Historical Weather Events

HISTORICAL WEATHER EVENTS - 13 January

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

...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)
...1979...With nine inches of snow already on the ground from a New Year's Eve snowfall, a major blizzard slammed Chicago, IL with one and a half feet of snow and 30-mph winds. Several smaller snows then followed over subsequent weeks. Streets were barely plowed, garbage was not collected, and mass transit was overwhelmed. It is said that the mayor's poor handling of the snow led to his ousting in a primary election in February. (National Weather Service files)
...1982...Air Florida Flight 90 crashed shortly after take-off from National Airport in Washington, DC. Due to snow and ice build-up from a blizzard, the plane stalled and hit a bridge before splashing into the Potomac River. 78 people were killed, including four in cars crushed on the bridge; five passengers on the plane survived. (National Weather Service files)
...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 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)