KY: 2°, Abilene, TX: 8°, Wichita Falls, TX: 8°, Victorville, CA: 9°, Midland-Odessa, TX: 9°, El Paso, TX: 11°, Palomar Mountain, CA: 13°, San Angelo, TX: 14°, Shreveport, LA: 14°, Fresno, CA: 19°, Lake Charles, LA: 19°, Austin (Bergstrom), TX: 20°, Beaumont-Port Arthur, TX: 20°, Bakersfield, CA: 20°, Corpus Christi, TX: 22°, Riverside, CA: 24°, Palm Springs, CA: 28° and San Diego, CA: 31°. 1964 A large, slow moving snowstorm hit the Mid Atlantic and New England. Williamsport, PA was buried under 24 inches of snow. Scranton, PA checked in with 19 inches and Nantucket, MA recorded 19 inches. 1972 Students at an elementary school in suburban Atlanta, GA had to be evacuated into the teeth of a severe thunderstorm after the school was struck by lightning, causing a fire. 1975 The temperature of -60° and wind speed of 35 mph produced a wind-chill temperature of -110° at Pelly Bay, Northwest Territories Canada. 1978 The winter of 1977-78 was cold and snowy. This date marked the first of 67 straight days in Springfield, IL with at least one inch of snow on the ground, a record for the city. 1979 A massive blizzard dumps heavy snow across southern Lower Michigan. Temperatures in the teens and strong winds lead to heavy drifting of the powdery snow, causing travel to come to a halt. The snow, at times falling at more than an inch an hour, caused power outages due to broken tree limbs. Snow accumulations were up to 3 feet, causing some roofs to collapse. South Haven, MI had 21 inches of new snow added to 24 inches already on the ground. Chicago, IL reported 16.5 inches with up to two feet around town. Grand Rapids, MI saw 13.5 inches of snow and 2 to 4 foot drifts with wind gusts between 25 and 35 mph. Peoria, IL reported 12.2 inches and Rockford, IL checked in with 9.5 inches. 1981 The mercury plunged to 41° at Key West, FL; tying their coldest reading ever at this farthest south location across the lower 48. This reading first occurred on 1/12/1886. Locations across the East that reported record lows for the date included: Concord, NH: -21°, Avoca, PA: -13°, Hartford, CT: -9°, Binghamton, NY: -7°, Atlantic City, NJ: -6°, Sterling (Dulles Airport), VA: -3°, Allentown, PA: -3°, Wilmington, DE: -2°, Newark, NJ: 0°, Philadelphia, PA: 0°-Tied, Baltimore, MD: 0°-Tied, Bridgeport, CT: 3°, Raleigh, NC: 4°, New York (LaGuardia ), NY: 4°, Wallops Island, VA: 6°, Wilmington, NC: 7°, New York (Kennedy Airport), NY: 8°, Tallahassee, FL: 8°, Macon, GA: 12°, Norfolk, VA: 12°, Jackson, KY: 13°, Jacksonville, FL: 13°, Charleston, SC: 13°, Savannah, GA: 14°, Columbus, GA: 14°, Pensacola, FL: 15°, Montgomery, AL: 15°-Tied, Cape Hatteras, FL: 18°, Tampa, FL: 22°, Daytona Beach, FL: 23°, Orlando, FL: 23°, Vero Beach, FL: 27°, Fort Myers, FL: 28° and Miami, FL: 32°. 1982 Air Florida Flight 90 crashed shortly after takeoff from National Airport in Washington, D.C. as a terrible snowstorm gripped the nation's capital. The 737 lost power due to ice build up on the wings and slammed into the 14th Street Bridge crushed 7 occupied vehicles, destroyed 97 feet of guard rail before it plunged into the icy Potomac River. 74 passengers perished along with 4 people on the ground. 1987 Dry and mild weather prevailed across the country. Many cities in the Upper Midwest reported record high temperatures for the date, including Grand Island, NE with 67°. Other record highs included: Aberdeen, SD: 56°, Wheaton, SD: 55°, Sisseton, SD: 54° and Watertown, SD: 49°. 1988 A fast moving cold front ushered arctic cold into the north central and northeastern U.S. Mason City, IA reported a wind chill reading of -51°, and Greenville, ME reported a wind chill of -63°. Winds along the cold front gusted to 63 mph at Rochester, NY, and a thunderstorm along the cold front produced wind gusts to 62 mph at Buffalo, NY, along with snow and sleet. 1989 Friday the 13th was bad luck primarily for the south central U.S. as an upper level weather disturbance spread a mixture of snow and sleet and freezing rain across Texas and Oklahoma. Snowfall totals in central Oklahoma ranged up to 8.5 inches at Norman. 1990 A winter storm in the southwestern U.S. produced more than a foot of snow in the mountains of California and Nevada. In northern California, Huntington Lake was buried under 40 inches of snow, and up to 20 inches was reported in northeastern Nevada. Heavy rain soaked some of the lower elevations of California. Gibraltar Dam, CA was drenched with 5.33 inches of rain in two days. 1995 On this date through the 17th,a severe hurricane-like cyclone stalked the Mediterranean Sea with sustained winds of 85 mph and a central pressure of 991 millibars or 29.25 inHg. 1996 The eastern half of Pennsylvania was reeling under its heaviest snow cover in memory. The area around the state capital had nearly 4 feet of snow on the ground. Parts of the northern Susquehanna Valley had nearly 5 feet of snow cover. Six days later, most of the snow would melt and combine with an unseasonably warm rainstorm to produce the worst flooding since Hurricane Eloise in 1975. 1997 A winter storm spread freezing rain over much of southeast Texas and southwest Louisiana, knocking out power to over 100,000 people. One unexpected side effect of the ice storm was a pronounced baby boom 9 months later in area hospitals. Weather observers at Lake Charles, LA had to run across the runway at the airport to chip thick ice off of the anemometer when the dial in their office showed calm winds despite a stiff southeast breeze. Out west, in Utah, an estimated 4,000 skiers and snowboarders were home after being stranded for much of the weekend. Two feet of fresh snow and several avalanches had blocked the highway to the Snowbird and Alta ski resorts for two days. 2000 Snow finally fell in Boston, MA, ending the longest snow-less streak in the city’s history at 304 days. It was also the city’s latest start to a snow season. 2004 A tornado tore through this northern German town of Drochtersen, tearing off the roofs of at least 7 homes. 2005 A squall line swept across the Lower Mississippi Valley during the morning hours, producing widespread damaging wind gusts. Gust speeds ranged from 50 to 70 mph in most locations. There were also two tornadoes recorded. Fortunately, there were no fatalities or injuries reported. 2006 An F1 tornado hit Belleville, AL; destroying the fire station and three homes. One person was killed. 2007 A trace of snow was reported in Rancho Bernardo, Escondido, Chula Vista, El Cajon and La Mesa, CA. 2009 After a clipper system dropped from 1 to 4 inches of snow on the 13th, Arctic air and blustery north winds pushed into much of central and northeast South Dakota. Wind chills fell to -35° to -50° late in the evening of the 13th and remained through the 14th and into the mid morning hours of the 15th. Across northeast South Dakota and west central Minnesota, wind chills were as low as -60° by the morning of the 15th. Many vehicles did not start because of the extreme cold and several schools had delayed starts. The Arctic high pressure area settled in on the morning of the 15th bringing the coldest temperatures to the region in many years. The combination of a fresh and deep snow pack, clear skies, and light winds allowed temperatures to fall to record levels at many locations on the 15th. Daytime highs remained well below zero across the area. This was one of the coldest days that most areas experienced since the early 1970s. The records were broken by 1 to as much as 7 degrees. Some of the record lows included: Pollock, SD: -47°, Aberdeen, SD: -42° (their 3rd coldest reading ever), Castlewood, SD: -39°, Eureka, SD: -38°, Andover & Summit, SD: -35°, Mobridge, SD: -33°, Milbank, SD: -32°, Sisseton, SD: -31° and Kennebec, SD: -30°. Further north, record low temperatures were also reported across the southern Canadian Prairies with wind chills in the -40s across much of Manitoba. The coldest spot in Manitoba was Sprague, about 106 miles southeast of Winnipeg with a frigid low of -45.4°. The minimum temperature at Santa Ana, CA of 73° not only set a record high minimum temperature for the date and month, but also for the entire winter season. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- January 14th: One of the more spectacular cold-weather atmospheric optical effects is referred to as an ice-pillar. On cold, calm nights when ice crystal fogs begin to form, or there is an abundance of ice crystals in the air, light from point sources such as street lamps sometimes appear to illuminate a narrow column extending upwards hundreds or thousands of feet above its source. 1831 The greatest snowstorm recorded in American history until this time occurred from Georgia to the northeast and west to the Ohio Valley. Gettysburg, PA reported 30 inches and Pittsburgh, PA recorded 22 inches. 1863 The greatest snowstorm on record for Cincinnati, OH began, and a day later 20 inches of snow covered the ground. That total has remained far above the modern day record for Cincinnati of 11 inches of snow in one storm. 1882 The hills above Los Angeles, CA were whitened by snow as Southern California recorded its greatest snowfall event. San Bernardino received 15 inches. A trace fell in San Diego. Snow totals reached as much as 20 inches on Baja California with snow all the way to the edge of the Mojave Desert. 1888 Many locations from the Rockies to the West Coast reported record low temperatures for the date including: Helena, MT: -38°, Bismarck, ND: -37°, Fargo, ND: -32°, Huron, SD: -32°, Spokane, WA: -28°, Cheyenne, WY: -27°, North Platte, NE: -26°, Winnemucca, NV: -24°, Boise, ID: -22°, Omaha, NE: -21°, Des Moines, IA: -19°, Concordia, KS: -18°, Lincoln, NE: -18°, Dodge City, KS: -14°-Tied, Topeka, KS: -12°, Salt Lake City, UT: -7°, Abilene, TX: -2°, Eureka, CA: 20° and Fresno, CA: 22°. 1910 The luxury liner Lusitania was struck by an 80 foot wave that heavily damaged the ship as it made its way from Liverpool to New York City. The storm that caused the high wave also produced blizzard conditions on the East Coast, including New York City, where 15 inches of snow fell. 1912 The Great Cold Wave of January 1912 a record cold wave settled across the South to the Mid-Atlantic region. Some of the extremely cold temperatures across the Mid-Atlantic included: Bayard, WV: -30°, Hagerstown, MD: -27°, College Park, MD: -26°, Lincoln, VA: -25°, Dale Enterprises near Harrisonburg, VA: -25°, Frederick, MD: -21°, Culpeper, VA: -20°, Laurel, MD: -19°, Lost City, WV: -14°, Washington, D.C.: -13°, Fredericksburg, VA: -11°, Baltimore, MD: -2°. Other locations that reported record low temperatures for the date included: Williamsport, PA: -17°, Harrisburg, PA: -14°, Hartford, CT: -12°, Elkins, WV: -12°, Huntington, WV: -12°, Avoca, PA: -10°, Roanoke, VA: -8°, Lynchburg, VA: -7°, Providence, RI: -6°, Dayton, OH: -4°, Tulsa, OK: -3°, Baltimore, MD: -2°, Charleston, WV: -2°, Richmond, VA: -1°, New York (Central Park), NY: 2°, Philadelphia, PA: 2°, Greensboro, NC: 3°, Raleigh, NC: 6°, Charlotte, NC: 7°, Columbia, SC: 10°, Greenville-Spartanburg, SC: 10°, Athens, GA: 15°, Waco, TX: 16° and Austin, TX: 18°. 