Extreme weather in your area

[Tim Vasquez]

I am currently working on a book title that deconstructs selected extreme weather events in North America and explores the forecasting aspects.

Since there are a pretty good cross-section of US and Canadians here, my question to you is what are some extreme and bizarre synoptic weather events that you remember for your location? They must be from 1960-2004, and in North America only. You can estimate a date to the nearest month.

Please avoid tornadoes and named hurricanes... I know of countless examples and can select those easily.

Some examples -- here in Texas we might think of (dates are approximate!!):
January 1, 1979 - major ice storm
June 20, 1980 - severe heat wave
Dec 20-25, 1983 - cold snap; longest recorded subfreezing spell at DFW
Jan 21, 1985 - monster 'norther'; record high pressure (30.95"/1050 mb) a week later
Jan 25, 1985 - unusual snowstorm in San Antonio
Mar 22, 1987 - very strong westerly gradient, gusts to 50 mph all day at DFW
Dec 22, 1989 - arctic icebox strikes Texas

Feel free to reminisce. What interesting weather situation do you want to see deconstructed and analyzed? If I pick your event (first mention) you'll be credited and get a free copy of the book. I'll be choosing about 20-30 examples, so your odds are good.

Tim

[mikegeukes]

The Great Blizzard of 1978 that affected the Great Lakes
and New England January 25-27, 1978.

Grand Rapids MI recorded 16.1 inches iof snow
in 24 hours. They were drifts some 15- 25 feet
out in the country. I remember this event fondly.

NWS Detroit has a web page about this:
http://www.crh.noaa.gov/dtx/?page=stories/blizzard1978

Some other links:
http://www.crh.noaa.gov/iwx/wxpics/winter/ -North Webster IN
http://www.erh.noaa.gov/iln/PSACVG.htm -Wiilmington OH
http://www.intellicast.com/DrDewpoint/Library/1371/ -Intellicat
plus more links can be found online.

November 10, 1975: THe Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald
http://www.crh.noaa.gov/mqt/fitzgerald/fitzc.htm
http://cimss.ssec.wisc.edu/wxwise/fitz.html

Hurricane Huron: 14-SEP-96.
http://ams.allenpress.com/amsonline/?reque...ue=02&page=0223 (http://ams.allenpress.com/amsonline/?request=get-abstract&issn=1520-0477&volume=081&issue=02&page=0223)

Mike

[Michael P. Morris]

The Storm of the Century?

[Evan Bookbinder]

November 10-11, 1995 cold blast/tornado outbreak.

If I recall, in addition to tornadoes across the Plains/Midwest, there were a number of sites that saw 24 hour temperature changes on the order of 70-80F.

A real neat synoptic setup.

Another of my favorite events was the Jan '98 ice storm across the northeast/Canada.

Hurricane Huron was a GREAT even Mike.

Evan

[Robbie Cox]

The Blizzard of 1979 in chicago. Started on Friday night January 12 and lasted until 2 a.m. Sunday January 14. On top of 7-10 inches left over from a New Year's Eve storm, 20.3 inches of new snow fell--setting a record for total snow on the ground. still have the scar to prove it.

1993 iowa flood

http://www.intellicast.com/Almanac/Norther...h/content.shtml (http://www.intellicast.com/Almanac/NorthernPlains/March/content.shtml)

[Jeff Snyder]

My most memorable event from when I was young and living with my parents in Minnesota, was the Halloween Storm of 1991, which lasted mainly from October 31st - November 3rd. This storm dumped over 30" of snow across portions of eastern Minnesota, with 28.4" in the Twin Cities and 36.9" in Duluth. There was also signficant ice accumulations in southeastern MN... This storm was followed by record cold too... I remember "trick-or-treat"ing that Halloween, in heavy snow and strong winds...

More info at http://climate.umn.edu/doc/journal/top5/nu...numberthree.htm (http://climate.umn.edu/doc/journal/top5/numberthree.htm)

[Jeff Wear]

The major event I can think of from when I lived in CA is the record cold snap from Dec 21-31, 1990. Another one is the Dec 12, 1995 storm that had a central pressure of 953mb and produced hurricane force gusts across northern CA, western OR, and western WA.

[Robert Dewey]

I agree with the Blizzard of 1978, which affected all of MI/IN/OH, and had the lowest pressure recorded for many sites - A whopping ~955mb, which is very rare for an inland system...

