Friday Daily Summary

DATASTREME ATMOSPHERE DAILY SUMMARY

Friday, 11 January 2013

This DataStreme Atmosphere Daily Summary contains Historical Weather Events for this date. Current weather data are available on the homepage as usual. If you are looking for an alternative description of daily weather, you could try:

http://www.weather.com/newscenter/nationalforecast/index.html (The Weather Channel)

In addition, new items will appear in this week's Weekly Weather and Climate News for other weather and climate information from this past week. DataStreme Atmosphere Daily Summaries and Investigation files will return with the Spring 2013 DataStreme Atmosphere course during Preview Week on Monday, 14 January 2013.

HISTORICAL WEATHER EVENTS - 11 January

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

...1898...Fort Smith, AR was hit by an F4 tornado. Fifty-five people were killed and 113 were injured. A Fort Smith street sign was carried for 22 miles. (Intellicast)
...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 the Ohio Valley. Winds reached 60 mph at Toledo, OH, and the temperature plunged from 28 degrees above to 15 degrees below zero during passage of the cold front. (David Ludlum)
...1942...Rhode Island's record low temperature of 23 degrees below zero was set at Kingston. (Intellicast)
...1951...An F2 tornado struck Los Gatos and Sunnyvale, CA, causing $1.5 million in damage. Another F2 tornado moved through San Jose, CA with $50,000 in damage. (Intellicast)
...1972...Downslope winds hit the eastern slopes of the Rockies in northern Colorado and southeastern Wyoming. Boulder, CO reported wind gusts to 143 mph and twenty-five million dollars property damage. (David Ludlum)
...1980...Warm Chinook winds developed along the east slopes of the Rocky Mountains causing the temperature at Great Falls, MT to rise from 32 degrees below zero to 15 degrees above zero in just 7 minutes. (Intellicast)
...1982...A frigid high was centered over Oklahoma and Texas. The zero degree line was all the way to central Alabama and Georgia. Atlanta, GA recorded 5 degrees below zero and Birmingham, AL shivered at 2 degrees below zero. The freezing line was all the way into central Florida. Pensacola was 8 degrees and Orlando recorded 32 degrees. Thirty-four stations recorded new record lows. As the nation shivered in record cold, Buffalo, NY was buried under 28 inches of snow from snow squalls -- 25.3 inches in 24 hours set new 24-hour record. (Intellicast)
...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. (National Weather Summary) (Storm Data)
...1988...Snow and high winds in Utah resulted in a fifty-car pile-up along Interstate 15. Winds in Wyoming gusted to 115 mph at Rendezvous Peak. (National Weather Summary) (Storm Data)
...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. (National Weather Summary) (Storm Data)
...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 72 mph at Fort Dodge, IA, and wind gusts reached 75 mph at Yankton, SD. Snow and high winds created blizzard conditions in northwestern Minnesota. Squalls produced heavy snow in parts of Upper Michigan and northern Lower Michigan, with 16 inches reported at Wakefield. (National Weather Summary) (Storm Data)

12 January

...1888...A sharp cold front swept southward from the Dakotas to Texas in just 24 hours spawning a severe blizzard over the Great Plains. More than 200 pioneers perished in the storm. Subzero temperatures and mountainous snowdrifts killed tens of thousands of cattle. (David Ludlum) [Editor's note: This blizzard is the subject of a recent book by David Laskin entitled "The Children's Blizzard", so named since many of the deaths included school children on their way home from school. EJH]
...1912...The morning low temperature of 47 degrees below zero at Washta, IA established a state record for the Hawkeye State. (The Weather Channel) (This record was tied in February 1996 at Elkader).
...1981...The temperature fell to 35 degrees below zero at Chester, MA, setting an all-time record low temperature for the Bay State. (NCDC)
...1982...Freezing temperatures penetrated into south Florida. Vegetables were destroyed as far south as Homestead, where the temperature fell to 29 degrees, and citrus was damaged at Orlando, where the mercury fell to 23 degrees. A low-pressure area on the Gulf spread snow and freezing rain over the central and southern Gulf States. Amounts were generally 5 inches from northern Louisiana into northern Florida. Snow and freezing rain paralyzed Atlanta, GA. (Intellicast)
...1985...A record "snowstorm of the century" struck portions of western and south central Texas. The palm trees of San Antonio were blanketed with up to thirteen and a half inches of snow, more snow than was ever previously received in an entire winter season. Del Rio measured 5.5 inches, which was also their most snow ever in 24 hours as well as for any season.(Weather Channel) (Storm Data) (Intellicast)
...1987...Twenty-seven cities in the Upper Midwest reported new record high temperatures for the date. Afternoon highs of 72 degrees at Valentine, NE and 76 degrees at Rapid City, SD set records for the month of January. (National Weather Summary)
...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, and wind chill readings in North Dakota reached 60 degrees below zero. (National Weather Summary) (Storm Data)
...1989...A dozen cities in the southeastern U.S. reported record high temperatures for the date as readings warmed into the 70s and 80s. Fort Myers, FL reported a record high of 86 degrees. (National Weather Summary)
...1990...Gale force winds produce squalls with heavy snow in the Great Lakes Region. Totals in northwest Pennsylvania ranged up to eleven inches at Conneautville and Meadville. Barnes Corners, in western New York State, was buried under 27 inches of snow in two days. (National Weather Summary) (Storm Data)
...1996...The fourth and final in a series of snowstorms to strike the East Coast in only ten days dumped 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 Washington, DC- Baltimore, MD area. The 10.8 inches at Harrisburg, PA raised its 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 (50 inches), Danville, PA (49 inches), Jaffrey, NH (46 inches), and West Granville, MA (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. (Intellicast)

13 January

...1862...The "Noachian flood of California" created a vast sea in the Sacramento Valley. San Francisco had a January rainfall total of 24.36 inches. (Intellicast)
...1886...A great blizzard struck the state of Kansas without warning. The storm claimed 50 to 100 lives, and eighty percent of the cattle in the state. (David Ludlum)
...1888...The mercury plunged to 65 degrees below zero at Fort Keogh, located near Miles City, MT. The reading stood as the all-time lowest temperature record for the continental U.S. for sixty-six years. (David Ludlum)
...1912...The temperature at Oakland, MD plunged to 40 degrees below zero to establish a state record. (Sandra and TI Richard Sanders - 1987)
...1913...The temperature rose 64 degrees in 14 hours at Rapid City, SD. (Intellicast)
...1950...The coldest and snowiest month on record (57.2 inches) at Seattle, WA was highlighted by a major snowstorm on this date. Twenty inches of snow fell at the Seattle-Tacoma airport. (Intellicast)
...1964...A large, slow moving snowstorm hit the mid-Atlantic and New England states. Williamsport, PA was buried under 24 inches of snow. Scranton, PA checked in with 19 inches and Nantucket, MA recorded 19 inches. (Intellicast)
...1987...Dry and mild weather prevailed across the country. Nineteen cities in the Upper Midwest reported record high temperatures for the date, including Grand Island, NE with a reading of 67 degrees. (National Weather Summary)
...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 degrees below zero, and Greenville, ME reported a wind chill of 63 degrees below zero. 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. (National Weather Summary)
...1989...Friday the 13^th 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. (National Weather Summary) (Storm Data)
...1990...A winter storm in the southwestern U.S. produced more than a twelve inches 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. (National Weather Summary) (Storm Data)