1916 Locations from the northern Plains to the deep south reported record low temperatures for the date including: Watertown, SD: -38°, Aberdeen, SD: -36°, Grand Forks, ND: -35°, Mobridge, SD: -35°, Timber Lake, SD: -31°, Sioux Falls, SD: -31°, Wheaton, SD: -28°, Waterloo, IA: -26°, Kennebec, SD: -24°, Grand Island, NE: -8°, Kansas City, MO: -7°, Tulsa, OK: -4°, Huntsville, AL: 12° and Birmingham, AL: 16°. Widespread heavy rains hit Southern California starting on this day and ending on the 21st. 16.71 inches fell in 24 hours near Lake Arrowhead on the 16th and 17th, a record 24 hour rainfall for California until 1943. More than 9 inches fell in two storms in the Coachella Valley. Previous storms had deposited deep snow in the mountains, adding to the runoff. Widespread flooding resulted and at least 22 people died. Roofs in Chula Vista, poultry farm in Vista, boats in Coronado and Newport were damaged. Most cities were completely inundated. Pine trees from Palomar Mountain floated down the San Luis Rey River through Oceanside. The cities of Indio, Coachella and Mecca were underwater. 1932 The home of a 13 member family in Lexington, TN was destroyed by a tornado. 10 fatalities resulted. 1939 Sydney, Australia recorded their hottest day on record as the maximum temperature reaches 113.5°. Their average January high is 78.4° and on average just 3 January days per year have a maximum temperature above 86°. A high of 104° is to be expected on average once every ten years. 1960 An intense line of thunderstorms raced through parts of Oklahoma. Winds up to 75 mph brought widespread damage to roofs and utilities. A funnel cloud was followed for three and a half miles over the western edge of Oklahoma City, while a tornado damaged three farmsteads southeast of Fitzhugh, in Pontotoc County. The winds were not finished however, as an intense low pressure system roared through later in the day. Again, winds of 75 mph blew out plate glass windows in Lawton, Purcell, Yukon, and Oklahoma City. 1963 A deep upper level trough covered most of the country bringing widespread record lows from the West Coast to the Appalachians. Palm Springs, CA plunged to 22°, their second lowest temperature on record. Other locations that reported record lows included: Alamosa, CO: -27°, Minneapolis, MN: -26°, Madison, WI: -26°, Waterloo, IA: -26°-Tied, Dubuque, IA: -18°, Marquette, MI: -17°, Alpena, MI: -14°, Roswell, NM: -10°, Flagstaff, AZ: -9°, Amarillo, TX: -3°, Beckley, WV: 0°, Lubbock, TX: 3°, Oak Ridge, TN: 6°, Albuquerque, NM: 6°-Tied, Little Rock, AR: 7°, Huntsville, AL: 9°, Tupelo, MS: 9°, Memphis, TN: 10°, El Paso, TX: 10°, Chattanooga, TN: 12°, Birmingham, AL: 13°, Shreveport, LA: 13°, Midland-Odessa, TX: 13°, San Angelo, TX: 13°, Las Vegas, NV: 14°, Meridian, MS: 15°, Dallas, TX: 15°, Columbus, GA: 20°, Phoenix, AZ: 22°, Stockton, CA: 22°, Fresno, CA: 22°-Tied, Sacramento, CA: 24°, Pensacola, FL: 24°, Santa Maria, CA: 25°, Bakersfield, CA: 25°-Tied, San Francisco, CA: 31°, Long Beach, CA: 33°, San Diego, CA: 35° and Los Angeles (LAX), CA: 36°. 1972 The temperature at Loma, MT rose from -54° on this date to +49F on the 15th. The 103 degree change is the greatest ever recorded in the world for a 24 hour period. 1974 After two weeks of very cold temperatures, unseasonably warm temperatures accompanied by Chinook winds and heavy rains, as much as 10 inches over four days resulted in disastrous flooding over northern and central Idaho. The severe flooding was called the worst natural disaster in the history of the state. Mudslides blocked and washed out sections of U.S. 95, Idaho's main north-south highway. Total damage was estimated at $50 million dollars. On this datethrough the 18th, Canada recorded their highest 5-day snowfall record as the town of Kitimat in British Columbia was buried under 97 inches. 1979 The Blizzard of 1979 was finally winding down. Chicago, IL received 20.7 inches of snow in 30 hours; their 4th heaviest snow on record. The 29 inch snow cover following the storm set an all-time record for Chicago. Up to 20 inches of snow fell across northwest Indiana. South Bend reported 17.2 inches, with 35mph winds blowing the snow into 8 foot drifts. Fort Wayne received only one-third of an inch of snow. 1982 A strong cold front sweeping across the Florida Peninsula was accompanied by high winds and brief heavy rains. Sustained winds of 30 to 40 mph were reported over most of the peninsula with gusts up to 60 mph. Tornadoes were reported in Lee and Hendry Counties. There was widespread minor damage with downed power lines, large trees toppled, and many signs blown over. Some roof damage was also reported along with damage to patio screens, carports, and tool sheds. Heaviest damage was along the Florida West Coast where onshore winds produced high tides and some beach erosion. Behind the storm system Canadian high pressure brought record cold from the Plains to the Mississippi Valley. Locations that recorded low temperatures included: St. Cloud, MN: -30°, Shreveport, LA: 5°, Waco, TX: 6°, Memphis, TN: 10°-Tied, Atlanta, GA: 13°, Midland-Odessa, TX: 13°-Tied, Jackson, MS: 15°, Beaumont-Port Arthur, TX: 19°, Corpus Christi, TX: 19°, Houston, TX: 19°, Victoria, TX: 20°, Galveston, TX: 24° and Brownsville, TX: 25°. Strong Chinook winds buffeted parts of the Colorado Rockies. Wind gusts of 60 to 80 mph were common across the Foothills from Denver to Fort Collins. Lakewood, CO reported a wind gust of 88 mph. Some structural damaged occurred with at least five people injured. 1987 Arctic cold invaded the north central U.S. By evening, blustery northwest winds and temperatures near 0° at Grand Forks, ND were producing wind chill readings of -50°. 1988 A powerful Pacific storm produced rain and high winds across the western U.S. In Nevada, a wind gust to 90 mph at Reno Cannon International Airport was an all-time record for that location, and wind gusts reached 106 mph southwest of Reno. A wind gust to 94 mph was recorded at nearby Windy Hill. Rainfall totals in Oregon ranged up to 6 inches at Wilson River. 1989 A winter storm spread snow and sleet and freezing rain from the Mid-Mississippi Valley to the northeastern U.S. Freezing rain in West Virginia caused 15 traffic accidents in just a few minutes west of Charleston. Parts of Tennessee were deluged with up to 7.5 inches of rain. Two inches of rain near Clarksville, TN left water in the streets as high as car doors. A few locations across the West reported record low temperatures for the date including: Burns, OR: -4°-Tied, Redding, CA: 26° and Borrego Springs, CA: 32°. 1990 A winter storm in the southwestern U.S. blanketed the mountains of southwest Utah with 18 to 24 inches of snow, while sunshine and strong southerly winds helped temperatures warm into the 60s across the Central Plains Region. Five cities reported record high temperatures for the date, including: North Platte, NE: 63°, Goodland, KS: 63-Tied, Concordia, KS: 62, Grand Island, NE: 61 and Lincoln, NE: 60. A tornado in the East City Heights neighborhood of San Diego, CA caused property damage. A waterspout turned tornado hit Shelter Island, San Diego and tossed boats. 1992 A low pressure area deepened 18 millibars (0.71 inHg) in only 12 hours and bottomed out at 969 millibars (28.62 inHg) as it tracked from the Tennessee Valley to northern New York state. It produced quite a range of nasty weather. Heavy snow with blizzard conditions prevailed in Ohio and eastern Michigan. Detroit, MI reported thunder and lightning with heavy snow and received a total of 11 inches, their biggest single storm snowfall in nearly 10 years. An unusual severe weather outbreak for the time of the year so far north occurred in Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and southeastern New York. Tornadoes touched down at Moosic and Lumberville, PA. Dime size hail fell at Orange, NJ and thunderstorm winds gusted to 87 mph at Gettysburg, PA. Small hail fell at Weather Service Office in Newark, NJ, the first time hail had ever fallen at this location in January. Emmitsburg, MD reported a wind gust of 88 mph. 1994 A deep upper level trough dug from the Plains to the Gulf Coast bringing extreme cold that would prevail for the next week. Mason City, IA plunged to -28°. Locations from the upper Midwest to the Missouri Valley reported dangerous wind chills between -30° and -65° that kept schools closed for several days in some locations. Marquette, MI and Jackson, KY reported record lows of -18° and 5° respectively. 1999 An ice storm occurred across parts of Maryland and northern Virginia. This ice storm hit Montgomery County and western Fairfax County, Virginia the hardest. To the east of Washington, D.C. in Prince George's and Anne Arundel Counties, Maryland, the ice damage was not nearly as severe as the eastern counties had warmer temperatures. In Montgomery Counties alone 1,223 wires were downed and 11 substations were knocked out. The next day about 435,000 local customers throughout the area were without power. A massive arctic high pressure area, with a central pressure of 1048 millibars or 30.95 inHg, was located across eastern Canada early on this date. Temperatures in the Washington area ranged from the upper 20s at Reagan National Airport to the upper teens in the far northern western suburbs. An inch of glaze from freezing rain caused numerous tree limbs and power lines to fall mainly in the northwest suburbs. 2001 A severe storm brought torrential rains to Athens, Greece causing power outages and widespread flooding. At least 10 people died. 2004 Strong winds associated with a frontal system knocked out power to over 12,000 homes on the island of Oahu in Hawaii. A gust to 85 mph was reported along the western Oahu coast, with a report of a rare tornado. Temperatures plunged to -36.2° at Saguenay, Quebec and -35.1° at Quebec City, Quebec. Hydro-Quebec recorded a new record for power use of 35,137 megawatts. Across the northeastern U.S. Syracuse, NY and Bridgeport, CT reported record lows of -18° and 1° respectively. 2007 Hurricane force winds of up to 85 mph blasted across southwestern Sweden, leaving more than 260,000 households without power. Falling trees killed at least three people. The winds also produced major disruptions in train and boat traffic across Scandinavia. 2009 Temperatures in areas of Alaska see an astounding jump compared with the early days of the month when temperatures registered below -50°. On this date, temperatures went through a dramatic increase. The high in Birch Lake reached 54°, a rise of 106 degrees from their cold reading from the 3rd through the 5th of -52°. The town of Central, AK rose from -56° to 45°, a 101 degree increase and Anchorage, AK saw a modest increase in comparison from -19° to 42°, a rise of 61 degrees. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- January 15th 1780 The New York Harbor froze over completely during the famous Hard Winter of 1779-80. It would stay frozen for five weeks. Heavy cannons were transported across the ice. 1852 Between January 15th and February 24th a total of 1,378 railroad cars were drawn by horses across the frozen Susquehanna River to engines waiting at Havre De Grace, MD. 1932 Up to 2 inches of snow whitened the Los Angeles basin of California. The Los Angeles Civic Center reported an inch of snow, and even the beaches of Santa Monica were whitened with snow, in what proved to be a record snowstorm for the Los Angeles area. 18 inches fell at Julian, 17 inches at Mt. Laguna, 14 inches at Cuyamaca, and 6 inches at Descanso, CA. 1952 A six-day snowstorm was in progress across the western U.S. The storm produced 149 inches at Tahoe CA, 52 inches at Sun Valley ID and 44 inches of snow at Marlette Lake, NV, establishing single storm records for each of those three states. In addition, 24-hour snowfall totals of 26 inches at Arco ID and 22 inches at the University of Nevada established records for those two states. The streamliner, 'City of San Francisco' was snowbound in the Sierra Nevada Range, near Donner Summit. Bishop, CA recorded 3.32 inches of precipitation, which was the second greatest one day total in January and second greatest total ever. A total of 9 inches of snow was also recorded on this day. 1957 A deep upper level trough brought brutally cold temperatures from the Mid-Atlantic to the Northeast. Burlington, VT and Binghamton, NY set their all-time record lows with -30° and -20° respectively. Montreal, Quebec Canada recorded their lowest temperature on record as they dropped to -36°. Worcester, MA set their all-time January record low with -19°. Locations reporting daily record lows included: Caribou, ME: -28°, Syracuse, NY: -24°, Albany, NY: -20°, Casper, WY: -20°, Portland, ME: -18°, Rochester, NY: -16°, Hartford, CT: -15°, Boston, MA: -12°, Buffalo, NY: -12°, Avoca, PA: -10°, Providence, RI: -9°, Bridgeport, CT: -5°, Newark, NJ: 0°, New York (Central Park), NY: 0°, New York (LaGuardia), NY: 0° and Philadelphia, PA: 5°. West Palm Beach, FL set a record high with 84°. 1958 Four hurricane reconnaissance planes have been lost since the program began in the mid 1940s, three in the Pacific and one in the Atlantic. On this date, a WB-50 from the 54th Weather Reconnaissance Squadron on Guam was lost during Super-Typhoon Orphelia southwest of Guam. 1961 A nor'easter battered the Mid Atlantic region. 78 miles E of Barnegat, NJ, waves exceeding 35 feet and winds of 85 mph destroyed the Air Force radar Texas Tower 4, killing all of the 14 airmen and 14 civilian workers. The 3-legged tower was nicknamed Texas tower because it resembled the oil rigs in the Gulf of Mexico. Tower 4 had previously been damaged by hurricanes Donna in 1960 and Daisy in 1958. 1967 On this date through the 16th, a major windstorm struck parts of the Colorado Rockies. The storm was described, at the time, as the worst single windstorm in the history of Boulder in terms of damage. Winds at the National Center for Atmospheric Research and at Boulder reached 125 mph. Downtown Boulder reported a top wind gust of 84 mph. Damage totaled a half million dollars in Boulder where some minor injuries were reported. At the Boulder Municipal Airport, 14 light airplanes were severely damaged. Widespread structural and automobile damage was reported. Strong winds occurred at Denver and Golden but luckily damage was only minor. 1968 A powerful storm, possibly tornadic struck the Ayrshire coast and moved up the Clyde valley in England. Wind gusts exceeding 100 mph caused substantial damage to roofs. Nine people died and over 1,500 people were left homeless. 1972 Intense Arctic high pressure dominated across the Midwest. Peoria, IL reported a barometric pressure of 30.98 inHg on this date, setting a record for the month of January. Muskegon, MI fell to a record low of -12°. The temperature only rises to -4°, their coldest high temperature on record for the month of January. It is also the coldest high temperature for January at Grand Rapids, MI where the high was just -3°. Other locations that reported daily record lows included: International Falls, MN: -45°, Duluth, MN: -39°, Aberdeen, SD: -35°, Watertown, SD: -35°, Sioux Falls, SD: -32°, Timber Lake, SD: -32°, St. Cloud, MN: -31°, Mobridge, SD: -30°, Sisseton, SD: -29°, Green Bay, WI: -28°, Pierre, SD: -27°, Dubuque, IA: -22°, Marquette, MI: -19°, Sioux City, IA: -18°, Fort Wayne, IN: -18°, Indianapolis, IN: -17°, Lansing, MI: -17°, Grand Rapids, MI: -15°, Pueblo, CO: -13°, Detroit, MI: -12°, Dayton, OH: -12°, Toledo, OH: -12°, Akron, OH: -11°, Cincinnati, OH: -11°-Tied, Columbia, MO: -10°, Kansas City, MO: -9°, Youngstown, OH: -8°, Beckley, WV: -8°, Denver, CO: -7°, Cleveland, OH: -7°, Pittsburgh, PA: -7°, Evansville, IN: -6°, Huntington, WV: -4°, Paducah, KY: -1°, Charleston, WV: -1°, Nashville, TN: 2°, Roanoke, VA: 4°, Midland-Odessa, TX: 6°, Lynchburg, VA: 6°, Wichita Falls, TX: 7°, San Angelo, TX: 12°, Dallas, TX: 15° and Lake Charles, LA: 28°-Tied. Vero Beach, FL set a record high with 85°. 1974 A zonal flow kept the jet stream across the northern tier while high pressure brought record high temperatures from parts of the Rockies to the West and parts of the South. Record warmest January temperature tied at Sheridan, WY tied their January high temperature record with 70° (1/9/53). This also broke their previous daily record high by 12 degrees) Just 4 days prior their high temp was -3° Locations that reported record high temperatures included: Bakersfield, CA: 79°, Mobile, AL: 78°, San Angelo, TX: 77°-Tied, Pensacola, FL: 76°, Fresno, CA: 75°, San Francisco, CA: 69°, Colorado Springs, CO: 68°, Pendleton, OR: 68°, Stockton, CA: 65°, Winnemucca, NV: 65°, Rapid City, SD: 61°, Lander, WY: 60°, Billings, MT: 59°, Helena, MT: 58°, Medford, OR: 58°, Olympia, WA: 58°, Seattle, WA: 58°, Yakima, WA: 58°-Tied, Boise, ID: 56°-Tied, Pierre, SD: 54°, Pocatello, ID: 52°, Burns, OR: 51° and Missoula, MT: 50°. 1982 On this date through the 16th, the Northern Plains were struck with a severe ground blizzard for the second straight weekend. As with the previous storm only a few inches of new snow fell but northwest winds 45 mph gusting to 60 mph caused widespread blowing snow reducing visibilities to near zero. Drifts as high as 10 feet were reported in northern Iowa. Extreme wind chills of -50° to -100° made any trip outdoors dangerous. Numerous deaths resulted for the second weekend in a row due to the extreme cold. 1984 Arctic high pressure centered over the Great Lakes brought record cold to parts of the Lakes while another center of cold high pressure brought a few record lows to parts of the West. Temperatures were below zero for eight straight days at Lansing, MI between the 14th and the 21st. Locations that reported record lows included: Houghton Lake, MI: -25°, Lansing, MI: -25°, Ste. St. Marie, MI: -24°, Colorado Spring, CO: -14°, Pueblo, CO: -13°-Tied, Erie, PA: -6°, Olympia, WA: 16° and Quillayute, WA: 19°. 1985 Heavy snow fell in central and south central South Dakota from the early evening hours to midday on the 16th with areas around Pierre receiving up to 18 inches. Generally 5 to 10 inches fell with numerous minor traffic accidents reported. Interstate 90 had a no travel advisory on a 95-mile stretch from Kimball to Murdo until the afternoon of the 16th due to low visibility and heavy drifting. Also, many schools and businesses were closed. Some snowfall amounts included, 10 inches, 6 inches at Murdo and 4 inches at Kennebec. 1987 A powerful storm over the Southern Plateau and the Southern Rockies produced 24 inches of snow at Colorado Springs, CO, including 22 inches in 24 hours, a January record. Accumulations varied markedly across Colorado. The former Stapleton Airport in Denver reported 10.3 inches and other amounts ranged from 3 inches in southeast Aurora to 18 inches in the western and southwestern suburbs. Only an inch of snow was measured at Castle Rock. Parts of New Mexico recorded as much 4 feet of snow. The storm lasted until the 18th and several counties were declared disaster areas. Travel in Albuquerque, NM was brought to a standstill from blizzard conditions. Snow flurries were observed at Bakersfield, CA during the late morning hours for about 30 minutes and briefly at Lamont briefly in the early afternoon. High winds in the southwestern U.S. gusted to 65 mph in the Yosemite Valley of California. 1988 A small storm over the Atlantic Ocean produced heavy snow along the coast of North Carolina. The 5 inch total at Wilmington, NC was their 3rd highest total for any storm in January in 117 years of records. Some locations across the East experienced record cold. Islip, NY tied their all-time record low of -7°. Locations that reported daily record lows included: Concord, NH: -19°, Atlantic City, NJ: 0°, New York (Kennedy Airport), NY: 4°, Wallops Island, VA: 12° and Wilmington, NC: 18°. 1989 Fargo, ND recorded their snowiest January on record and the most snowfall for any one month during a winter season with two weeks remaining in the month. To date, 30.7 inches of snow had fallen, bringing the season total to 57.2 inches. The previous record for most snow within a month occurred back in 1896, when 30.4 inches fell. South of a warm front, a few locations across the Southeast reported record highs for the date including: Orlando, FL: 84°, Jacksonville, FL: 83°, Tampa, FL: 82°, Savannah, GA: 80°-Tied and Charleston, SC: 77°-Tied. 1990 While one Pacific storm crossed the Central Rockies, another approached the west coast. The northern mountains of Utah were buried under 17 to 35 inches of snow while the mountains of southern Utah received another 12 to 16 inches. The storm approaching the coast produced heavy snow across the Prince Williams Sound area and the Susitna Valley of southern Alaska burying Valdez under 64.9 inches of snow in less than two days, including a record 47.5 inches in 24 hours. The heavy snow blocks roads, closes schools, and sunk half a dozen vessels in the harbor. Out ahead of these storms, at least 13 cities across the central U.S. reported record high temperatures for the date including: Austin (Bergstrom), TX: 78°-Tied, Fort Smith, AR: 72°, Tulsa, OK: 69°-Tied, Wichita, KS: 68°, Topeka, KS: 64°, Lincoln, NE: 62°, Jackson, KY: 58°, Omaha, NE: 57°, Moline, IL: 56°-Tied, Des Moines, IA: 55°, Waterloo, IA: 55°, Sisseton, SD: 47°, Minneapolis, MN: 43° and Marquette, MI: 42°-Tied. 1992 An Alberta Clipper left up to 4 inches of snow across parts of Illinois. This combined with 40 to 50 mph winds caused whiteout conditions across central Illinois in the storm's wake. Hundreds of vehicles ended up in ditches; parts of I-39, I-55, I-57 and I-74 were closed. Wind chills as low as -50° were recorded. 1993 Fairbanks, AK measured 47 inches of snow on the ground, their deepest snow cover ever recorded. Miami, FL tied their high for the date with 83°. 1994 Dense fog blanketed the central and southern San Joaquin Valley in California. A pair of chain-reaction accidents near Selma involved 48 vehicles, resulting in two fatalities and injuring 32 others. Another chain-reaction accident, near Merced, involved 19 vehicles, injuring 8 people. 