This Date in Weather History

Natchez, Mississippi was a bustling and booming river town hard against the Mississippi River in 1840, it was 20 years after Mississippi joined the union and 20 years before the Civil War. But on May 7, 1840 the second deadliest tornado in U S history struck the city. A large and powerful tornado went right through the center of town, flattening most of the buildings. But even worse was the damage on the Mississippi River, which was filled with boats, including 120 flatboats and steamboats carrying people and goods along the main transport system in the part of the nation – the Mississippi River. The powerful tornado wrecked many boats at the Natchez Landing in Mississippi as well and then plowed through the city. The tornado killed 317 people and injured 109 others. The only storm on record this destructive to kill more than it injured. Many bodies were never found. The storm is still as of May 7, 2021, the second deadliest tornado on record. The actual death toll could be higher as enslaved persons were not counted. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The airship Hindenburg, the largest dirigible ever built and the pride of Nazi Germany, bursts into flames upon touching its mooring mast in Lakehurst, New Jersey, killing 36 passengers and crewmembers on May 6, 1937. After opening its 1937 season by completing a single round-trip passage to, Brazil, in late March, the Hindenburg departed from, Germany, on the evening of May 3, on the first of 10 planned round trips between Europe and the United States that were scheduled for its second year of commercial service. Except for strong headwinds that slowed its progress, the Atlantic crossing of the Hindenburg was otherwise uneventful. Although carrying only half its full capacity of passengers and crew for the flight, the Hindenburg was fully booked for its return flight. The airship was hours behind schedule when it passed over Boston on the morning of May 6, and its landing at Lakehurst was expected to be further delayed because of afternoon thunderstorms. Advised of the poor weather conditions at Lakehurst, the Captain charted a course over New York City, causing a public spectacle as people rushed out into the street to catch sight of the airship. After finally being notified at 6:22 p.m. that the storms had passed, the airship headed back to Lakehurst to make its landing almost half a day late. At the time of the disaster, sabotage was commonly put forward as the cause of the fire, but in order to make up for the delay of more than 12 hours in its transatlantic flight, the Hindenburg passed through thunderstorms with high humidity and high electrical charge. Although the mooring lines were not wet when they first hit the ground and ignition took place four minutes after, it was theorized that the lines may have become wet in these four minutes. When the ropes, which were connected to the frame, became wet, they would have grounded the frame but not the skin. This would have caused a sudden potential difference between skin and frame and would have set off an electrical discharge – a spark. Seeking the quickest way to ground, the spark would have jumped from the skin onto the metal framework, igniting the leaking hydrogen, causing the explosion. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The office of the Town Clerk is the repository for the maintenance and safekeeping of records for the Town of Ashford, Conn. The Town reports that housed in the fire-proof vault in the office of the Town Clerk are all land records, Town Meeting minutes, Town Ordinances, birth/marriage/civil union/death records, land surveys, election records, trade names, liquor permits, contracts, town reports, veterans discharge filings, Town board/commission/agency agendas and minutes, listings of Notaries Public, Justices of the Peace, election records, and other historical documents. Just about everything and anything you can think of. In addition to maintaining records, the Town Clerk’s Office is the place to go for absentee ballots, copies of vital records, dog licenses, marriage licenses, voter registration forms. The Town of Ashford is not unique to New England, for centuries the Town Clerks at these hamlets great and small have dutifully recorded, not just those official papers I reported on, but other significant events. They have told the story of America, it so happens that on May 5, 1761, Ebenser Byles, Town Clerk of Ashford reported that 5" of snow fell and that it was, and I quote from his official record "A very stormy day of snow, an awful sight, the trees green and the ground white. The trees in a blow and the fields covered with snow" Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The neighborhood of Germantown in Philadelphia sits at a higher elevation than most of the rest of the city. From 250-300 feet above sea level the temperature can average a degree or two colder than the city below. During weather situations that are borderline between rain and snow, often times much of the City of Philadelphia will have a slushy mixture of rain and snow, while only wet snow falls in Germantown and its adjacent elevated neighborhood of Chestnut Hill; sometimes depositing a couple inches of snow. On May 4, 1774 Germantown was a not part of the City of Philadelphia yet, it was a prosperous town of hundreds living in long established stone houses. Germantown was founded in 1683 and awaited its fate as the location of one of the most important battles of the Revolutionary War in 1777. But on May 4, 1774 as a strong storm surged up the Atlantic seaboard, temperatures held just near freezing, and while rain fell in the City of Philadelphia below 4” of heavy wet snow blanketed Germantown in one of the latest snowfalls on record in the region, before or since. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Most of New Orleans, Louisiana is below the flowing water level of the Mississippi River, that also means that the city is below sea level and so both the Gulf of Mexico and Lake Pontchartrain surfaces are also above the ground level of the city. Because of that, the city does not have a natural drainage for rainwater, so pumps are required to remove rainwater from the region. On May 3, 1979 the pumping drainage system had been in operation since 1900. That system was designed to handle one inch of rain per hour for the first three hours, and one-half inch per hour thereafter. Any rainfall in excess of this limit resulted in drainage slowdown and flooding, often times during extensive thunderstorm cloudbursts or tropical systems and Hurricanes the capacity to pump out the water simply was not effective. May 3, 1978 was proclaimed 'Sun Day.' All across the United States, celebrations were planned to pay tribute to the power and potential of solar energy. No celebration occurred in New Orleans, the sun was not visible all day, in fact heavy rains fell most of the day. Almost 11” of rain fell, more and 8” of that from 8am until noon. It was more than the drainage system could handle, actually more than twice its capacity. There was severe property damage, as much of the city sat in more than 5 feet of water as a result of the heavy rains and the failure of the pumping system. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Twelve people were hospitalized Saturday May 2, 2009 after the roof of the Dallas Cowboys' indoor practice facility in Frisco, Texas collapsed during a thunderstorm. The giant blue star atop the building lay crumpled on the ground. The storm knocked out power at team headquarters and splintered trees across the property. The roof was a large air- and tension-supported canopy with aluminum frames covering a regulation 100-yard football field. Approximately 70 players, coaches, staff and media were reported inside. Some of the injuries were serious, but none were considered life-threatening. Based on the national standards for determining loads and for designing structural steel buildings, the Commerce Department's National Institute of Standards and Technology researchers studying the Cowboys facility found that the May 2 wind load demands on the building's framework—a series of identical, rib-like steel frames supporting a tensioned fabric covering—were greater than the capacity of the frame to resist those loads. The researchers determined that, at the time of collapse, the wind was blowing predominantly from west to east, perpendicular to the long side of the building. Maximum wind speed gusts at the time of collapse were estimated to be in the range of 55 to 65 miles per hour—well below the design wind speed of 90 miles per hour in the national standard for wind loads. The NIST report recommended building owners, operators and designers inspect all fabric-covered, steel-frame structures, evaluating them to ensure they are designed to handle appropriate wind loads. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The winter of 1853-1854 had been a particularly snowy one across the mountains of Vermont and New Hampshire. Not record breaking, but it was a cold winter and the snows that fell during the winter months didn’t melt much. The cold lingered into April and so did the snow on the ground. The weather pattern broke as the month ended, winds in the high atmosphere turned from the northwest to out of the south and ushered in warm air that had been building across the Gulf states in the early spring. At the same time copious volumes of moisture were carried along in the current of air from the Gulf of Mexico and the result was an unceasing rain that developed all across New England. Along with a soaking rain and soaring temperatures cloudbursts imbedded in thunderstorms brought hour after hour of rain. By the time the rain ended on May 1, 1854 it had been raining for 90 consecutive hours. Rainfall totaled more than 5” in Worchester, Mass and more than 7 ½ inches in Southwick, Mass, a general 3-5” rainfall fell from Philadelphia all the way to Maine. The rain coupled with the warm snow melting temperatures produced record flooding all across New England. The greatest crest on the Connecticut River was at Hartford where the river reached almost 29’ above flood stage. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The Huang He (Wang He) or Yellow River is one of the longest rivers in China, at 3,398 miles, it loops northward from the mountains in western China, then flows east, each year bringing 1.6 billion tons of fine-grained silt from the mountains to the huge flat basin of the north China plains. That rich laden dirt and silt makes the region one of the most fertile in the world, it is China’s breadbasket. The silt nourishes and replenishes the land. The Yellow River gets its name from its rich, fine-ground, golden mud. Unfortunately for the farmers, the only way the river can spread its fertilization is by flooding the fields; and the Yellow River has flooded a recorded 1,593 times in the last four thousand years, with catastrophic effects. The worst flooding occurred in 1887. For decades leading up to 1887 dikes and embankments had been built along the river to control its flooding and provide irrigation for crops. In some places, because of those levees, the river was flowing more than 20 feet higher than the surrounding countryside – a breech in the system was all that was needed for disaster. An usually snowy winter and a wet mild spring led to massive snowmelt in the mountains and heavy rains contributed more water. On April 30, 1887 the first of several massive floods erupted as the river could no longer be contained. Flooding continued off and on all summer. The flooding led to the greatest weather disaster in human history. More than 900,000 perished in the initial rounds of flooding close to the river with another estimated 1.3 million drowned from flooding away from the river as the floodwaters spread out all across northern China. A further estimated three to four million died from flood-related, waterborne diseases, with a thick deposit of muddy silt 8 ft deep, the most fertile fields in China were a desert which had to be cleared by bare hands and wheelbarrows. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