The Blizzard of 1999 (January) was also one of the biggest to strike the Midwest/Great Lakes (Chicago), and would be another good event.

[Dan Cook]

I remember that 1999 blizzard. My HS was the only one in town where school wasn't canceled. They finally decided to let us go when the busses almost couldn't make it.

[Jeremy Lemanski]

September 10-12th, 1986 "the great flood of michigan."

i'll try to think of more.

[RodgerHeckman]

I am surprised I thought of this with all thats been going on here in FL this past week, but this is something that been with me since I was a kid.

January 19, 1977 - The day it snowed in MIAMI, Florida.

I remember waking up and looking outside wondering why the grass turned white. When I got to school, the teachers let the kids out to see what was going on, but it was so cold we would run out and head back in.

[Joel Wright]

November 10th, 1998. A huge low pressure "bombed" out across the upper midwest. The surface pressure dropped to 962.8mb in Albert Lea MN. VERY hight gradient winds blew for over 24 hours across the region. A non thunderstorm wind gust (gradient) of 93mph was recorded in LaCrosse Wisconsin. 95mph winds in Mackinac Island Michigan. Very high winds moved into the northeast the following day.

Sioux Falls SD also received over a foot of snow that day along with the winds.


I remember that day very clearly. I've never seen such powerful winds last so long. Some very large trees were uprooted in my neighborhood, many of which had sustained all previous severe thunderstorm winds. I'll never forget that day and way the low pressure bombed out....

[Robert Dewey]

November 10th, 1998. A huge low pressure "bombed" out across the upper midwest. The surface pressure dropped to 962.8mb in Albert Lea MN. VERY hight gradient winds blew for over 24 hours across the region. A non thunderstorm wind gust (gradient) of 93mph was recorded in LaCrosse Wisconsin. 95mph winds in Mackinac Island Michigan. Very high winds moved into the northeast the following day.

Sioux Falls SD also received over a foot of snow that day along with the winds.


I remember that day very clearly. I've never seen such powerful winds last so long. Some very large trees were uprooted in my neighborhood, many of which had sustained all previous severe thunderstorm winds. I'll never forget that day and way the low pressure bombed out....

Oh yea, thats another good event! Had to do some pretty good cleanup in the yard after that event - Had a few wind gusts to 60-70mph on my anemometer. Its also classified as November Gale, which are storms that tend to bomb out near or over Lake Superior in November, with hurricane-like effects. I believe wave heights on Lake Superior max out to 25FT on some of these events (I don't think waves can get much higher on Superior due to its size...

[Joel Wright]

Oh yea, thats another good event! Had to do some pretty good cleanup in the yard after that event - Had a few wind gusts to 60-70mph on my anemometer. Its also classified as November Gale, which are storms that tend to bomb out near or over Lake Superior in November, with hurricane-like effects. I believe wave heights on Lake Superior max out to 25FT on some of these events (I don't think waves can get much higher on Superior due to its size...


It's funny how this event occurred on the anniversary of the Edmund Fitzgerald storm.

This was a true "witch of november" storm...

[Angie Norris]

A couple come to mind:
The blizzard of 1993 (March 12- 13, 1993)...also known as the Storm of the Century, I think. East TN was paralysed by up to 2' of snow (my first thundersnow experience :) )
Record low temp of -24F in Knoxville, TN...think the date was Jan 18, 1985.
Angie

[Thomas Loades]

Originally posted by Jeff Snyder
My most memorable event from when I was young and living with my parents in Minnesota, was the Halloween Storm of 1991, which lasted mainly from October 31st - November 3rd. This storm dumped over 30\" of snow across portions of eastern Minnesota, with 28.4\" in the Twin Cities and 36.9\" in Duluth. There was also signficant ice accumulations in southeastern MN... This storm was followed by record cold too... I remember \"trick-or-treat\"ing that Halloween, in heavy snow and strong winds...

More info athttp://climate.umn.edu/doc/journal/top5/numberthree.htm

This wasn't part of the "perfect storm," was it? It's the same date.

[Jay McCoy]

The 2 that come to my mind is Amarillo, Tx (June 21,2004) hailstorm that dessimated the west side of the city and cost $100 million. hail to grapefriuit and larger actually went through some roofs into living rooms.

and

Canyon, Tx Flood (May 26, 1978)
10 inches rain in 90 minutes, 4 deaths, 15 injured, 123 homes damaged.
I cant imagine what it would be like to be in a storm that dropped that much rain that fast. That is a rate of 6.5 inches an hour.