1995 A strong southerly flow ahead of a storm across the Southeast brought record highs from the Mid-Atlantic while a few locations across the Rockies set record highs ahead of a cold front. Caribou, ME established their all-time January high temperature of 53°. Just 4 days earlier they set a record low with -33°. Locations that reported record highs for the date included: Roswell, NM: 78°, Cape Hatteras, NC: 71°, Rochester, NY: 68°, Syracuse, NY: 68°, Allentown, PA: 68°, Buffalo, NY: 67°, Providence, RI: 67°, Burlington, VT: 66° (broke previous record by 10 degrees), Boston, MA: 66°, Islip, NY: 66° (broke previous record by 10 degrees), Atlantic City, NJ: 66°, Albany, NY: 65°, Sterling (Dulles Airport), VA: 65°, Milton, MA: 64°, Hartford, CT: 63°, New York (LaGuardia), NY: 62°, Wallops Island, VA: 62°, Bridgeport, CT: 61°, Binghamton, NY: 59°, New York (Kennedy Airport), NY: 58° and Casper, WY: 52°. Williston, ND recorded its greatest 24-hour snowfall as 12.6 inches fell. 2002 Heavy rains finally brought Australia's worst bushfire crisis in 8 years to an end, dousing the remaining fires that had been burning near Sydney since Christmas Day. Over 1.25 million acres burned during the fires, many of which were started by arsonists. 2006 Though it did rain in the Greater Vancouver area British Columbia Canada, the official weather station at the airport recorded no measurable precipitation, ending a 27 day string of wet days, one day short of the all-time record for consecutive rainy days. 2007 A deep digging upper level trough kept conditions unsettles and cold from the Rockies to the West Coast while upper level high pressure off the Southeast Coast brought record highs to parts of the East. Across southern California cold morning lows included: Fawnskin: -7°, Big Bear Lake: -2°, Wrightwood: -2°. Hesperia: 5°, Mt. Laguna: 6°, Borrego Airport: 10°, Campo: 12°, Ramona: 16°, Thermal: 18°, Hemet: 19° and Camp Pendleton: 20°. Crop damage totaled $114.7 million dollars in San Diego County, $86 million dollars in Riverside County and $11.1 million dollars in San Bernardino County. $600 thousand damage resulted from broken pipes in San Bernardino County. All 3 counties were declared disaster areas. Locations that reported record lows for the date included: Pueblo, CO: -14°, Grand Junction, CO: -8°-Tied, Goodland, KS: -6°, Olympia, WA: 15°, Tucson, AZ: 20°, Stockton, CA: 20°, Sacramento, CA: 21°, Santa Maria, CA: 25°, Redding, CA: 26°-Tied, Long Beach, CA: 31° and Los Angeles (LAX), CA: 35°-Tied. Locations across the South and East that reported record high temperatures for the date included: Charleston, SC: 79°, Atlanta, GA: 73°, Wallops Island, VA: 70°, Sterling (Dulles Airport), VA: 68°, Atlantic City, NJ: 66°-Tied and Jackson, KY: 64°. 2009 Depot Mountain, ME dropped to a low temperature of -38° and Fort Kent fell to -32°. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- January 16th: 1831 A great snowstorm affected areas from Georgia to Maine. Accumulations exceeded 10 inches from the Ohio Valley across much of the Atlantic coast north of Georgia. Washington, DC reported 13 inches with 18 inches at Baltimore, Maryland, 18 to 36 inches near Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, 15 to 20 inches at New York City, and 20 to 30 inches over southern New England. 1889 The hottest temperature ever reported in Australia occurred as Cloncurry in Queensland hit 128°. 1916 San Francisco, CA was affected by a tremendous Pacific storm that caused extensive wind damage throughout central California. 1935 A rare snow event featuring thunder and lightning raged with 10 inches of snow at Vancouver, British Columbia Canada. The temperature in New Delhi, India dropped to a cold 31°. 1947 The Netherlands recorded its hottest January day on record when highs reach 63° in Maastricht. 1959 Bennet’s Bridge, NY received 51 inches of snow in just 16 hours from a lake effect snowstorm generated as cold air swept across the relatively warm waters of Lake Ontario. 1964 Fort Worth, TX received 7.5 inches of snow, and Dallas, TX reported a foot of snow. 1967 In Minnesota, a fast moving blizzard brought winds in excess of 75 mph. The snowfall was light to moderate with extensive blowing and drifting snow. Visibility was near zero for an extended period of time. Temperatures fell rapidly during the storm and by the morning of the 18th, many record lows were set. Many vehicles went into the ditch. Thousands of motorists and school children found shelter wherever they could as travel came to a standstill. In South Dakota, rain followed by a sudden drop in temperatures of nearly 30 degrees in two hours resulted in widespread freezing rain and significant icing on roads and trees. Strong winds of 35 to 45 mph with gusts to 75 mph along with the ice halted most travel. The wind and icing also caused the toppling of a 270 foot radio tower near Aberdeen. 1972 The arctic air holds on for one more morning of record lows as Grand Rapids falls to 16 below zero and Muskegon tumbles to 11 below 1976 Record heat occurred across parts of the West. Santa Ana, CA recorded their highest January temperature with 92°. Other record highs included: Palm Springs, CA: 88°, Riverside, CA: 87°, San Diego, CA: 86° and Borrego Springs, CA: 83°. 1977 Arctic air settled into the Plains with wind chills down below -45° in places and many record low temperatures set including: Fargo, ND: -35°, Wheaton, SD: -30°, Sisseton, SD: -27°, Kennebec, SD: -26°, Watertown, SD: -26°, Pierre, SD: -23°, Omaha, NE: -21°, Chicago, IL: -19°, St. Louis, MO: -14°, Kansas City, MO: -13° and Springfield, MO: -11°. 1982 A second severe arctic outbreak affected the Central U.S. Arctic high pressure dominated from British Columbia, Canada to lower Mississippi Valley, was centered across the central Plains at 1036 millibars or 30.59 inHg. The 0 degree line went into Texas with the mercury dropping from 55° to -1° at Amarillo, TX and from 62° to 10° at Oklahoma City, OK. 1987 A winter storm produced a total of 61 inches of snow at Rye, CO, and wind gusts to 100 mph in parts of Utah. The storm then spread heavy snow from the Texas panhandle to Indiana. Tulia, TX received 16 inches of snow, and up to 14 inches was reported in parts of western Oklahoma. A very cold air mass remained over southern California through the 18th. On this date some record lows across the Southland included: Big Bear Lake, CA: 3°, Mt. Laguna: 10°, Bonsall: 17°, Valley Center: 22°, Poway: 24°, El Cajon: 26°, Chula Vista: 31° and Borrego Springs, CA: 32°. Substantial avocado crop loss was estimated in the millions of dollars. Two homeless died of hypothermia. 1988 A major Pacific coastal storm battered southern California and produced a foot of snow and wind gusts to 70 mph in the Lake Tahoe Basin of Nevada. Trees were uprooted in the San Diego area by winds gusting to 65 mph. The barometer at Los Angeles, CA dropped to a record low reading of 29.25 inHg. Showers and thunderstorms produced 2.28 inches of rain at Brownsville, TX, their 3rd highest total for any day in January. 1989 Strong Chinook winds plagued much of the central Rockies. Winds gusted to 100 mph were reported at Rollinsville, CO, across the Foothills southwest of Boulder, CO and across eastern and northwestern Wyoming and 80 mph at Cody, WY & southwest Boulder, CO. In Golden, CO, the high winds blew a 25-foot trailer through a fence and flipped it over. 1990 Heavy snow fell across the Prince Williams Sound area and the Susitna Valley of southern Alaska. Valdez was buried under 64.9 inches of snow in less than two days, including a record 47.5 inches in 24 hours. Up to 44 inches of snow was reported in the Susitna Valley. The heavy snow blocked roads, closed schools, and sank half a dozen vessels in the harbor. A storm that started on this day and ended the next day brought snow flurries within the San Diego city limits, but none was officially recorded at Lindbergh Field in San Diego, CA. 14 inches fell at Mt. Laguna and 10 to 16 inches fell in the mountains. 1994 Bitter cold gripped areas across the Great Lakes and Northeast: Alpena, MI tied its record low for January with -28°. Boston, MA suffered through its coldest day in 26 years with an average temp for the day of only 2°. Watertown, NY was the nation’s cold spot with a reading of -43°. Blackouts were reported over a large area of Virginia as the power drain overwhelmed utilities. A layer of ice up to two inches thick formed over sections of southeast Missouri, followed by 6 to 10 inches of snow. Numerous trees and power lines fell down due to ice accumulation. Structural damage to older barns and collapsed roofs were also reported due to the heavy weight of the snow and ice. A large number of car accidents were also reported on area highways. Some areas were without power in excess of 24 hours. 1997 An intense Arctic High brought widespread blizzard conditions and dangerous wind chills of -40° to -70° to central and northeast South Dakota as well as west central Minnesota. One to 3 inches of snow fell on top of the already deep snowpack of 2 to 5 feet. The blizzard winds brought another round of widespread heavy drifting, blocking area roads and highways. Also, many area schools were closed once again to add to their large number of days missed for the winter season. Fortunately, this blizzard as compared to previous blizzards was short-lived and the people were better prepared. 1998 Rainfalls of up to 3 inches across the Sierra foothills lead to streams in Merced County in central California reaching bank full. Bear Creek overflowed into the city of Merced where it flooded 180 homes and up to 5,000 acres of farmland just to the southwest of town. This was the first flood of this tributary since 1955. 2001 Snow spread across southwestern Kansas from west to east. The heaviest snowfall occurred south of Larned to Hugoton and north of a Meade to Macksville where 6 to 10 inches was common. Snowfall totaled 16 inches in Syracuse, 15 inches in Johnson and 11 inches was recorded near Elkhart. 2004 The observatory at Mt. Washington, NH recorded a morning low of -43°. The previous evening, the observatory reported a temperature of -39° combined with a sustained wind speed of 92 mph created a wind chill reading of -97°. The first tornado reported in the New Year occurred near Abilene, TX ending a 50-day tornado drought that started 11/27/2003, the 4th longest tornado-free period on record. 2009 As New England was under the grip of an arctic blast, an all-time low temperature of -50° was recorded for Maine. It was recorded at 7:30am EST at a U.S. Geological Survey stream gauge on the Big Black River near Depot Mountain in northwestern Aroostook County. The previous record, -48°, was set in Van Buren, ME almost 84 years earlier, on 01/19/1925. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- January 17th: 1817 A luminous snowstorm occurred in Vermont and New Hampshire. St. Elmo's fire appeared as static discharges on roof peaks, fence posts, and the hats and fingers of people. Thunderstorms were reported over central New England. 