On April 22, 1991 an area of tropical thunderstorms began to organize in the Bay of Bengal it would grow to become one of the deadliest tropical cyclones ever recorded. The storm hit, one of the most populated areas in Bangladesh. An estimated 200,000 people were killed by the storm, as many as 10 million people lost their homes, and overall property damage was in the billions of dollars. Once the weather system organized it began moving north. By April 24 the storm was designated Tropical Storm 02B, and by April 28 it was a tropical cyclone, or as they are known in the western hemisphere, a hurricane. One day later on April 29 the storm hit, with winds of up to 150 miles per hour. The damage was immediate, as a storm surge as high as 15 feet engulfed the flat, coastal plans of southeastern Bangladesh. The surge washed away entire villages and swamped farms, destroying crops and spreading fears of widespread hunger as well as economic woes. As a result of a storm in 1970, a few storm shelters had been built, but they were not enough. Though in 1991 some were saved by the shelters, many people had doubted warnings of the storm. Since the 1991 storm, the Bangladesh government has built thousands of elevated shelters in coastal areas. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

1992: A hailstone begins as a water droplet that is swept up by an updraft inside of a thundercloud. Inside the cloud, there are a large number of other supercooled water droplets already present. These supercooled particles will adhere to the water droplet’s surface, forming layers of ice around it. The size the hailstone reaches depends on the amount of time it spends surrounded by supercooled water droplets, but eventually gravity causes the stone to fall to the Earth. As gravity takes over, they will fall to Earth at approximately 106 miles per hour. The exact velocity each stone falls at will vary depending on several conditions, such as weight, air friction and collisions with other suspended objects. The evening of April 28, 1992, brought with it one of the most devastating hailstorms of all time, pummeling two areas approximately 100 miles apart. For nearly five hours, residents between Waco to Fort Worth braced as hailstones the size of grapefruits 4.5 in. diameter smashed windows and decimated roofs. The worst damage was reported across Ellis, Dallas, and Tarrant counties. More than 600 pets and wild animals were killed. Damage was estimated at $750Million or almost $1.5Billion in 2020 dollars. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Santa Ana Winds occur when air from an area of high pressure over the dry, desert region of the southwestern U.S. flows westward in its clockwise circulation toward the California coast. This creates dry winds that flow east to west through the mountain passages in Southern California. These winds are most common during the cooler months of the year, occurring from September through May. Santa Ana winds typically feel warm or even hot because as the cool desert air moves down the side of the mountain, it is compressed, and that causes the temperature of the air to rise at the rate of more than 5 degrees for every thousand feet in descends. These strong winds can cause major property damage. They also increase wildfire risk because of the dryness of the winds and the speed at which they can spread flames across the landscape. The winds can produce uncommon heat. On April 27, 2004 a strong Santa Ana developed causing temperatures to soar all across Southern California smashing records by more than 10 degrees in some places. Ontario, California, near Los Angles reached 100 degrees breaking the old record of 90, Riverside reached 101, the mercury at the beaches reached closed to 90. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The Chernobyl, Russia nuclear disaster was the worst nuclear disaster in history and occurred at the Chernobyl Nuclear Reactor Plant. A catastrophic eruption ripped through the power plant on April 26, 1986, spewing radioactive particles into the sky. The deadly blast was caused by the explosion of the RBMK reactor number 4, a result of human error and fualty equipment. More than 50,000 people from the nearby town of Pripyat were evacuated following the blast. But plumes of deadly radioactive matter were sent high into the atmosphere as the uranium core lay exposed in the days that followed. The particles were swept across Europe by winds. Officials in Sweden, almost 700 miles away were alerted of radiation levels within their atmosphere within 48 hours of the explosion. Soviet authorities initially denied the claims anything happened but were forced to reveal the mistake as the scale of the accident unfolded. The initial impacted areas were Ukraine, Belarus and western Russia, with some areas contaminated indefinitely and to this day are still wastelands. The World Nuclear Association said: “Most of the released material was deposited close by as dust and debris, but the lighter material was carried by the wind over Ukraine, Belarus, Russia, and to some extent over Scandinavia and Europe. ”The weather was a big factor as rains and snow were responsible for bringing radiation down to the ground, where it would penetrate into the Earth. The World Health Organization says an estimated 7,722 square miles of land in Europe was affected by radiation. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Most lightning strikes occur from cloud to cloud – but about 20% go from clouds to the ground. Lightening striking the ground has caused problems with pipes and water supplies.. Some people have also experienced cloudy or discolored water after a lightning storm. Due to the strike, the vibration into the earth can shake a ground water well causing any built-up minerals to fall into the water supply. When lightning strikes near a home or other structure, sending electricity shooting through the ground, the electricity, which prefers to flow through metal rather than dirt, seeks out any buried copper pipes or the home's grounding rod. Building codes require the metal grounding rod to be connected to a home's wiring and pipes. Electricity moves through the pipes until it hits a dead end, such as when the copper pipe meets a plastic service line or some other nonmetallic fitting. Lightening has also coursed through the ground and impacted tree roots and pipes close to those roots. On April 25, 1982 in Lexington, Alabama lightning struck a tree, then reached through its roots to a PVC pipe holding drinking water. Almost 50% of the town’s water supply was lost before the pipe could be repaired. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

