This Date in Weather History Update
This Date in Weather History podcast update from AccuWeather. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Jun 17, 2022•1 min
This Date in Weather History
In this daily podcast, you’ll learn something new each day. AccuWeather Meteorologist, Evan Myers takes a look back on weather events that impacted this date in the past, uncovering history that were shaped by unbelievable weather conditions.
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Episodes
2014: Hail storm causes $400 million in damage in Abilene, TX
On June 12, 2014 a hail storm that hit Abilene produced more than $400 million in insured losses to vehicles, homes and commercial property. "This is the worst storm damage I've seen in my 41 years in the insurance business," Leroy Perkins of the Perkins Insurance Agency in Abilene, told the largest state insurance trade association in the United States. the storm, packing baseball-sized hail, moved directly south across Abilene pounding the city's north side and downtown area. Commercial buildi...
Jun 12, 2022•1 min
2008: F3 tornado strikes Scout camp near Little Sioux, IA
June 11, 2008 marks the tragic loss of 4 teenagers at a Boy Scout camp near Little Sioux, Iowa; 48 more were injured. The tragedy struck at the 1,800-acre camp about an hour north of downtown Omaha. An EF3 tornado, with 145 mph winds, descended on the remote camp, striking and leveling a cabin where campers had sought shelter as warnings of the storm circulated through the camp. A chimney at the cabin collapsed, sending heavy concrete blocks onto the Scouts. This was the worst of the storms that...
Jun 11, 2022•2 min
1752: Benjamin Franklin famously flies kite in thunderstorm
Benjamin Franklin, inventor of bifocal glasses, the Franklin stove, one of those that wrote the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution, ambassador, Governor of Pennsylvania, on June 10 1752 in Philadelphia, flew a kite during a thunderstorm and collected an ambient electrical charge in a Leyden jar, enabling him to demonstrate the connection between lightning and electricity. According to the Franklin Institute, Franklin had been waiting for an opportunity like this. He wanted to demon...
Jun 10, 2022•3 min
1984: Violent tornado outbreak in Russia
The tornado outbreak of 9 June 1984 is among the most important tornado events in Russia’s history because it was associated with substantial loss of life with 400 deaths, and contained one of two F4 tornadoes ever recorded for in that country. Very little information is available on a violent tornado outbreak that swept through areas north of Moscow in the summer of 1984. The Soviet Union had not yet disbanded and few details were leaked to the international media. The outbreak was the result o...
Jun 09, 2022•2 min
The 1953 Flint–Worcester tornado outbreak
The 1953 Flint–Worcester tornado outbreak was a devastating tornado outbreak sequence spanning three days, two that featured tornadoes each causing at least 90 deaths—an F5 occurring in Flint, Michigan on June 8, 1953, and an F4 in Worcester, Massachusetts the next day. The Worcester storm stayed on the ground for nearly 90 minutes, traveling 48 miles across Central Massachusetts. In total, 94 people were killed, making it the 21st deadliest tornado in the history of the US. In addition to the f...
Jun 08, 2022•2 min
1984: F5 tornado destroys 90% of Barneveld, WI
On June 7 1984, nine people died and 200 were injured when a tornado slammed into the Iowa County, Wisconsin community of Barneveld. The F5 twister destroyed 90% of the town of 580 residents. What made Barneveld’s tornado rare is it hit overnight. A majority of tornadoes occur between 3 and 9 p.m., and violent tornadoes almost never happen late at night. Many tornadoes show a telltale “hook” shape on radar, but Barneveld’s tornado did not. Meteorologists could see fast-moving storms on radar hea...
Jun 07, 2022•2 min
1944: How weather forecasting impacted D-Day
The story of how weather forecasting impacted the Allies invasion of Normandy on D-Day in 1944. https://www.accuweather.com/en/weather-news/d-day-anniversary-how-the-weather-forecast-changed-the-tide-of-war/359733 Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Jun 06, 2022•5 min
1925: Temperature reaches 100 degrees in Washington DC
Rainfall totals in the northeastern United States from January through the end of May 1925 had only reached half the normal total in most cities. This meant, at least for the first 5 months of the year the climate was more like patched central Texas than the lush and green landscape of the eastern seaboard. Heating of the lower atmosphere takes place when the ground is heated and transfers that heat to the air closest to the ground. When the ground is moist some of the sun’s energy goes into eva...
Jun 05, 2022•2 min
1976: Strong tropical cyclone and 40' storm surge hits India
On June 4, 1976 a strong Tropical Cyclone, known in the US as a Hurricane, hit the port cities just north of Mumba on the west coast of India. In the decades prior to the storm, massive Tropical Cyclones has battered both the west and east coasts of India with huge waves and heavy rains resulting in massive flooding and tremendous loss of life. Along the Indian east coast, especially in the northern part of the Bay of Bengal, the area is flat, almost at sea level for hundreds of square miles and...