1837 The green flash was apparently first documented by Captain Back of the H. M. S. Terror while in the arctic during its expedition of 1836-1837. He wrote: 'In the morning however, at a quarter before ten o'clock while standing on an ice hummock about 17 feet high, and looking toward the east, I had observed the upper limb of the sun, as it filled a triangular cleft on the ridge of the headland, of the most brilliant emerald color, a phenomenon which I had not witnessed before in these regions.' 1857 The Famous “Cold Storm” paralyzed areas from North Carolina to Maine. One to two foot snowfalls were the norm rather than the exception. 20 foot drifts were reported in Norfolk, VA. Temperatures were below zero from Virginia northward. At Cape Henry, NJ, one could walk out 100 yards on the frozen ocean. The Chesapeake Bay was frozen out to a mile and one-half from shore. 1867 A severe wind and snowstorm paralyzed the Northeast with 12 inches of snow and hurricane force winds. The old colony railroad was snow bound for 10 days. 1893 The mercury dipped to -17° at Millsboro, DE, to establish a state record. 1936 The temperature reached 98°F at Laredo, TX for the hottest temperature on record in the U.S. for the month of January. 1967 This date started off with unseasonably mild temperatures for January in the Northern Plains. But, a strong front quickly changed all of that. Rain was falling across much of northern and eastern South Dakota before a strong cold front blasted through dropping temperatures 30 degrees in two hours. The quick drop in temperatures following the day's rains led to extensive icing problems on area roadways. Strong winds also belted the area with 50 to 55 mph gusts across the west and up to 75 mph gusts reported in the east. The wind and icing led to the toppling of a 250 foot radio tower near Aberdeen and of a drive-in theater screen near Vermillion. 1972 A single storm dumped 77.5 inches of snow at Summit, MT, to establish a state record. 1974 Scotland's wettest day on record occurred as 9.38 inches of rain fell in 24 hours at Sloy Main Adit, Loch Lomond. 1979 Portland, ME recorded their greatest single snowstorm on record and most the snow in 24 hours. 27.1 inches of snow fell over a two day period. An ice and sleet storm battered southwest Iowa. The ice made the roads impassable with many cars and trucks sliding into the ditches. An arctic cold front also gave South Dakota some very strong winds on this day. 75 mph gusts were reported in eastern South Dakota. Icing also occurred with the wind and ice leading to the toppling of a 250 foot radio tower near Aberdeen and a drive-in theater screen near Vermillion Parts of Hawaii received a year’s worth of rain in 6 days as 60 inches fell in some areas. 1982 The "Cold Sunday" in the United States occurred as high pressure covered the U.S. east of the Rockies, and was centered over Kentucky to Arkansas at 1032 millibars or 30.47 inHg. Tower, MN was the cold spot in the nation with -52° and International Falls, MN following closely behind with a record low of -45°. Danville, IL set their all-time record low with -26°. New January records were set at Milwaukee, WI at -26° their coldest in 111 years and Buffalo, NY with -16°. Philadelphia, PA tied their January record low with -7°. Chicago, IL and Pittsburgh, PA set daily record lows with -23° and -18° respectively. The record low of -5° at Washington, D.C. was their coldest reading since 1934. Buffalo, NY set a low maximum for the month of January when the afternoon high only reached -2°F and Princeton, NJ managed just 2°. Strong Chinook winds caused severe wind damage at Boulder, CO. A top wind gust of 147 mph was reported at the National Center for Atmospheric Research in the southwestern part of Boulder. This location reported 20 wind gusts over 120 mph between 1am and 9am. An estimated 40% of all buildings in Boulder received at least minor wind damage. About 50 homes sustained severe damage enough to be uninhabitable. At least 15 homes in the Table Mesa area of Boulder lost their roofs. 20 small planes were completely destroyed at the Boulder Airport. Many residents were without power for long periods as utility poles were snapped in half. Insured damage totaled $20 million dollars making this the costliest windstorm on record in Colorado up to that time. Cheyenne, WY reported a wind gust of 71 mph. 1987 A winter storm spread snow from the Southern Rockies into the Mid-Mississippi Valley and southwestern sections of the Great Lakes Region, and freezing rain across Texas and Oklahoma. Snowfall totals ranged up to 16 inches at Tulia, TX, with 12 inches at Wellington, KS. Up to 14 inches blanketed western and northwestern Oklahoma. Farther south, southwest Oklahoma and western north Texas experienced a significant ice storm. In these locations, as much as 2 inches of ice combined with several inches of snow, to cause numerous traffic accidents and downed power lines 1988 A Pacific storm battered the southern coast of California. A top wind gust of 64 mph was reported at Lindbergh Field in San Diego, their highest wind speed on record. Boats in San Diego harbor were damaged extensively. Apartment windows were ripped out in Imperial Beach, where damage was estimated at $1 million dollars. Trees were knocked down and debris was strewn all around San Diego and the zoo. The zoo was closed for the first time in 72 years to remove damage. Los Angeles reported an all-time record low barometric pressure reading of 29.25 inHg. 1989 Strong Chinook winds along the eastern slopes of the Rockies gusted to 94 mph near Big Timber, MT and 90 mph near Rollinsville, CO. Heavy snow blanketed parts of the Upper Mississippi Valley, with 8 inches reported in Douglas County, Wisconsin. 1990 Many cities across the southeastern half of the country reported record high temperatures for the date. Record highs included 61° at Williamstown, PA and 85° at Brownsville, TX. 1994 Louisville, KY recorded 15.9 inches of snow in 24 hours for not only its greatest 24 hour snowfall ever, but also its greatest snowstorm ever up to that time, as a massive overrunning pattern developed over the frigid arctic air that was entrenched across the eastern U.S. Lucasville, OH was buried under 30 inches and up to 23 inches was reported in Robertson County, Kentucky. Freezing rain created half an inch of ice in central and southern Indiana the previous day. It then changed over to snow on this date and dropped over a foot of snow in some places. Harrison, Clark, and Floyd Counties reported 16 inches of snow. The Northridge, CA Earthquake caused extensive damage to the San Fernando Valley. 61 people were killed and damage exceeded $15 billion dollars. Extensive damage to road systems resulted in traffic delays for months and led to expanded use of commuter rail systems. 1995 The Japanese city of Kobe was devastated by a pre-dawn earthquake that measured 7.2 on the Richter Scale. It was the most powerful earthquake ever to strike a modern city directly. Over 6,300 people were injured and another 43,000 left homeless. The massive tremor and unbelievable destruction proved that Japan is not earthquake-proof. 1996 Snowfall accumulations of 2 to 15 inches, high winds from 40 to 60 mph, and cold arctic air resulted in blizzard conditions and extreme wind chills from -40°to -70°across central, north central, and northeast South Dakota as well as west central Minnesota from the middle morning through the early evening of the 18th. Most schools, federal, state, and county offices were closed. Also, various activities were canceled. Travel was extremely difficult due to the near zero visibility with some vehicles stranded. Highway 12 from Webster to the Minnesota border and Interstate-29 was closed on the 18th. Hundreds of people were stranded with some people stranded in their vehicles. Some snowfall amounts included: 15 inches occurred at Wheaton, Clinton, and Graceville, 12 inches at Wilmot, Rosholt, and Ortonville, Minnesota, 10 inches at Eureka and Britton, 9 inches at Mellette, Aberdeen, and Redfield, 8 inches at Doland, 6 inches at Tulare, 5 inches at Mobridge, Presho, Roscoe, 3 inches at Pierre and 2 inches at Highmore. The extreme wind chills along with some blowing snow continued across central and north central South Dakota into the early evening of the 18th. Strong winds blew into southwest Kansas during the afternoon pulling wind chill temperatures to -45°, downing tree limbs, damaging and lifting roofs, pushing semi trucks and trailers over and causing power outages and furnace problems. Peak wind gusts throughout the area ranged from 60 to 75 mph. High winds behind the powerful low pressure system battered west Texas and parts of eastern New Mexico. Sustained winds hit 105 mph with gusts to 128 mph at Guadeloupe Pass, TX. Wind gusts reached 89 mph at White Sands, NM and 75 mph at El Paso, TX. One person was killed and 3 others were injured when the high winds collapsed a Supermarket roof in Anthony, TX. Another person was killed on the road. The Department of Public Safety report stated that visibilities were ranging between 20 feet and 1/4 mile with a visibility of 50 feet being common during the clean up of the accident. El Paso, TX recorded its lowest barometric pressure ever with 29.22 inHg. 1999 An unusually strong storm system for so early in the year, produced several tornadoes over Arkansas and western Tennessee, killing 8 people and injuring 131 others. Damage totaled $40 million dollars. Hardest hit was Jackson, TN, where two separate tornadoes, an F3 and an F4 struck the northern and southern sections of the town killing six people. 200 homes were destroyed and 300 others damaged. 2005 The high temperature at Toronto, Ontario Canada soared to 64°, their highest January temperature recorded since records began in 1840. On this date through the 18th, the west coast community of Tofino on Vancouver Island, British Columbia Canada broke their daily rainfall record with 3.81 inches, then broke it again the next day with 7.76 inches. Down the coast, Port Renfrew was even wetter as it received a 2-day total of 13.46 inches. 2006 Roseburg, ORreceived 2.21 inches of rain, almost an inch more than the previous daily record set in 1954. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- January 18th: 1857 A great cold storm swept across the Atlantic Seaboard. Snowfall totals of 12 to 24 inches were common and gale force winds caused shipwrecks and damaged property on islands. Temperatures near 0° prevailed from Virginia northward. Both Washington, D.C. and Baltimore, MD received 24 inches of snow with drifts up to 10 feet. Norfolk, VA reported drifts as high as 20 feet. At Williamsburg, VA the temperature was only 3° at the height of the snowstorm. The cold air behind the storm penetrated into Florida where the site of present day Miami had a temperature of 30°. Boston, MA reported a barometer of 28.91 InHg during this storm. Great drifts of snow blocked transportation. Richmond, VA was cut off from Washington, D.C. for a week. 1925 Wichita Falls, TXreported 9.8 inches of snow, making this date their snowiest calendar day ever 1930 Oklahoma's coldest night on record occurred as the town of Watts dropped to -27°. 