A large tornado slammed into a section of I-44 east of Tulsa during the early evening hours of April 24, 1993. The Washington Post reported that the storm blew cars and trucks off the interstate highway and damaged dozens of homes that evening, killing at least 10 people, injuring at least 50 and leaving hundreds homeless. "This was not a storm that stayed down and then went back up. It stayed down for several minutes and totaled the area," said Jerry Griffin, an inspector for the Tulsa County Sheriff's Department. That area was about a mile wide and two miles long, he said. At least 80 mobile homes were demolished at a trailer park in a Tulsa suburb. Two major truck stops on Interstate 44 were scattered piles of rubble. Sheets of metal were wrapped around whatever poles were left standing. Families who escaped from their vehicles at one truck stop walked around dazed, clinging to pillows, blankets and other possessions. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

April 23, 2013 was more than a month deep into the Spring, but Old Man winter wasn’t quite done with depositing a new round of cold weather into the Great Plains. The weather during the middle of April in the mid-section of America had been mild, field work had already gotten underway. But far to the north across the arctic lands of Canada cold weather had been building for more than week. At the start of the third week of April it was unleashed southward, bringing a cold wave more typical of mid-winter. On April 23, 2013 all across Montana, Wyoming and North Dakota the mercury plunged into the single digits. Reaching down to 1 above at Big Sky Montana, 8 at Huron SD and 9 in Lander Wyoming. In Wichita, Kansas 0.2” of snow fell. This marked the latest measurable snowfall on record. The old record for the latest measurable snow was set 95 years earlier on April 20, 1918. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