Jun 04, 2022•2 min
1921: Cloudburst causes 10' of flooding in Pueblo, CO
What started out as just another day in June in Colorado in 1921, rapidly turned into one that would never be forgotten in the town of Pueblo, Colorado. A cloudburst enveloped the town the afternoon of June 3, 1921. During a typical cloudburst, over half an inch of rain may fall in a matter of minutes, and that is exactly what happened in Pueblo, creating devastating consequences for the heart of the town where the Arkansas River and Fountain Creek meet. At about the same time the rains were dre...
Jun 03, 2022•2 min
1889: Flooding of the Potomac River
On June 2, 1889, the same heavy rains caused that had helped cause massive flooding in Johnstown, Pennsylvania, overwhelmed the South Fork Dam several days before, hit the Washington, DC, area. Most of the roads in DC at the time where unpaved and unlike some other major cities of the time not even covered in cobblestones, their surface consisted mainly of dirt. As a result, when the Potomac River flooded and areas around Pennsylvania Avenue and the White House the whole region was under several...
Jun 02, 2022•1 min
1965: Tropical system causes 30k fatalities in Bangladesh
The World Health Organization reports that nation of Bangladesh is especially vulnerable to tropical cyclones, known as hurricanes near the United States, because of its location at the triangular shaped head of the Bay of Bengal, the sea-level geography of its coastal area, its high population density and the lack of coastal protection systems. During the pre-monsoon season in April and May or post-monsoon season in October and November, cyclones frequently hit the coastal regions of Bangladesh...
Jun 01, 2022•2 min
1889: The Johnstown Flood
Johnstown, Pennsylvania, lies hard against the Conemaugh River in its deep valley in the western part of the state. Founded in 1770, it grew quickly as the Civil War approached, fortunes were made in iron, coal and steel. By 1860, the Cambria Iron Company of Johnstown was the leading steel producer in the United States, outproducing steel giants in Pittsburgh and Cleveland. After the war it became the center of America’s growing industrial might and the site of many struggles by workers for reco...
May 31, 2022•4 min
1879: The Real-life inspiration for "The Wizard of Oz"
On May 30, 1879 the town of Irving, Kansas in the northeastern part of the state was a growing farm community with several hundred residents. Today, though Irving is a ghost town. On May 30, 1879, two tornados destroyed most of the town, leaving 19 dead and many more injured. Some residents left Irving, but the town was rebuilt, and new businesses arrived, allowing Irving to regain its prominence as a local agricultural center. During the summer of 1903, the Big Blue River flooded and destroyed ...
May 30, 2022•2 min
1914: Empress of Ireland and Storstad ships collide
From 1900 until 1914 almost 100,000 passengers in ocean liners, crossed the Atlantic to Canada, mainly from Great Britain. The main port of entry and embarkation to and from Canada was Quebec City, on the St Lawrence River. Many of the ocean-going passenger ship were huge, not quite rivaling the Titanic, but able to transport almost 1,500 passengers back and forth across the Atlantic. On the morning of May 29, 1914, a thick river fog formed quickly on the surface of the St Lawrence and extending...
May 29, 2022•3 min
1880: 1' of rain falls in less than 2 hours in Brackettville, TX
Brackettville, the county seat of Kinney County in Texas, is on U.S. Highway 90 twenty-two miles northeast of the Rio Grande and 125 miles west of San Antonio. It is named after Oscar Brackett, who established the first general dry goods store near the site of Forth Clark in 1852. Brackett, as it was called originally, was established on the San Antonio-El Paso Road, and by 1857 its Sargent Hotel and small restaurant were a regular stop for the San Antonio-San Diego stage line. The Texas State H...
May 28, 2022•2 min
1896: The third most deadly tornado in U.S. history strikes St. Louis
In 1896 St. Louis was listed as the 5th largest city in the United States, trailing only New York, Chicago, Philadelphia and what was then the separate city of Brooklyn. More than half a million people lived there on the banks of the Mississippi River. The morning of May 27, 1896 dawned calm and steamy and belied what was coming that afternoon. One of the greatest natural disasters to strike one of the largest US cities was awaiting residents in the afternoon. In what remains the third most dead...
May 27, 2022•3 min
2008: "Pneumonia Front" causes big temperature drops in Chicago
The term Pneumonia front, first coined by Milwaukee Weather Bureau Office in the 1960s, is used to describe a rare meteorological phenomenon observed on the western Lake Michigan shoreline during the warm season. These fronts are defined as lake-modified small scale cold fronts that result in one-hour temperature drops of 16 °F or greater. They do not necessarily have to be large scale, cold fronts to bring weather changes to an entire region. Very often in the spring to early summer the tempera...
May 26, 2022•2 min
1987: A fisherman is struck and killed by lightning
The number of people killed by lightning in recent years is a far cry from annual lightning deaths decades ago. In the 1940s, for instance, hundreds of people were killed each year by lightning. In 1943 alone, 432 people died. The sharp drop in lightning deaths over the past 75 years " coincides with a shift in population from rural to urban regions," wrote meteorologist Ronald Holle in an article in the Journal of Applied Meteorology . In the 1940s, "there were many, many more small farmers who...