1943 Idaho's coldest night on record occurred as the low temperature dropped to -60° at Island Park Dam. 1950 Oregon continued in the grips of its worst winter month ever. A day of sleet and freezing rain caused widespread power outages. Hundreds of motorists were stranded in the Columbia River Gorge and had to be rescued by train. Even trains had a hard time moving with and through the ice. 1952 A strong storm brought 3.98 inches of rain to Los Angeles, CA, 3.17 inches of it fell in 24 hours. At least eight people died. 1957 The record low temperature for the state of Massachusetts was set at Birch Hill Dam when the mercury fell to -35°. This was broken on 1/22/1984. 1969 Heavy rains of tropical origin began on this day and ended on the 28th. As much as 50 inches of rain fell at 7,700 feet. 31 inches of rain fell on the south slopes of Mt. San Gorgonio, 15.5 inches at San Jacinto Peak, around 10 inches at Banning, less than one inch from Indio southeast. 87 people were reported dead from flooding and mudslides all over California. Scores died in traffic accidents. Hundreds of homes and buildings were destroyed in slides, including 14 destroyed and 11 damaged homes in Mt. Baldy Village. 50 homes near Forest Home (Forest Falls) were damaged by flooding. Highways and railroads washed out. Power outages occurred. Cucamonga Creek itself caused $10 million in damage. The Mojave River took out numerous bridges and flooded farmlands in the upper desert. 1971 Santa Ana winds prevailed across the southwest. A remarkable record was set at Los Angeles, CA. The high temperature of 95° at the Civic Center set the city's all time record January high shattering the old record by 5 degrees. This is only 3 degrees less than the United States January record high of 98° set in Fort McIntosh, TX on 1/18/1914 and Laredo, TX on 1/17/1936. Palm Springs, CA also set their all-time record high for January with 95°. Locations reporting daily record highs included: Long Beach, CA: 89°, Riverside, CA: 87°, Los Angeles (LAX), CA: 86°, Santa Maria, CA: 84°-Tied, San Diego, CA: 81°, Phoenix, AZ: 80°, Bishop, CA: 76°, Las Vegas, NV: 72°, Fresno, CA: 69°, Winnemucca, NV: 68°, Reno, NV: 66°, Flagstaff, AZ: 64° and Elko, NV: 57°. 1973 A baby was carried 300 to 400 yards by the strong winds of a tornado at Corey, LA, yet received only minor injuries. 1977 South Carolina recorded its coldest temperature ever with a reading of -20° near Long Creek. This was broken on 1/21/1985. The minimum temperature was 2° and the maximum temperature was 18° setting records for the date at Washington, D.C. During the month, the minimum temperature was below freezing every day of the month. This is only the 2nd month on record this occurred. 1980 Dense fog caused a ship to ram the Alno Bridge near Gothenburg, Sweden and a 500 foot span of the bridge collapsed. Eight people died when seven cars went off the edge of the broken span. On this date through the 27th, Tropical Cyclone Hyacinthe produced 223.5 inches of rainfall at Commerson, La Reunion Island in the Indian Ocean to set the global mark for rainfall from a tropical cyclone during a 10 day period. The same storm dumped 127.6 inches of rain in just 72 hours at Grand-Ilet, La Reunion Island. 1982 A cold morning in the Northeast with the temperature at Princeton, New Jersey at -9° and Bridgehampton on Long Island at -10°, close to an all-time record. 1985 Tropical Cyclone Nigel struck the Fiji Islands, causing $1 million dollars in damage and 20 deaths. 1986 A Pacific storm dumped heavy rains over northwestern Washington. Seattle, WA and vicinity reported 6 to 9 inches. There were 30 mudslides in the Seattle area alone. Major flooding occurred along with tremendous land erosion. Land under a railroad track south of Seattle gave way, derailing an Amtrak train with 28 people injured as a result. 1987 A storm in the south central U.S. blanketed Oklahoma City, OK with 8 inches of snow, their highest total since 1948. Snowfall totals in Oklahoma ranged up to 13 inches at Gage, with drifts 5 feet high. Roof collapses across the state resulted in $7 million dollars damage. 1988 A major Pacific storm in the southwestern U.S. produced 15 to 20 foot surf along the southern coast of California resulting in more than $50 million dollars damage. Tornadoes touched down in Mission Viejo and San Clemente causing property damage. A baseball dugout was blown 150 yards into the middle of a city street. Surf rose to 20 feet along the beaches, causing $50 million dollars worth of damage. Boulders protecting Mission Bay were washed away. Asphalt and dunes were washed out in Coronado. At Mission Beach, condos were flooded. The same storm also produced 26 inches of snow at Duck Creek, UT A massive winter storm drilled portions of the Northern Plains from this date through the 20th. A strong area of low pressure moved northeast across the north-central Plains producing widespread precipitation. Snow amounts of 6 to 20 inches were reported in south central and southeast South Dakota, 4 to 8 inches across northwest Iowa and 8 to 12 inches across southwest Minnesota. Snow amounts included: 20 inches at Tripp, SD, 18 inches at Yankton, SD, 13 inches at Worthington, SD and 10 inches at Sioux Falls, SD. Scottsbluff, NE reported 7.4 inches of snow. High winds produced blowing snow greatly reducing visibilities and the widespread drifting blocked many roads. 1989 While fair and mild weather prevailed across the lower 48, bitter cold gripped Alaska. The high temperature for the day at Fairbanks was -30°. Thunderstorms along the western Gulf coast drenched parts of southwest Houston, TX with more than 4 inches of rain. 1990 A winter storm produced heavy snow and high winds across the southwestern U.S. Snowfall totals ranged up to 18 inches at Lake Arrowhead, CA and Ashford, AZ. Death Valley received 0.37 inches of rain, which ended a consecutive streak of 378 days with no precipitation. High winds in New Mexico gusted to 100 mph east of Albuquerque. Big Bear Lake, CA set a record low with 3°. Hong Kong's coldest night on record occurred as the low temperature dropped to the freezing mark. 1993 Salt Lake City, UT recorded 0.5 inches of snow to push their seasonal snowfall to 76.0 inches to set a new seasonal snowfall record. The old record was 75.6 inches set back in the 1948-49 season. Total snowfall for the month at this point stood at 45.1 inches which is a record for any month. The old record was 41.9 inches set in 1977. A big 3 day snowstorm came to an end at Valdez, Alaska as 57 inches of snow buried the city. 1994 The massive overrunning snowstorm that had buried the Tennessee and Ohio Valleys the day before moved northeastward and clobbered interior sections of New England and the Mid Atlantic. The Washington, D.C. area received up to 2 inches of ice. 10 to 20 inches of snow fell from West Virginia to parts of New England. Two day snowfall totals included 24 inches at Grafton, NH, 23 inches at Long Pond, PA, 22 inches at Patten, ME & Hanover, NH, 20 inches at Eustis, ME, and 19 inches at Caribou, ME. 20 inches of new snow at Jay Peak, VT raised their snow cover to 91 inches. Wilkes-Barre Scranton, PA checked in with 16.6 inches, which brought their monthly snowfall to 36.9 inches, their snowiest January on record. Behind the storm, the next blast of arctic air spread over the Great Lakes and Ohio Valley. Chicago, IL’s high temperature only reached -11°, tying the record for the coldest high temperature that the Windy City has ever recorded (12/24/1983). Tower, MN dropped to -44°. Super intense snow squalls commenced in the lee of Lake Ontario in New York State. Adams was buried under 36 inches of snow in only 9 hours. Lowville picked up 25 inches for a total of 65 inches on the ground. 1995 An area of low pressure developed over eastern Texas and intensified as it moved northeast to southern Illinois. This storm produced a band of heavy snow from portions of northeast Oklahoma to northwest Illinois bringing transportation to a halt for two days. Columbia, MO reported their greatest 24-hour snowfall on record with 19.7 inches. At Springfield, MO 14.4 inches fell through the next day, making it the heaviest 24 hour snowfall since 1980. Total damage was estimated at $2.5 million dollars. What made this storm unusual was the occurrence of thundersnow in many locations across southwest Missouri at height of the storm 1996 Heavy rain and snowmelt from deep snow packs over New England resulted in massive flooding and caused the evacuation of 125,000 people. 80 people died and damage totaled $1 billion dollars. A strong storm with associated cold front brought a wide variety of weather to central Illinois. Much of the area started out unseasonably mild, with temperatures in the upper 50s and lower 60s. The mild weather clashed with much colder temperatures to produce a line of severe thunderstorms which rapidly moved across the state. Some tree and power line damage was noted. Winds gusted over 70 mph at Champaign, IL. At least one weak tornado is spawned by the squall line, which is quickly followed by a blast of arctic air and rain changing to snow. Rapids snowmelt and heavy rains, followed by a quick freeze, leads to many areas of ice jam flooding. Temperatures dropped sharply as the front passed, falling to near zero by midnight. In Springfield, the 57 degree span between high and low temperature was a record for the city; a 60 degree fall in Champaign was the 2nd largest temperature drop on record. Rochester, MN fell from 45°to -5°. The area of low pressure brought heavy snow to parts of the upper Midwest with amounts ranging from 5 to 10 inches. 2000 The National Weather Service unveiled its new supercomputer, an IBM SP computer with a 786 processor, located at Bowie MD. The computer replaced an older Cray C-90 computer had been in use since 1994 but it was destroyed in a fire in September 1999. Five times faster than the Cray C-90 it replaced, the new IBM was one of the two fastest weather computers in the world. 2002 Desert areas to the north of Saudi Arabia were affected by snow for the first time in 40 years. Snow fell to a depth of 4 to 8 inches in places. The snow melted away pretty quickly but reports say that nomads in the area weren’t accustomed to snow and were confused as to what to do with it. 2006 A massive long ice jam, 3.72 miles long caused water levels to rise on the Saint John River in New Brunswick Canada threatening the world's longest covered bridge, the 105-year-old wooden crossing at Hartland. Rising water levels threatened to lift the quarter of a mile long bridge off its pier, but luckily didn’t. A severe cold wave pushed the temperature at Moscow, Russia down to -22°, the coldest readings since the winter of 1978-1979. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- January 19th: 1786 The reading of -24° at Hartford, CT was the coldest temperature ever seen on a thermometer up to that time. 1810 The famous "cold day" in New England occurred as gale force winds wrecked homes, and accompanied a sudden overnight drop in temperature of 50°. Tragedy struck Sanbornton, NH where three children froze to death. 1857 A major winter storm plagued areas from the Mid-Atlantic in to New England. New York City recorded 12 inches of snow as the Cold Winter continued. It was the coldest month in the 19th century in New York City. Long Island Sound was completely covered by ice for 30 days. More than a foot of snow fell with temperatures below 20° across Virginia. Strong winds caused structural damage on land, wrecked ships at sea and great drifts that blocked transportation through the state. One report states that Norfolk was buried under 20 foot snow drifts. Washington, D.C. was buried under 14 to 24 inches, with drifts four feet deep; Portsmouth, VA reported 16 inches; Halifax, VA about 16 inches with drifts to five feet; Brunswick County reported 18 inches; Prince George County 15 inches; Christiansburg, VA measured 14 inches; and Winchester 8 inches. Transportation from Richmond, VA to Washington, D.C. was cut off for seven days. The Richmond Enquirer's editor remarked, "Sunday last we had one of the severest snowstorms which has occurred in this area for many years. Snow commenced falling about 7 pm Saturday night and by Sunday morning the wind had increased to a perfect gale - all day Sunday and Sunday night the snow fell rapidly accompanied by high winds which banked up the snow in some places as high as 8 feet. On average we would think the snow about two feet deep." Temperatures fell below zero after the storm: Christiansburg reported -8°; a Petersburg newspaper reported the temperature in the city dropped from -15° to -22°; temperatures fell to between -10° to -17° at Halifax; at Portsmouth, it was -5°. The cold was so extreme that all Virginia Rivers were frozen over. The Chesapeake Bay was solid ice a mile and a half out from its coast. At Cape Henry, VA one could walk out 100 yards from the lighthouse on the frozen ocean. 1893 The temperature rose 42 degrees in 15 minutes; from -5° to 37° at Fort Assiniboine near Havre, MT. 1925 Maine recorded its coldest temperature ever as Van Buren dropped to -48°. This record was broken on 1/16/2009. 1933 Giant Forest, CA received 60 inches of snow in just 24 hours, a state record, and the 2nd highest 24 hour total on record for the U.S. 1935 One of the city's worst winter storms dumped 15.7 inches of snow on Vancouver, British Columbia Canada. Strong winds blow the snow into drifts over 6 feet high. The snow was followed over the next 4 days with 10.5 inches of rain and freezing rain. 1953 A combination of hail, heavy rain, and a tornado caused significant damage at Corvallis, OR. The tornado, the first to ever hit Corvallis, dissipated as it crossed the Willamette River. 1961 The "Kennedy Inaugural Snowstorm:" moved up the east coast. The storm began as low pressure centered in northern Tennessee during the morning on this date. It was starved for moisture and only produced light snows to the north of the track but by the afternoon the storm center moved to Virginia and then bombed out near the coast and snow quickly developed over the Baltimore/Washington, D.C. area. By evening, snowfall rates intensified and winds increased from the northeast to 25 mph at National Airport reducing visibility to near zero with whiteout conditions. The snow tapered off by midnight leaving 7.7 inches at National Airport and BWI Airport. The liquid equivalent was 1.14 inches, more than typical of an 11 inch storm. Snowfall amounts ranged from only an inch at Richmond, VA to as much as 16 inches in parts of northern Maryland. The temperature did not rise above freezing for 11 days until the 31st when the high temperature reached 33°. Parts of Virginia saw up to 12 inches. It caused a great traffic jam in northern and central Virginia and D.C. Elsewhere, up to 11 inches fell in parts of Delaware, 4 to 19 inches in Pennsylvania and 10 to 30 inches in New Jersey. Many cities were paralyzed following the storm. Across the Northeast, as much as 28 inches of snow fell at Warwick, RI and 12.3 inches at Boston, MA. 37 people perished. 1971 High pressure across the Great Basin brought record heat to parts of the Southwest. It was 90° at Borrego Springs, CA their highest temperature on record for January. Other daily record highs for the date included: Downtown Los Angeles, CA: 92°, Palm Springs, CA: 91°, Riverside, CA: 88°, Phoenix, AZ: 88°, Yuma, AZ 88°, Tucson, AZ: 85°, Victorville, CA: 77°, Palomar Mountain, CA: 75°, Las Vegas, NV: 74°, Idyllwild, CA: 74°, Bishop, CA: 72°, Big Bear Lake, CA: 68°, Winnemucca, NV: 67° and Flagstaff, AZ: 59°. 1977 Snow fell at Miami Beach, FL for the first time. The trace of snow that fell at Homestead, FL, 22 miles south of Miami is the southernmost snow ever recorded in the United States. Snow flurries even fell across the northern Bahamas. The snow was accompanied by freezing temperatures over the entire Florida Peninsula, which resulted in one of the states worst freezes. Temperatures dropped to 27° at Homestead, FL with some farmers recorded temperatures as low as 20°. Temperatures were below freezing for 10 to 14 hours, and 28 degrees or colder for 4 to 8 hours. An unusually heavy frost accompanied these freezing temperatures and extended to the immediate coast. Both West Palm Beach and Miami Beach recorded all-time lows of 27 degrees and 32 degrees, respectively. A U. S. Department of Agriculture report said the following crop loss: Citrus: 35%, Vegetables: 95-100%, Commercial Flowers: 50-75%, Permanent Pasture Land: 50%, Sugar Cane: 40%. In addition, there was a severe loss to the tropical fish industry. The freeze cost the Florida economy an estimated $2 billion (1977) dollars. 1978 On this date through the 20th, a strong Nor'easter developed off the Southeast Coast. It was the third snow in a week for Virginia. Charlottesville got a foot of snow, with up to 30 inches in the west central mountains of Virginia. East of the mountains saw 4 to 8 inches on snow until you got to Richmond, VA. Richmond received a devastating ice storm causing major power disruptions and tree damage. Many small buildings and roofs collapsed from the weight of the snow across the west. One person died while shoveling snow. A severe weather outbreak occurred across parts of Florida. Five tornadoes and 17 severe thunderstorms were reported from Jacksonville to Orlando and Tampa to Miami. Widespread minor property damage, but no serious injuries. 1987 A storm tracking across the Ohio Valley and towards the northeastern U.S. produced up to 14 inches of snow across northern Indiana. Peru, IN reported a foot of snow. Several cities across Florida reported record high temperatures for the date. The afternoon high of 88° at Miami equaled their record for the month of January. 1988 A powerful storm hit the central U.S. producing blizzard conditions over the Central Plains, and severe thunderstorms in the Lower Mississippi Valley. Snowfall totals ranged up to 36 inches at Wolf Creek Pass, CO, with 31 inches at Elsmere, NE. A swarm of 14 tornadoes across the South affected parts of Mississippi, Tennessee, Alabama and Arkansas. The most violent tornado was an F4 that occurred near Kosciusko, MS, but an F3 tornado in Fayette County, TN was the most deadly, causing 3 fatalities. A tornado at Cullman AL injured 34 people. 1989 The high temperature for the day at Fairbanks, AK was a frigid -41°, and the morning low of -24° at Anchorage, AK was their coldest reading in 14 years. 1990 Heavy snow spread from the Southern and Central Rockies into the Great Plains. Storm totals in New Mexico reached 36 inches at Gascon. Totals in the Central Plains ranged up to 15 inches near McCook, NE and Garden City, KS. Amounts across the metro Denver, CO area ranged from 7 to 10 inches. Strong, winds caused blowing and drifting snow with poor visibility caused I-70 from Denver east to the Kansas border to close. Further north, a narrow band of heavy, wet snow buried portions of southeast South Dakota. Snowfall amounts of 8 to 12 inches extended from Bon Homme County through Yankton and Clay Counties. The greatest amount was 12 inches at Vermillion. The band of snow also extended across northwest Iowa with totals of 6 to 12 inches common. The heavy, wet snow broke many tree branches and power lines across the area resulting in a messy cleanup. Thunderstorms produced large hail and damaging winds in eastern Texas and Louisiana. Tornadoes at Garland, TX and Apple Springs, TX each injured one person. 1993 This day marked the end of 14 consecutive days (the most on record) of measurable precipitation in Santa Ana, Escondido and Big Bear Lake, CA which started on the 6th. This day marked the end of seven consecutive days (the most on record) of measurable precipitation at Victorville, CA. 1994 An arctic outbreak settled in with widespread record low temperatures set from Minnesota to Virginia. Many cities recorded their lowest temperature ever. Some of the all time record lows included: St. Cloud, MN: -50°, Flat Gap, KY: -41°, Bethel, OH: -40°, Greenbank, WV: -35°, Indianapolis IN: -27°, Pittsburgh, PA: -22°, Louisville, KY: -22° and Cleveland, OH: -20°. Champaign, IL tied their all-time record low with -25°. A low of -52° was reported at Amasa, Michigan, the state's coldest temperature on record. Indiana recorded its coldest temperature ever when the mercury fell to -37° at New Whiteland. National Airport at Washington, D.C. reported an afternoon high of just 8°, one degree from the lowest maximum during the 20th century. The minimum temperature was -4°. That made this date one of only five days in the official climate history of Washington, D.C. to have a maximum temperature less than 10° (12/30/1888: 9°, 2/10/1899: 4°, 1/13/1912: 8°, 12/30/1917: 9°. The cold temperatures led to a rolling power brownouts and closed schools and businesses. This was a year of repetitive ice storms and cold weather, ice cover on the ground was that enough to support ice-skating on lawns. At the Penderbrook Golf Course in Fairfax, Va. down hill ice-skating occurred for several days on the long, slopping fair way. Baltimore, MD set an all-time January record low maximum of 5° following a record low of -5°. Further north, heavy snow fell in New England. Parish, NY picked up several hours of snow accompanied by thunder and lightning with 42 inches of new snow falling as lake effect snows continued off of Lake Ontario. Lake Superior froze over for the first time in 16 years. Yellowknife, Northwest Territories in Canada shivered through their last of a record 20 consecutive days when the minimum temperature was less than or equal to -34.6°. 