1980 brought the United States one of the worst heat waves in its history. The intense heat and drought wreaked havoc on much of the Midwestern states and Southern plains throughout the summer of 1980. It is among the most devastating natural disasters in terms of deaths and destruction in U.S. history, claiming at least 1,700 lives and because of the massive drought, agricultural damage reached $20 billion or almost $65 billion in 2021 dollars. It is among the billion-dollar weather disasters listed by the US government. The heat wave began in June when a strong high-pressure area began to build in the central and southern United States allowing temperatures to soar to 90 degrees almost every day from June to September. The high-pressure system also acted as a cap on the atmosphere, stopping the development of thunderstorms, leading to exceptionally severe drought conditions. The heat wave broke only when the decaying Hurricane Allen disrupted the weather pattern. In some areas the spring got a jump start on what was to come. On April 22, 1980. The mercury reached 100 degrees in Waterloo, Iowa the highest temperature ever recorded in the state of Iowa in the month of April. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Dust devils, are small, brief whirlwinds occurring most frequently in the early afternoon when a land surface is heating rapidly. Dust devils are occasionally made visible by the lofting of dust, leaves, or other loose matter from the ground. Dust devils form when a pocket of hot air near the ground rises quickly through cooler air above it, forming an updraft. If conditions are just right, the updraft may begin to rotate. As the air rapidly rises, the column of hot air is stretched vertically, which causes intensification of the spinning effect. Most dust devils are usually small and weak, often less than 3 feet in diameter with strongest winds averaging about 45 miles per hour, and they often dissipate less than a minute after forming. On rare occasions, a dust devil can grow very large and intense, sometimes reaching a diameter of up to 300 feet with winds in excess of 60 mph and can last for upwards of 20 minutes before dissipating. Dust devils typically do not cause injuries, but rare, severe dust devils have caused damage they typically occur in dry, arid areas with the most common being Arizona, New Mexico, Eastern California. But on April 21, 1963, the combination of prolonged dry weather along the eastern seaboard and strong southerly winds transporting hot weather from the southern United states resulted in a dust devil in Reading, Pennsylvania. The giant dust devil extended up to half a mile high, tore bricks from the side of a school, uprooted trees and downed power lines. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Strong temperature contrasts and violent weather outcomes in the springtime in the United States are generally unique in the world. Vast flatlands that start as in the great coastal areas of Texas and Louisiana gently roll northwest from there into the Great Plains on the central United States and extend up into Canada. Weather systems can traverse the region unencumbered by mountains or large bodies of water. In the spring cold air is still left over from the departing winter, lurking in northwest Canada in the Yukon. Meanwhile heat from the coming summer is building across Mexico and even Arizona, New Mexico and Texas. When strong winds in the high atmosphere pick up speed and start to bend in great wave patterns and the heat is drawn northward and cold southward in a great dance and battel between the competing seasons. The result of this clash often manifests itself in wild and extreme weather. On April 20, 1982 such a setup became established. In the warm sector violent thunderstorms erupted. At Richland in central Mississippi, strong thunderstorm winds blew over trailers. In Central Texas, baseball sized hail fell at Burnett and hail the size of grapefruits pounded Cedar Park. As much as 4" of rain fell over northern Louisiana and northeast Texas, and flooding occurred around Nacogdoches, TX. A tornado touched down at Lake Travis to the west of Austin, TX. Tornadoes were sighted around Lake Charles, LA near and near Moss Bluff. Meanwhile in the cold sector Northwestern Wisconsin was covered by more than a foot of snow. Weyerhaeuser, WI received 16”, with 15” at Barron. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In the early morning hours of April 19, 1775, Paul Revere was making a mad dash through Middlesex County just west of Boston. He was trying to avoid British patrols but was stopped by one briefly before making his getaway, the roads were soft and muddy from the heavy rains of the previous day and he was able to elude his captors. It was not last time the weather would play a part in that fateful day. Revere galloped from town to town, from farm to farm to warn that the British regulars were coming to seize the stores of powder and shot local militias had been hiding to defend themselves from British tyranny. Rouse them he did. As the author Rick Atkinson states in his book “The British Are Coming”, and I quote. “Across the colony, in an image that would endure for centuries, solemn men grabbed their firelocks and stalked off in search of danger” The British left Boston and rowed across the Harbor to Charlestown and started the march to Lexington. There in Lexington, they encountered a band of local militia and when the patriots assembled refused orders to disperse the British fired. The colonials were routed. The British then marched on to Concord, where thousands of militia from all over New England had gathered, warned by Revere and other riders. The British found themselves out gunned and outflanked. The first pitched battle of the revolution turned into the colonial victory. The British had planned to bring about their small cannon with them to teach the rebels a lesson. That ordnance would have come in handy that day. But the roads were still soft and muddy on April 19, 1775. Even though the sun was out, it was a chilly Spring day because the cold front that had brought that rain the day before. The canons got stuck in the mud on the road from Boston and had to be left behind. The battle perhaps turned on the muddy road and the rainy weather from the day before. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Revere’s task was to ride through the countryside and call out the country-folk to arms to resist British tyranny. As the poem said, Revere was across Boston Harbor in Charlestown to watch the steeple of the old north church in Boston to see if the British were going to march out of Boston on land or take boats across the harbor and through Charlestown. It would warn the local militia’s which route the British would take. If one lantern was hung, then they would march over land, but two would signal the water and across the harbor. Most of April 18, 1775 was cloudy and rainy in Boston, the visibility was not good. Revere was concerned that he wouldn’t be able to see “Old North” as it was known. But late in the evening a cold front moved across the region, and by the time of the signal, the weather cleared and the visibility was excellent. Revere saw the two lanterns clearly across on the opposite shore and rode into history. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Boston, Massachusetts averages just under 2” of snow for the month of April. Given is proximity to the Atlantic Ocean and the warming effects of the water, big snowstorms in April are uncommon – but not rare. On April 17, 1821 such an uncommon event occurred as a strong storm system slowly lumbered up the eastern seaboard. Cold air held sway over New England, the storm swung northward but was far enough out to sea to prevent the warming effects of a flow of air off the ocean. The big counter-clockwise swirl of winds around the system blew from the north northeast and off the land enforcing cold air from eastern Canada rather than an east flow off the warmer ocean. The result was a foot of snow and the snowstorm prevent the Legislature from opening for several days. The storm also brought 3” of snow in New York City and 16” to Worcester, Massachusetts. Interestingly the 12” of snow in Boston is not the most snow there from a single storm in April, that record belongs to April 1, 1997 when more than 25” blanketed Beantown. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

On April 16th, 1851, a strong nor'easter smashed into Cape Cod, and brought the highest waters ever seen in that area up to that the time, easily besting the high tides of 1723. The system went into the history books as "The Lighthouse Storm.” Heavy gales and high seas pounded the coasts of New Hampshire and Massachusetts. The storm arrived at the time of a full moon, and the high tide was already well above what would be termed normal for the coast. That evening, the newly-constructed Minot's Ledge Lighthouse was destroyed by this massive storm. The storm weakened the tower's iron support piles, causing them to collapse and topple into the ocean off the coast. The lighthouse keeper, had been away in Boston when the storm struck. Onlookers on April 17 could only see the bent iron pilings where the lighthouse once stood. The two assistant lighthouse keepers, bravely kept the lighthouse lamp burning as late as 10:00 PM on the night of April 16th to warn ships of the nearby rocks just before they were swept away in the storm’s massive waves. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The ship struck an iceberg at 11:40 p.m. Sunday, April 14. While the seas were relatively calm, that NW flow of air behind the front end actually steered a giant ice field towards the ship that night. The ship hit the iceberg that has been estimated as possibly weighing up to 300,000 tons, and the ship’s hull was torn open. It then took less than three hours from that point on for the Titanic to sink. The temperature of the water was estimated to be as low as 28 degrees – even lower than the conventional 32-degree freezing point as salt helped to lower its freezing point. Even though many people went into the water and survived the initial crash and sinking, the extremely cold-water temperature caused almost all in the water to suffer hypothermia and die quickly. Just hours before the wind has been west and the coldest water had not been pushed around the great ship. The water temperature may have been as high as 50 which would have allowed people to survive much longer in the water. At 2:20am on April 15, 1912 the Titanic slipped below the water. The unimaginable had happened, the unsinkable ship went to the deep. Faith in the promise of technology and science was shaken. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The National Weather Service reports that Hail is a form of precipitation consisting of solid ice that forms inside thunderstorm updrafts. Hail can damage aircraft, homes and cars, and can be deadly to livestock and people. Hailstones are formed when raindrops are carried upward by thunderstorm updrafts into extremely cold areas of the atmosphere and freeze. Hailstones then grow by colliding with liquid water drops that freeze onto the hailstone’s surface. Hail falls when it becomes heavy enough to overcome the strength of the thunderstorm updraft and is pulled toward the earth by gravity. Although Florida has the most thunderstorms, Nebraska, Colorado, and Wyoming usually have the most hailstorms. The area where these three states meet – “hail alley” – averages seven to nine hail days per year. Other parts of the world that have damaging hailstorms include China, Russia, India, Bangladesh and northern Italy. The largest hailstone recovered in the United States fell in Vivian, South Dakota, with a weight of 1 lb. 15 oz. But the world’s heaviest hailstone fell on April 14, 1986 in the Gopalganj district of Bangladesh. It likely fell to the ground at 90 mph and it weighed 2.25 lbs. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The New York Times reports that chatting on the telephone connected to a land-line during a thunderstorm can electrocute you, it is no urban legend. A bolt of lightning that strikes a telephone line can cause an electrical surge to shoot through the wires and enter a handset. The odds of this are relatively small, and most phone companies have protective measures in place. Still, the risk exists, and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration recommends that people avoid using telephones and other appliances during electrical storms. Cases of customers' being jolted while on the phone in a storm are well documented. In fact, on April 13, 1981 a person was killed while talking on the phone in Kincaid, IL when lightning struck an outside telephone line and traveled to the house via a phone line; the phone exploded. What about cell phones? Because the danger comes from lightning traveling through outdoor wiring, cordless and cellular phones are generally safe. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The average annual snowfall in Philadelphia is slightly more than 22”. In April, Philly averages a half an inch of snow and there is measurable snow in April there only once every other year. 1841 was not so kind to Philadelphia. Unusual late season cold lingered for much of the month and a series of storms swept out of the Gulf of Mexico and up the East Coast of the United States bringing one snow event after the other. 6” of snow fell in the city on April 10th and 3” fell on Aril 13 and 14th, but the heaviest snowfall occurred in between those two systems when a foot of the white stuff piled up on April 12, 1841. Almost 20” of snow fell on Philadelphia in April 1841 – the average for an entire winter season. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