May 25, 2022•2 min
1986: Severe and destructive storm strikes Texas
Another Spring Day and another round of wild weather in the state of Texas. Severe weather is most prevalent in Texas in the Spring and May 24, 1986 was no different, severe thunderstorms blasted the area. Damage was heaviest from just north of Downtown Fort Worth and across the east side of town to southwest of Arlington where a roof collapsed over portions of a bowling alley injuring seven people. Windows were blown in with roof damage at motel across the street. Hail as large as golf balls bl...
May 24, 2022•1 min
1908: Record flooding impacts north and central Texas
By May 23, 1908 4-8" of rain fallen across much of northern and central Texas in the preceding days on already saturated land especially on the upper Trinity and Brazos River Basins. The rise in the rivers continued for several days toward the end of the month. Large crowds of onlookers gathered on bridges all over Texas the view the unusual site of rising rivers. Most times the rivers were almost dry trickles or brief raging white water torrents spurred on by brief cloudbursts from thunderstorm...
May 23, 2022•1 min
1933: 600-yd wide tornado destroys town of Liberal, KS
The Dust Bowl was one of the greatest natural disasters to ever befall the United States, it devastated the Great Plains states in the 1930s. It is considered the worst drought to impact North America in 1,000 years. Unsustainable farming practices worsened the drought’s effect, killing the tall grasses that kept the soil in place. When winds blew, they raised enormous clouds of dust. It deposited mounds of dirt on everything, even covering houses. Dust suffocated livestock and caused pneumonia ...
May 22, 2022•3 min
The May 1957 Tornado Outbreak
The May 1957 tornado outbreak took place across the US Central Plains from May 19 to May 21, 1957. An F5 tornado, the strongest on the tornado intensity scale, on May 21 was the most significant in the outbreak and is known as the the Ruskin Heights Tornado where the area where the worst of the damage occurred, a suburb and housing development south of Kansas City. 57 tornadoes were reported from Colorado to the Mississippi Valley and 59 people were killed during the outbreak. But in the Kansas ...
May 21, 2022•2 min
1918: Tornadoes strike Kansas town for 3 consecutive years
This Date in Weather History - May 20th Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
May 20, 2022•2 min
2007: Temperature reaches 115°F in Sibi, Pakistan
Extreme heat can be rather uncomfortable. But what actually happens to the human body as the mercury rises? On humid days, when the air is already saturated with water, sweat evaporates more slowly. This explains why it feels so much hotter in high humidity. When relative humidity reaches a high enough level, the body's natural cooling system simply can't work. Sweat evaporates very slowly, if at all, and the body heats up. According to the Mayo Clinic, the most serious level of this breakdown i...
May 19, 2022•3 min
1894: Severe storms and wind sinks 9 ships on Lake Michigan
Ever since people have traveled the Great Lakes, storms have sunk ships and taken lives. In fact, the very first recorded sailing vessel on the upper lakes, was lost in 1679. Since that time, massive and historical storms have swept the lakes, most numerous in the month of November. With the coming of modern technology and stronger vessels, fewer such losses have occurred. The large surface of the lakes allows waves to build to giant heights out in the open. Strong winds can cause storm surges t...
May 18, 2022•2 min
1814: Logs in swollen Maine rivers cause destruction
The state of Maine is known for many things, including my favorite, Maine lobsters. But one of the longest running industries in North America, dating back until the early 1600s is logging. The British Royal Navy quickly claimed the best stands of light and strong Eastern White Pine for the masts, spars, and planking for their fast and maneuverable ships. England's competitors, the French, the Dutch, and the Spanish, were left to build from the heavier Baltic Fir. It was Revolutionary War debt w...
May 17, 2022•2 min
1874: The Mill River Flood
In 1865, a group of mill owners from the Northampton area of Massachusetts constructed a dam on the Mill River north of the town of Williamsburg, it was constructed by using a design drawn by one of the owners, a man with no training in engineering. The dam was poorly constructed and leaked as soon as it was filled, still it was in place for 9 years. But on May 16, 1874 after several days of heavy rain, the dam completely failed. Almost all off of the water held behind the earthen dam burst out ...
May 16, 2022•2 min
1968: Five tornadoes strike Iowa
During the late afternoon and early evening of May 15, 1968, five tornadoes, two F1s, one F2, and two F5s occurred in Iowa. These tornadoes were part of the May 15-16, 1968 outbreak with a total of 39 tornadoes which affected ten states; Arkansas, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Minnesota, Mississippi, Missouri, Ohio, and Tennessee. The tornadoes in Iowa caused 18 fatalities and 619 injuries of which 450 occurred in Charles City alone. The huge tornado, approximately a half mile wide passed dir...
May 15, 2022•2 min
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