Since it is limited to 1960 or newer I wont submit but will mention the march '57 blizzard when the panhandle had 30ft snow drifts!! ( this is texas after all)

[Richard Halter]

You know, I hate it when someone says "from when I was young" and then posts the date 1991.

Anyhow.

The true Perfect Storm - the Columbus Day storm, Oct 12, 1962 - Corvallis, OR had a 127mph gust 60 miles inland, Newport, OR on the coast at the coast guard station the anemometer pegged out at 138mph for 5 minutes and then blew away, and at Cape Blanco on the Oregon coast, NWS estimates sustained winds of 150mph and gusts to 179mph - it felled 11.2 billion board feet of timber and killed people from California to British Columbia - and it was not a hurricane - it was a mid-latitudes low pressure area.

http://oregonstate.edu/~readw/October1962.html


The 1972 Portland-Vancouver tornado that killed 6.

The 1948 Floods that wiped out the entire town of Vanport, on the Columbia River. 25 people killed and a city of 20,000 gone.

1903 Flash Flood at Heppner in NE Oregon, 247 people killed.

December 1964/Jan 1965 Floods in the Willamette Valley - 17 people died, and virtually every river in the state was well over flood stage.

The extreme cold event of Feb 1933: A cold outbreak brought a surge of Arctic air into the state. The city of Seneca, in northeast Oregon, recorded the state's all-time record low temperature of -54 degrees F. The next day it was nearly 100 degrees warmer when the high reached 45 degrees.

The January 1950 snowstorms - A series of three snow storms and cold air the entire month ended up giving most inland areas over 4 feet of snow, and some mountainous areas over 20ft. Most highways west of the Cascade mountains were closed.

[mikegeukes]

Did not happen in my area, but was a famous event.

THE MONTAGUE, NY LAKE EFFECT SNOWSTORM OF
JANUARY 11-14, 1997

Montague (Lewis County).............95 inches
North Oceola (Lewis County)......90 inches
Redfield (Oswego County)............90 inches
http://www.erh.noaa.gov/bgm/montague.html

NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE ISSUES REPORT THAT
EVALUATES JANUARY 11-12, 1997 MONTAGUE, N.Y., SNOWFALL
http://www.publicaffairs.noaa.gov/pr97/may...oaa97-r215.html (http://www.publicaffairs.noaa.gov/pr97/may97/noaa97-r215.html)

Mike

[mikegeukes]

Some ideas to ponder from these links.

Significant Weather Events
http://www.nws.noaa.gov/om/images/94dis.gif
http://www.nws.noaa.gov/om/images/95dis.gif
http://www.nws.noaa.gov/om/images/96dis.gif
http://www.nws.noaa.gov/om/images/97dis.gif
http://www.nws.noaa.gov/om/images/98dis.gif
http://www.nws.noaa.gov/om/images/99dis.gif
http://www.nws.noaa.gov/om/images/00dis.gif

Climate of 2000-2003- Annual Review
Significant Global and U.S. Events
National Climatic Data Center
http://www.ncdc.noaa.gov/oa/climate/resear...ann/events.html (http://www.ncdc.noaa.gov/oa/climate/research/2000/ann/events.html)
http://www.ncdc.noaa.gov/oa/climate/resear...ann/events.html (http://www.ncdc.noaa.gov/oa/climate/research/2001/ann/events.html)
http://www.ncdc.noaa.gov/oa/climate/resear...ann/events.html (http://www.ncdc.noaa.gov/oa/climate/research/2002/ann/events.html)
http://www.ncdc.noaa.gov/oa/climate/resear...ann/events.html (http://www.ncdc.noaa.gov/oa/climate/research/2003/ann/events.html)

Mike

[mrobinson]

Plains snowstorm Friday-Sunday, Oct. 24-26, 1997 which left most of Omaha without power for 10 days and killed 9. If I recall right it was really warm that day and then that night we got a TON of snow. I'll never forget that storm as it was my first time seeing thundersnow.

[Gayla Drummond]

Originally posted by Jay McCoy
The 2 that come to my mind is Amarillo, Tx (June 21,2004) hailstorm that dessimated the west side of the city and cost $100 million. hail to grapefriuit and larger actually went through some roofs into living rooms.