On April 11, 1999 more than 3” of rain fell in Hong Kong during a cloudburst as heavy thunderstorms racked across the region. Streets were flooded and stores were forced to shut. The 3” of rain was more than Hong Kong had received in the first 3 months of 1999. As it turns out that is only half as much rain as is normal in Hong Kong from January to March when more than 6” is normal – still not a huge amount of rain. But rainfall is abundant, in Hong Kong when looked at through the lens of a full year. In fact, the normal yearly rainfall is around 94.5 inches per year. The rainiest period is from May to September, when the rainfall exceeds 12" per month in the city, while the least rainy period is from November to January, when it drops below 2 inches per month. To put that in perspective, Hong Kong’s 94.5” per year towers over places in the United States that are considered rainy like. Seattle, Washington with 38” average rainfall a year or 62” in Miami or 64” a year in New Orleans. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The winter of 1995-1996 in the Northern part of the United State just didn’t seem to want to end. Cold air lingered on well past the start of Spring. April was cold in that region of the country, especially New England and the first half of the month seemed more like winter than Spring. At the start of the second week of April temperatures were below freezing most nights and even during the daytime, readings had a tough time reaching 40. Meanwhile a strong storm was organizing off the coast of South Carolina and started to make its way up the coast, but a bit offshore, but close enough to first push snow only the southern New Jersey coast dumping almost 5” of the white stuff on Atlantic City, an April record. The storm took a turn a bit to the northwest and pushed snow into New York City, JFK Airport had 4” on snow. But the heaviest snowfall was reserved for New England. By the time the snow stopped flying on the evening of April 10, 1996 Boston had 6”, Worcester, Ma 16” and Storrs, Conn 17”. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Tornadoes have been recorded on all continents except Antarctica. The United States has the most tornadoes of any country, as well as the strongest and most violent tornadoes. A large portion of these tornadoes form in an area of the central United States. Canada experiences the second most tornadoes in the world. Other areas of the globe that have frequent tornadoes include significant portions of Europe, South Africa, Philippines, Bangladesh, parts of Argentina, Uruguay, and southern and southeast Brazil, along with northern Mexico, New Zealand, and far eastern Asia. Bangladesh and the eastern parts of India are very exposed to destructive tornadoes causing higher deaths and injuries. On April 9, 1993 several tornadoes ripped through the India in the State of West Bengal killing 100 people and injuring 400. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In the early days of April 1938 arctic cold that had been building and bottled up in Alaska and the Yukon came crashing southward along the east slopes of the Rocky Mountains. The wintry chill reached cities like Cheyenne and Denver, Colorado Springs and Pueblo and then smashed eastward enveloping Omaha, Wichita and finally Amarillo. The cold modified as it headed eastward but held firm for several days from Montana to New Mexico and eastward into Nebraska, Kansas and the Oklahoma and Texas panhandles. Meanwhile off the coast of southern California a storm was brewing. That system headed eastward and spread a blanket of snow from Arizona and New Mexico into west Texas. The storm slowed and eventually stalled for several days in Texas. Moisture came streaming into the system from off the Gulf of Mexico and lifted up and over the cold air in place. The result was an all-out blizzard. It raged for 84 hours and when the storm finally moved eastward on the afternoon of April 8, 1938. Snow drifts reached 20 feet high. Winds at the height of the storm were clocked at 77 mph in Pampa, Texas and 8 deaths were blamed on the storm. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

April 7, 1977 marked the first home game in the history of the Toronto Blue Jays. Actually, for a while, in February 1976 , it looked as if the National League’s San Francisco Giants would move to Toronto, where there were buyers eager for the club. When the Giants were sold in March 1976 to new owners determined to keep them in San Francisco, the American League jumped in to establish Toronto as an American League city, setting up an expansion club, and announced the Blue Jays, who began play the next year. Despite being one of the northernmost cities with a baseball team. The first games of the season for the franchise were actually not played at the home of some southern American League team as you might have expected in a search for warmer temperatures – but rather in Toronto. It was not a wise choice. With a sellout crowd on hand at Exhibition Stadium, more than 44,000 fans packed the old stadium, filling not only a new section built for baseball but also the football grandstand beyond the outfield fence. It was a snowy day and the lines on the field had to be brushed off constantly during the game – but nothing short of a blizzard was going to see the first Major League Baseball game in Toronto cancelled. Temperatures were in the 20s. The wintry weather did not deter the team ether, and the Blue Jays won their first ever major league game beating the Chicago White sox 9-5. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