1995 Columbia, MO was buried under 19.7 inches of snow in 24 hours for its greatest 24 hour snowfall and snowstorm ever. Wind gusts up to 45 mph produced blizzard conditions and thunderstorms occurred several times during the heavy snow. Interstates 70, U.S. 63 and U.S. 54 were closed down. The same storm produced 15 inches of snow at Moline, IL and 14 inches at Blue Jacket, OK. 1996 Just one week after 2 to 4 feet of snow fell over western Virginia, temperatures warmed into the 60°s ahead of a front which brought thunderstorms and heavy rain. The sudden warm-up caused a rapid snowmelt. The melted snow was the equivalent of 2 to 4 inches of rain. Some areas saw another 2 to 5 inches of rainfall on top of the melted snow. The saturated ground meant that all the rain and snow became run off into the streams and rivers, which could not handle it. Major flooding resulted. This sort of event had not happened since March 1936. Rapid snowmelt triggered serious flooding along the Delaware, Susquehanna, upper Ohio, Potomac and James River basins, with crests as much as 20 feet above flood stage. In some areas a foot of snow melted in about 8 hours during the overnight. Daytime temperatures approached 60° with high dew points causing snow piles to steam. The Potomac River approached levels not seen since flooding caused by Tropical Storm Agnes in 1972. The flooding killed 33 people and forced over 200,000 from their homes, and destroyed or damaged hundreds of roads and bridges. An arctic cold front moved through the upper Midwest. Prior to the cold front, temperatures were in the 50s across southern Wisconsin. However, by the end of the day, the temperatures had fallen below zero. The temperature fell 58 degrees at Platteville, WI from 51° to -7° and 57 degrees at Richland Center, WI from 52° to -5°. It was the greatest diurnal temperature change at both locations. 1998 Severe thunderstorms produced tornadoes and hail in portions of central Mississippi and extreme southeast Arkansas. An F1 tornado moved through Lauderdale County, injuring 10 people. F2 tornadoes moved through Ashley County, injuring 13 and Desoto County, injuring one person. F3 tornadoes struck Clay and Chickasaw Counties and an F4 tornado struck Attalla County, injuring one person. Total property damages were over $3 million dollars. 2005 A Pineapple Express brought balmy weather to southwestern British Columbia, Canada. Abbotsford soared to 64.6°, their highest January temperature recorded anywhere in the province since 1899. Victoria shattered their warmest-ever January reading with 61°. Three days of heavy rain trigger a mudslide that killed one person and forced the evacuation of many residents. Rainfall at Vancouver International Airport over the preceding three days exceeded 5.2 inches. 2007 Extremely mild temperatures, 10 to 20 degrees above normal dominated over much of Europe. Paris, France hit 57°, London, England hit 56°, Berlin, Germany hit 45° and Warsaw, Poland hit 43°. 2008 A rare Mississippi snow event brought snowfall accumulations to many locations. The heaviest snow occurred across Covington, Jefferson Davis, and western Jones Counties, where amounts ranging from 2 to 5 inches. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- January 20th: 1493 Streets were blocked by snow and strong winds as a blizzard struck Florence, Italy. 1606 2,000 people died around the Severn Estuary as the result of severe flooding along the Severn River in England. 1854 A large tornado at Brandon and Mount Vernon, OH killed three people along its 10 mile path. 1933 The greatest snowfall officially fell at Phoenix, AZ reaching one inch. Four years to the day later, another snowfall of one inch fell. 1937 FDR's second inauguration was the wettest Inaugural Day on record. 1.77 inches of rain fell at Washington, D.C. with temperatures in the 30s. California recorded their coldest temperature ever as the town of Boca located northeast of Truckee dropped to -45°. 1943 Strange vertical antics took place in the Black Hills of South Dakota. While the temperature at Deadwood was -16°, the town of Lead, just a mile and a half away, but 600 feet higher in elevation, reported a balmy 52°. South Bend, IN reported their coldest temperature ever dropping to -22°. 1951 The Mount Lamington volcano in New Guinea had not erupted in recorded memory, but in January 1951, it began to belch smoke from its cone. On the 20th, rocks spewed from the mountain, followed by huge cloud of steam and dust that rolled down the mountain at great speed, killing 6,000 people, nearly the entire population of the North Coast. 1954 The lowest temperature ever recorded in the continental 48 states, -69.7°, occurred at Rogers Pass, in Lewis and Clark County, Montana. Rogers Pass is in mountainous and heavily forested terrain about a half mile east of and 140 feet below the summit of the Continental Divide. This broke the previous record of -66° at Yellowstone National Parkway on 2/9/1933. After this record low, Rogers Pass “enjoyed an afternoon high of -22°. 1961 The "Kennedy Inaugural snowstorm" belted the mid-Atlantic and New England states. Up to 29 inches of snow fell in northern New Jersey and southeastern New York. Areas north and west of Boston, MA received over two feet. This was the 2nd of three major snowstorms during the 1960-61 winter season across the northeastern U.S. 1969 The high temperature at Billings, MT was -3°. This was the first of a record 10 consecutive days with a high temp below zero; the temperature would not rise above freezing until February 3rd. 1977 By this date Smith and Tangier Island in the lower Chesapeake Bay could no longer be reached by boat, and food and other key supplies had to be airlifted to residents. Ice cover on the Potomac River by this time was up to 11 inches thick. The barometer at St. Anthony in Newfoundland Canada dropped to 940.2 millibars or 27.76 inHg, the lowest sea level pressure ever recorded in Canada. 1978 A paralyzing "Nor'easter" blasted New England and the Mid-Atlantic States. Boston, MA recorded 21 inches in 24 hours to set a new record 24-hour snowfall amount; only to have it broken two weeks later. Snowfall was under-forecasted since a predicted changeover from snow to rain never occurred. Elsewhere, 15 to 20 inches of snow fell across Rhode Island, and 1 to 2 feet of snow across parts of Pennsylvania. Winds along the coast of Connecticut gusted to 70 mph. 1984 An Arctic cold wave in the east through the 22nd claimed 42 lives across 14 states. One of the coldest readings was -40° at Minong, WI. Subzero readings were measured from the Rockies to New England. 1985 A major Arctic outbreak brought extreme cold to much of the central and eastern U.S. Many all time record lows were set, including: Chicago, IL -27° (daytime high of -4 with a wind chill as low as -77°), Nashville, TN -16° (broken the next day), Asheville, NC -13° (broken the next day) and Raleigh/Durham, NC -3° (broken the next day). Even New Orleans was in the deep freeze with a low of 15°. Fort Wayne, INrecorded their coldest overall day, with a high of -11° and a low of -22°. South Bend, IN set their coldest January high temperature, at -6°. Quincy, IL set their January record low with -21°. St. Louis & Columbia, MO recorded their all-time coldest wind chill readings of -48°& -44°. Residents in Birmingham, AL woke up to an inch of snow on the ground and temperatures in the deep freeze. Readings remained in the single digits all day. The high temperature at Muscle Shoals in the northern part of Alabama never got above 0° that day. The extreme cold actually caused television cable wires to shrink, resulting in service disruptions across the state of Virginia. 1987 Gale force winds lingered along the northern Atlantic coast in the wake of a holiday weekend storm. High winds along the eastern slopes of the Northern Rockies gusted to 67 mph at Livingston, MT. Santa Ana wind gusts reached 80 mph below Cajon Pass, 70 mph at San Bernardino, 60 mph at Mt. Laguna and 40 mph at El Toro, CA. Trucks were blown over, thick dust clouds developed, and trees were downed. A hundred power poles went down in the Inland Empire causing numerous power outages. Schools closed in Fontana as a result of power outages. A mobile classroom was knocked over. Brush fires were started. 1988 A storm in the Upper Midwest produced heavy snow and gale force winds. Up to 27.5 inches of snow was reported along the Lake Superior shoreline of Michigan, with 22 inches at Marquette. Snowfall totals across parts of Minnesota, Iowa and Wisocnisn ranged from 6 to 12 inches. Out west, Borrego Springs, CA set a record low of 33°. 1989 The temperature in the Washington D.C. area warmed into the lower 50s for the Presidential Inauguration during the late morning hours, before gusty northwest winds ushered in colder air that afternoon. 1990 While heavy thunderstorm rains drenched the Central Gulf Coast States, with 4.23 inches reported at Centreville, AL in 24 hours. Unseasonably warm weather continued across Florida. A few locations in Florida reported record high temperatures for the date including: Fort Myers, FL: 87, Tampa, FL: 85 and Jacksonville, FL: 83-Tied. 1993 A fast moving 980-millibar storm (28.94 inHg) produced high winds across the Pacific Northwest. A wind gust to 64 mph occurred at the Sea-tac airport in Seattle, WA; their 2nd highest wind gust ever recorded at that location. Winds gusted to near 100 mph at the mouth of the Columbia River. Over 750,000 people in the vicinity of Puget Sound lost power. Damage was severe, with 79 homes destroyed and 581 suffering major damage. In Oregon, wind gusts hit 89 mph at Netarts and 86 mph at Cape Blanco. The storm caused $130 million dollars in damage. In the southern U.S., train echo thunderstorms drenched Lafayette and Baton Rouge, LA with 10.83 and 9.02 inches of rain in 24 hours, respectively 1994 Relentless lake effect snow squalls dumped nearly 60 inches of snow at Adams, NY in only 17 hours. The three day snowfall total in the town exceeded 100 inches, one of the greatest lake effect snowfall totals ever recorded. Frigid conditions persisted over the northeastern U.S. Rangeley, ME was the cold spot in the nation with a temperature of -45°. First Connecticut Lake, NH dropped to -44°. South Bend, IN completed its longest stretch of sub-zero weather at 64 hours. Both Pittsburgh, PA and Cleveland, OH also completed their longest stretch of subzero readings on record, with 52 and 56 consecutive hours, respectively. 2006 A winter storm moved across northern Illinois during the afternoon and evening hours, continuing into early the next morning. A band of very heavy snow fell across northeast Illinois across Kane County, southeast McHenry County, northwest Cook County, and most of Lake County. Snowfall amounts in this band ranged from 10 to 12 inches. Outside of this heavy band, snow amounts ranged from 6 to 9 inches, but snowfall amounts tapered off quickly across south central DuPage and south central Cook Counties, with those areas receiving 3 to 5 inches. Some of the largest snowfall amounts included 12 inches at Elgin, 11.7 inches at Grayslake, 11.5 inches at Shabbona, 11 inches atn Barrington, and 9 inches at Paw Paw. Northwest parts of the state saw ice accumulations around a quarter inch, enhanced by thunderstorms. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------