Many of those people with home damage along Hollywood Rd are just now getting their roofs and windows repaired/replaced! The hail went through the metal roofing of several barns and that church, as well. I am so glad that missed our place, or we would have probably had some dead horses. :(

[Mike Hardiman]

December 13-14, 1987, over 22 inches of snow in El Paso, TX.

[mikegeukes]

Did not happen in my area, and no one mention it yet.
were these these famous events.

-May 05 1995 Fort Worh (Mayfest) Hailstorm
-The Great USA Flood of 1993
-July 31, 1976 Big Thompson Canyon Colorado Flash Flood
-The Chicago Heat Wave
-The Record Breaking Hail in Aurora NE

Also I remember the Drought and Heat Wave of 1988,
that affected most of the Midwest.
Last time Grand Rapids made it to 100 degrees.

Mike

[mikegeukes]

MAY 30-31, 1998 DERECHO: The Great Southern Great Lakes Derecho of 1998

I do remember the derecho May 31, I met the derecho at Lake Michigan,
recorded 92 mph winds, my anemometer blew off the roof of my
truck, was not mounted too well, also had a pop-up camper of
mine destroyed by the derecho.

http://www.spc.noaa.gov/misc/AbtDerechos/C...-311998Page.htm (http://www.spc.noaa.gov/misc/AbtDerechos/Case%20Pages/MAY30-311998Page.htm)
http://cimss.ssec.wisc.edu/smrwkshp/1998/case/
http://www.crh.noaa.gov/dtx/may31.htm
http://www.crh.noaa.gov/techa/ta0/tech0001/00-01.html
http://ams.confex.com/ams/Sept2000/20SLS/a...racts/16158.htm (http://ams.confex.com/ams/Sept2000/20SLS/abstracts/16158.htm)
http://www.crh.noaa.gov/mpx/science/derechostudy.html

NWS Grand Rapids used to have a write-up and radar images. on their site
Thankfully somebody saved the information on their site.
http://www.nrnilstormlab.com/derecho.gif
http://www.nrnilstormlab.com/53198grrwriteup.html
http://www.nrnilstormlab.com/53198pis.html

Mike

[Sam Hunter]

Had to pop in here on the '93 snowstorm -- I live in Syracuse, and I recall the morning after the storm having to dig my way out of the back door -- the snow and drifting was over my head (I'm 5'5") and I had to "swim" through the snow, walking and digging my way through to get around the block to my parent's house -- a less than 5 minute walk took me almost an hour that day.
It was also the first time SU had closed in my memory.

The second time the university closed was the morning after the 1998 Labor Day storm, which was the scariest storm I have ever been in (probably baby stuff to most of you, but was pretty wild for us CNYers!). Here's a link:

http://www.erh.noaa.gov/bgm/laborday.html

We fared okay in that one, only blew out a few windows, but we were on an old power grid and didn't even lose power, but I have never seen so many trees pulled over in my life, and corn fields all blown flat in the same direction.

Sam

[Carrie Halliday]

Allison. 2001. What a week!!!!!

[Tony Laubach]

The March Blizzard of 2003; 3 feet of snow falls in the Denver Metro area with reports as high as 90 inches in places along the foothills. The setup for that storm was about as perfect as it could get!

[Ben Prusia]

The Kansas City Ice Storm of 2002! 1/2 of the area lost power from that storm in late January 2002.

[Doug Lee]

The cold snap Tim mentioned from December 1983 affected Tulsa as well, and for a longer time. It started with a 4- 6" snow, and temps stayed below freezing for about a week. Some of the snow piles created by businesses that scraped their parking lots lasted until April! :shock:

I drove around the Tulsa flood of October 1986. I drove up to Wichita to see relatives before the heavy rains moved in, and drove back after the rains moved out. Once I had to stop and wait at a tourist center while part of I-35 dried out. The Corps of Engineers decided to make a near-maximum release of water from Keystone Dam, about 20 miles upstream from Tulsa. The roads around the dam were lined with sightseers as I drove by. The water coming through the dam looked like the classic "wall of water" sometimes seen in old movies. The resulting flood affected areas downstream as far as Muskogee.