April 6, 1936 , brought one of the worst weather-related disasters in Georgia history. A series of strong tornados struck the southern United States but none was deadlier than the one that struck Gainesville, Georgia on April 6 1936. It was part of a devastating outbreak of 17 tornadoes across the South. And it wasn’t the first for Gainesville - another tornado killed more than 100 people in January 1903. In 1936, not one, but two tornadoes tore through the heart of town, destroying much of the business district and the county courthouse, trapping hundreds in debris. The funnel fueled fires all over the area, including the Cooper Pants manufacturing company, where 60 employees were killed. The storm left more than 200 dead, 1,600 injured, 2,000 homeless and millions of dollars in damage in Gainesville and 454 people were killed by the tornado outbreak across the south in the second deadliest ever recorded in US history. President Franklin Roosevelt toured the city three days later, and returned in 1938 to rededicate the courthouse and city hall after a massive citywide rebuilding effort. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The summer of 1816 was not like any summer people could remember. The National Center for Atmospheric Research reported that, snow fell in New England and gloomy, cold rains fell throughout Europe. It was cold and stormy and dark. 1816 became known in Europe and North America as “The Year Without a Summer.” The year before on April 5, 1815, Mount Tambora, a volcano, started to rumble with activity. Over the following four months the volcano exploded - the largest volcanic explosion in recorded history. Many people close to the volcano lost their lives in the event. Tambora ejected so much ash and dust into the atmosphere that the sky darkened and the Sun was blocked from view. The large particles spewed by the volcano fell to the ground nearby, covering towns with enough ash to collapse homes. Smaller particles spewed by the volcano were light enough to spread through the atmosphere over the following months and had a worldwide effect on climate. They made their way high into the stratosphere, where they could distribute around the world more easily. Earth’s average global temperature dropped more than 5 degrees Fahrenheit. The Year Without a Summer had many impacts in Europe and North America. Crops were wiped out - either by frost or a lack of sunshine. This caused food to be scarce. The lack of successful crops that summer made the food which was grown more valuable, and the price of food climbed. Because the price of oats increased, it was more expensive for people to feed their horses. Horses were the main method of transportation, so with expensive oats, the cost of travel increased. The gloomy summer weather also inspired writers. During that summer-less summer, Mary Shelley wrote Frankenstein, a horror novel set in an often stormy environment. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In the 1930s, lighter than air ships, or dirigibles where the rage for long distance flight. Trans-ocean flight by airplanes was virtually impossible, especially as a passenger service. Planes would have to hop and skip from one re-fueling station to another across the north Atlantic. Long distance non-stop flight was still a way off not coming into practical availability until well after world War II. So, the big balloons where the rage. Many of them would ultimately meet with disaster including the US Shenandoah and the famous explosion and crash of the German air ship, Hindenburg in Lakehurst New Jersey in 1937. The Shenandoah had crashed 12 years earlier than the Hindenburg in 1925 when it flew through a thunderstorm. But the big ships kept flying. The Akron made many flights across the US as a promotion for the US Navy. The Akron was on such a flight on the early morning of April 4, 1933 off the coast of New jersey. It soon encountered severe weather, which did not improve when the airship passed over Barnegat Light, New Jersey. The Akron broke up rapidly and sank in the stormy Atlantic. The crew of a nearby German merchant ship saw lights descending toward the ocean at about 12:23 a.m. and altered course to investigate. The Akron slowly sunk in the ocean, the accident left 73 dead, and only three survivors. The day of the lighter than air ships would continue for several more years only to meet with one disaster after another almost all fueled by encounters with violent weather. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The last few days of March 1974 and the first couple of days of April 1974 brought unseasonable warmth to much of the nation east of the Mississippi River. Across Ohio and northern Kentucky, the daffodils were blooming, and grass had turned a bright green, and, in some places, there was a hint of blue, that marks many types of grasses in Kentucky. Birds had already started to build their nests as the unseasonable warmth lasted for several days. But it was a false sign of spring and trouble was brewing in the vast frozen hinterlands of arctic Canada. Bitter cold from the departed winter still held sway up in the great north and when the jet stream that had pulled up toward the Canadian border to transport the out of season warmth to the Ohio valley buckled, the cold was unleashed. Once the cold spilled over that region record low temperatures would wreak havoc with the blossoming buds and leave a skiff of snow on the ground. But before that happened, a violent cold front marking the leading edge of the bitter blast would rake across the region. It spanned killer twisters that went into the record books as the "Super Tornado Outbreak " - In 18 hours mostly on April 3, 1974, 148 tornadoes struck 13 states from Georgia to the Canadian border. 315 were killed and 6100 injured. Damage reached 1/2 billion dollars or almost 3 billion in 2021 dollars. Brandenburg, KY was completely destroyed with 28 killed and half of Xenia, OH was leveled with 33 dead. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The city of St. Louis, Missouri, is known as the “Gateway to the West.” It has this nickname because it was the starting point for the westward movement of people in the United States during the early to mid-1800s. It was a traveling hub for many settlers, hunters and others migrating west. The Gateway Arch now in St. Louis symbolizes the city’s nickname. St. Louis was where many wagon trains got organized that first began to head west on the Oregon Trail and to California. Even though Kansas City and Independence Missouri where other jumping off points, St. Louis was the last big city that many settlers encountered. The "Gateway to the West" was where these travelers could load up on supplies they couldn’t find elsewhere before heading through the vast open western wilderness. April was a time or organization before waiting a few more weeks for the snow in the Rockies to melt. It all had to be timed just right because leaving too late in the spring might mean getting stuck in the mountains by the snow of the coming winter, and that could result in disaster. Nice Spring weather was the key to a good start. On April 2, 1837 the weather failed to cooperate dumping 17” of snow in St. Lois and as much as 24” in nearby towns just to the west delaying the start of many wagon trains. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

April snowfalls in the northeastern section of the United States are not unusual, but heavy snowfalls are rare. April snowfall totals average less than 5% of the season average in places like Boston. In fact, the normal snowfall in the month of April in Boston is less than 2”. In 1997 what would go into the books at the Great April Fools Day Snowstorm blasted up the East Coast. Cold air was already firmly in place across the region and this system pounded New England on April 1, 1997. 25.4” of snow fell at Boston’s Logan Airport, and broke the all-time 24-hour snowfall record of 23.6" set 1n February 1978. 100,000 people were left without power. This storm also made April 1997 the snowiest on record, easily surpassing the 13.3” that fell in April 1982. Winds gusted to 72 mph on Blue Mountain, Massachusetts, and to 54 mph in Boston. In a 2-day period from March 31 to April 1 Milford, Massachusetts picked up 36”, and Worcester, Mass was buried under 33”. Parts of the Catskills in New York State had up to 40”. In parts of Northwestern NJ, as much as 2’ of snow fell. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

