Historical Weather Events

HISTORICAL WEATHER EVENTS - 26 August

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

...1883...Krakatoa Volcano exploded in the East Indies. The explosion was heard more than 2500 miles away, and every barograph around the world recorded the passage of the air wave, up to seven times. Giant waves, 125 feet high and traveling 300 mph, devastated everything in their path, hurling ashore coral blocks weighing up to 900 tons, and killing more than 36,000 persons. Volcanic ash was carried around the globe in thirteen days producing blue and green suns in the tropics, and then vivid red sunsets in higher latitudes. The temperature of the earth was lowered one degree for the next two years, finally recovering to normal by 1888. (David Ludlum)
...1908...South Carolina's greatest flood ever caused flooding statewide. Every river in the state rose above flood stage, many as high as 22 feet above flood. (National Weather Service files)
...1935...San Francisco, CA had their heaviest 24-hour rainfall for August when 0.25 inches fell. (Intellicast)
...1949...A hurricane made landfall at Delray Beach, FL. Winds reached 153 mph at the Jupiter Lighthouse before the anemometer failed. The hurricane caused 45 million dollars damage to crops, and also caught the Georgia and South Carolina coast resulting in another two million dollars damage. (David Ludlum)
...1965...Late night severe thunderstorms associated with an unusually strong late summer cold front produced 100 mph winds straight line winds in the Chicago area and northwest Indiana. In Lake County, IN, high winds derailed a train near Crown Point, and left a canoe suspended among telephone lines. Two nights later the temperature at Midway Airport in Chicago dipped to 43 degrees, establishing a record for the month of August. (Storm Data) (Hugh Crowther)
...1976...A weak tornado touched down briefly in the Hockley Hills near Kiana, AK, about 29 miles north of the Arctic Circle. This is the most northerly report of a tornado on record. Kiana is 545 miles northwest of Anchorage, AK.
(The Weather Channel) (National Weather Service files)
...1987...Showers and thunderstorms drenched northern Illinois during the morning and afternoon hours pushing August rainfall totals for Chicago, Moline and Peoria to new all-time highs for any month of the year. By the end of August, Chicago had received 17.10 inches of rain, which easily surpassed the previous record of 14.17 inches established in September 1961. (The National Weather Summary)
...1988...A dozen cities in Texas, Colorado and California reported record high temperatures for the date, including readings of 100 degrees at Pueblo, CO, 106 degrees at Wichita Falls, TX, and 109 degrees at Redding, CA. Afternoon thunderstorms in Utah deluged the town of Beaver with more than an inch of rain in twenty minutes. (The National Weather Summary)
...1989...Anchorage, AK was soaked with a steady rain, and the 24 hour total of 4.12 inches smashed their previous 24 hour precipitation total of 2.10 inches. It also pushed their rainfall total for the month past their previous record for August. (The National Weather Summary)
...1992...Hurricane Andrew made its second landfall along the Louisiana coast near Burns Point as a category 3 hurricane on the Saffir-Simpson Hurricane Scale. Morgan City recorded wind gusts of 108 mph. Hammond was deluged with nearly a foot of rain. Total additional damage was estimated at 1.8 billion dollars. (Intellicast)
...1993...Very early snow fell at Butte, MT with 5 inches of wet snow accumulating. (Intellicast)