One of the earliest chronicled winter storms to strike upstate New York after the Revolution, was the strong system that impacted the region on March 31, 1807. The Herald in Cooperstown , NY reported, and I quote “The wind roared in the forests similar to the sound of the great cataract, the air was alternately filled with snow and transient gleams from the sun.” Along the Atlantic coast high winds and rain was the scene in New York Harbor, The New York Post described the situation. From its pages it said: “Amidst the bustle along the ports, in securing vessels and getting out fenders, were seen hundreds with their dogs, killing rats, which had been routed by the high tide. Hardly a terrier in the city was unemployed; and we may safely say, not less than 1000 rats were destroyed on the eastside of town. Though this remark may, by some, be considered unworthy of notice, it will be of use, if a proper use of it – that is, by removing the carcasses of the animals before the sun operates on them.” Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In the 1820’s and 1830s just after Maine became a state, after separating from Massachusetts, crop failures combined with cold weather caused some in New England to dream of warmer climates to the west. About this time Newspaperman Horace Greely was purported to have said “Go west, young man, and grow up with the country”? Many started the exodus for the Midwest. A major cradle of Midwestern settlement was Maine, Maine’s stony soil and the decline of its shipping trade pushed thousands of Mainers to get out just after it achieved statehood in 1820. The exodus was so bad that many newspaper editors in Maine wrote about the fear that the new state would actually be depopulated by “Illinois Fever” and the rush to lumbering towns along the Great Lakes — and then Oregon. Many of those Mainers and New Englanders settled in Indiana in addition to Illinois. They were greeted by a period of mild winters for a decade or so, but I was not to remain that way. The weather pattern shifted back to more typical Midwest cold and snowy winters. On March 30, 1843 2 feet was measured on the ground across much of Michigan, Illinois and Indiana. Until this point, farmers and loggers of the region had thought the climate to be better than New England – where many had just originated. The winter of 1842-43 dashed their hopes. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

According to the National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration, ice jams on bodies of water are caused by melting snow and ice in the springtime. Warm temperatures and spring rains cause snow and ice to melt very rapidly. All this extra water causes frozen rivers and streams to swell up, and the layer of ice on top of the river begins to break up. The rushing river carries large chunks of ice downstream, and sometimes a group of ice chunks get stuck in a narrow passage of a river or stream. The ice chunks form an ice jam or ice dam, that blocks the natural flow of the river. Ice jams can be dangerous for people living in towns nearby. Because the river is blocked, the rushing water has nowhere to go and it can cause flooding in the surrounding area. On March 29th, 1848 a very unusual ice jam formed. Centered on that day for about 24 hours, Niagara Falls ran dry. The Niagara River was reduced to a trickle as a massive ice jam formed near Buffalo. Strong winds has blown ice from Lake Erie into the River entrance and completely blocked it. It was only when the ice shifted the next day that the water resumed its flow over the falls. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

A strong storm developed in the southeastern United States on the 27th of March 2005 and grew even more dangerous as it moved up the East Coast on March 28th before moving out to sea off the New England Coast. Heavy rain fell across the Philadelphia and New York City metropolitan areas on the 28th and set the stage for a one-two punch of flooding when a second storm arrived in early April. Poor drainage and urban flooding resulted from the storm on the 28th and some rivers also experienced flooding, especially in New Jersey, notably along the Passaic and Ramapo Rivers. Rainfall totals exceeded 3” in New York City and much of New Jersey and eastern Pennsylvania. Most of the ground was still covered in snow from the winter season adding to the flooding woes. Further to the south on the tail end of the storm system, severe weather broke out dumping 4” diameter hail in Raleigh North Carolina and striking Florida with heavy thunderstorms that produced several inches of rain. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The prairies and plains of west central Canada, like those on the plains of the central United States are subject to wide swings of weather. Geographic barriers like mountains and large bodies of water can block or deflect even large-scale weather systems. Ocean temperatures and currents impact the track of storms. The influence of abnormally warm or cold waters, known as El Nino and La Nina, off the west coast of the Americas results in abnormal snow and rainfall patterns across much of the North American continent. Sometimes, as slow-moving storms come toward ocean shorelines, those storms almost bounce a bit off the coast directed away by the friction that winds encounter with landmasses. On the vast open plains of North America, no such impediments exist. That often times manifests itself in temperature extremes not expected at southern and northern latitudes. For example, Texas sees much colder weather than Florida. Canada will often see high temperatures not usually associated with that northern clime at certain times. On March 27, 1980 such and occurrence happened when Winnipeg, Manitoba reached an all-time March record high temperature of 74 degrees. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Late season Nor’easters in March are often times the most powerful storms to strike the northeast. On March 26, 2014 one such storm struck New England. The strong late season winter storm brought howling winds and heavy snow to Cape Cod, Nantucket and Martha’s Vineyard. Winds gusted as high as 82 mph on Nantucket, and more than 100 mph just off shore. The wind drove snow against buildings and homes plastering doors shut. Drifts of snow several feet high impeded emergency vehicles from removing trees and power poles brought down by the hurricane force winds. Most of the major cities in New England missed out on the heavy snow from the storm, but some offshore islands received almost a foot of snow. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Tornado Alley is that area in the United States that has more tornados than anywhere else in the world. Stretching from central Texas to Eastern South Dakota. Tornados are more likely in Texas and Oklahoma in the Spring, and then they are more numerous in the northern plains in the summertime. Fed by the contrast between moist air from the Gulf of Mexico and super dry air that blows down off the Rockies, and the contrast in temperatures between the ground surface and midlevels in the atmosphere, severe weather development is primed. This is most common in Tornado Alley, and more common in southern areas early in the season. Oklahoma’s most active month is May, but March is the 4th most active of the year. Averaging almost as many tornados as July, August and September put together. It’s not unusual then for tornado to strike the same part of Oklahoma more than once in March. But what happened on this date in weather history on March 25, 1948 was unusual. A tornado struck Tinker Air Force Base in Oklahoma City destroying 35 airplanes. Just 5 days earlier a tornado had also struck the air base destroying 50 airplanes. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

It had been fairly snowy across Kansas and Missouri in the 1911-1912 winter season. By the later stages of March, Kansas City already had recorded more than 40” of snow including 15” earlier in March alone. Average snowfall for an entire season is about 15” so the city already had well above it’s normal snowfall. Milder weather had made several attempts to move into that part of the nation during March, but cold air held firm and so it was cold on March 23, 1912 as a storm spun up in the southern Rockies. That’s system moved eastward pulling moisture from the Gulf of Mexico ahead of it and skirted along the southern edge of the cold air mass that was in place across the Plains states. As the storm moved through Texas, Kansas City was deep in the cold air. Snow began to fall in the afternoon of the 23rd and by the time it ended on the evening of March 24, 1912 Kansas City experienced its greatest snowstorm on record. 25” fell in 24 hours bringing the total snowfall there to more than 40” for March and 67” for the winter more than 4 times normal. Both the March and seasonal snowfall totals were records for Kansas City. Not far away in Olathe, KS 38” fell during that storm, a single storm state record. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

On March 23, 1913 the rain started falling across the Mid-west and it didn’t stop for 4 days and 4 nights. The deluge resulted in epic flooding unequaled in American history before and after. Known as the Great Flood. The storm system that produced the flood in late March 1913 began with a typical winter storm pattern, but developed characteristics that promoted heavy rain and at times sleet and snow. Strong winds in the high atmosphere cut off from the jet stream, caused a high-pressure system to stall off Bermuda and blocked the eastward movement of the storm. In the meantime, moist air from the Gulf of Mexico moved northward into the Midwest. The storm that formed in the nation’s mid-section had nowhere to move for several days, causing heavy rain over the four-day period between March 23 and March 26. As the storm gained strength on Sunday, March 23, high winds, hail, sleet, and tornadoes settled in across a vast swath of the nation’s mid-section. Major tornadoes hit Omaha, Nebraska where 94 died; also hit were Lone Peach, Arkansas; and Terre Haute, Indiana. On Monday and Tuesday, March 24 and 25, 3 to 8 inches of rain fell in Ohio, Indiana, and southern Illinois. Major rivers in Indiana and Ohio experienced heavy runoff. Downstream, where the Ohio River enters the Mississippi River, the water level broke record highs. By Tuesday, March 25, the Ohio River and its tributaries flooded cities such as Indianapolis, Cincinnati, Youngstown and Columbus. Dayton, Ohio, was particularly hard-hit. On Wednesday, March 26, the storm moved east into Pennsylvania and New York, while heavy rain continued in the Ohio valley. The heaviest rainfall, 6 to 9, covered an area from southern Illinois into northwestern Pennsylvania. As the storm continued eastward, flooding began in New York, Massachusetts, Vermont, and Virginia. The Potomac River overflowed its banks in Maryland. 467 died in the floods and damage reached $147 million or almost $4 billion in 2021 dollars. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The winter of 1935-1936 was a severe one with lower than normal temperatures in the eastern half of the United States. As of early March, it was estimated that the snowpack in Northern New England contained an average of about 7.5 inches of water – the equivalent of almost 100” of snow. Deep snow also covered the ground across Ohio, Pennsylvania and New York state. Early in March 1936, a warm, moisture-laden storm moved into the area from the Ohio Valley to New England and stalled producing heavy rainfall. As the snow started to melt and the rains fell, streams and rivers began to fill, and the ground became soggy and saturated. A second moisture laden storm moved into the same region on March 18th and continued into the 20th. Again, the combination of heavy rain and melting snow resulted in more flooding. But this time almost the entire snow cover in New England melted, and with the ground already water-logged and the rivers full, severe flooding ensued. In many locations, this was the most severe flooding that has ever been experienced. The height of the flood, when the waters peaked, was March 22, 1936. The flood in Pittsburgh was more than 6 feet, higher than ever recorded, almost 9 feet higher in Hartford, Conn. and many other locations on that day would see flooding records not surpassed since. 107 lives were lost and $270 million dollars in damage or more than $5 billion in 2021 dollars. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

March 1868 started out relatively mild across the Eastern states. The winter of 1867-1868 had been a uniformly cold winter. Life was finally starting to get back to normal in the aftermath of the Civil War in the Northeastern states and the break in the winter, early in March was welcomed as the harbinger of an early spring. In the middle of the month though, a storm took form across the nation’s midsection and as it rolled eastward arctic air moved out of western Canada, across the Great Lakes into the Northeast. With cold weather firmly in place the storm moved in, and snow began to fall and quickly. Reports form the day indicated that 15-20” of snow fell at Philadelphia on March 21, Georgetown DE has an incredible 32” in just 16 hours. Many other parts of Delaware and New Jersey had close to 2 feet of the white stuff. The winter itself would go into the record books as the snowiest recorded up to that time. The storm on March 21, 1868 would bring seasonal snowfall totals to more than 80” in both New York City and Boston. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Often times wave patterns develop in the high atmosphere, the strongest winds in these waves are represented by the jet stream. These waves in the air, like waves in the ocean, have high and low points over time and space. From a geographical perspective the high point usually supports high pressure and the low points low pressure or storms. On the western side of the high pressure or ridging it’s usually warm and winds blow from the south, close to the center of the low point or trough of the wave there is storminess. When patterns like this develop to the extreme, with great definition contrast in the waves, in the wintertime there can be awesome extremes. One such extreme case happened On March 20, 1948. A trough or dip in the wave caused a massive storm to hit Alaska dumping heavy snow in Juneau, the states capitol, where 32.5” of snow fell the heaviest ever there from one storm. Meanwhile far to the east in the eastern part of the US, a ridge, or rise in the jet stream, resulted in record warmth across the Carolinas. In some places like Raleigh and Greensboro, NC the mercury barely dipped below 70 for a low temperature setting records for the warmest March night ever recorded there. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

On March 19, 1958, Rain began falling along the eastern seaboard as a weak storm moved across the Ohio Valley. As that system approached the East Coast cold air was drawn into the storm from eastern Canada. The storm exploded. As it strengthened rapidly and the cold air was pulled southward all the way into the Mid-Atlantic states, the rain changed to snow and more and more moisture was fed into the system from a strong jet stream that reached all the way down into the Gulf of Mexico. When the rain started in March 19th temperatures were well up into the 40s. By the night of the 19th temperatures had sagged down to near freezing. The snow picked up in intensity and continued for the next several days. Most of the time the ratio of water content to the amount of the mid-Atlantic states is 10 to 1. That is for every inch of water there is about 10” of snow. In this situation though, later in March, with temperatures at or above freezing that ratio was more than 4 to 1 or even 3 to I. That meant the snow was much heavier than usual the result would soon play itself out with collapsed roofs and buildings as they yielded to the sheer weight of the snow. When the snowfall was over more than foot of the white stuff covered many of the big northeastern cities from Philadelphia to Boston. Many of the northern and eastern suburbs received almost 2 feet of snow from the storm that would go into the History books as the “Eve of Spring Snowstorm”. Just south of the snow area in Washington DC and Baltimore had record rainfall of almost 4” and flooding. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.