My most unforgettable extreme weather event was the ice storm of Christmas Day, 2004. I had to drive through freezing rain from Kiefer to Redbird and back in a car with no heater or defroster. Before starting, I poured several gallons of hot tap water on my car windows to de-ice them.

The trip to Redbird wasn't so bad, because I was headed east and winds were from the west. I slid only once; it happened as I was coming up on an interseciton with a gravel road and I seen that some gravel had been knocked out onto the highway. I steered toward the gravel and regained traction.

On the return trip, I was heading directly into the freezing rain. My windshield iced up except for a small patch at the bottom center just above the defroster vent. Just enough hot air wafted up throught the vent to keep that patch clear. I drove most of that trip bent over to the right. My top speed was about 30 MPH, but only very brielfy!

I believe in God and you can believe I was doing some heavy praying!

[Mike Peregrine]

Here are a few highlights for me -

-was in New York for "the Perfect Storm" in October, 1991 ... what an unbelievable day! It was an unusually high tide anyway that day due to several factors ... but then this nor'easter blew through that was stronger in some respects to a hurricane (Hurricane Bob) that hit Long Island the same year. It became really frightening as bricks started falling off of many of the skyscrapers, killing people as they walked down the street. In the building where I worked, a massive smokestack blew over in the wind. The water level in the bay came up to the point that houses in Brooklyn were washed away! ... High rises in the financial district were flooded with water sweeping in from the East River ... it was quite an event - I doubt if I'll ever forget the howling of the wind that day.

-the 'superstorm' on March 12-14, 1993 ... this was a blizzard and a half ... the city was paralized ... it was so eerily quiet - couldn't hear traffic, or trains ... it was the first time I remember feeling that the city was peaceful ... cars were buried under piles of snow to the point that you could only see maybe a mirror or an antenna sticking up ... plows eventually got through the streets and backhoes loaded the snow into dumptrucks that made trip after trip down to the river to dump the snow into the water ... was an amazing sight

-the great floods of 1993. I came back on vacation during the height of the floods in Missouri. It was wall-to-wall water everywhere. Every road, highway, interstate was closed somewhere. To get from St. Joseph to Kansas City, a person had to figure out a trek that took them miles out of the way. At one point after I left, travel between the two became completely impossible. The water plant in St. Joseph was underwater (how ironic) - - the crazy thing was that it left the city without clean water! ... So my dad rigged up a huge tank that caught rainwater coming in off the roof (it rained every single day that summer) ... they used this for washing clothes and for cleaning and the bathroom. They had to wait for the National Guard to ship in drinking water. The Missouri River bottom became its own sea that year with water from wall to wall. Houses were washed away ... cemeteries were flooded, washing old caskets and bodies down the Missouri River ... the levy broke on the Kansas side in St. Joseph, allowing a wall of water to destroy much of Elwood, Kansas.

-the great Kansas City ice storm of 1/29-31/02 ... I had been through another huge ice storm the winter I moved back to the plains in 1994-95 ... we had lost power in St. Joe for a week in below zero temps ... but it was nothing compared to the KC storm ... people were without power week after week afterward ... not a tree was left intact. Piles of debris lined the streets while everything was coated with this massive glaze. It literally took months to recover. http://www.crh.noaa.gov/eax/SnowIceStorm.htm

-Hurricane Bonnie ... lived in NC during Bonnie in 1998 ... a Cat 3 storm ... I lived inland, but we had tornadoes at our location ... I remember watching the cloud bands roll through and the wicked rain/wind ... was an interesting day.

-Tornadoes ... won't even go into them ... we've had so many at this point I really don't know where to even start. :)

[Bill Hark]

Tim, I know you said to avoid hurricanes however consider the extreme flloding that hit Richmond from the "remnants" of Tropical Storm Gaston yesterday Aug 30. 14 inches of rain, 5 deaths, collapsed buildings, 20 blocks of the historic district condemned.

Only about 4 inches or less of rain were forecast. It was totally unexpected.
info links:

http://www.timesdispatch.com/
http://www.nbc12.com/

Bill Hark

[Chris Nuttall]

The Christmas Ice Storm of 1987 in Oklahoma. I believe it's the most devasting ice storm to ever hit the state. Began on Christmas Eve and lasted two days. Looking at past maps, the surface low pressure had pushed well east of the Southern Plains, while the 500mb system remained near the Four Corners. It was a beast of a system. I remember it quite well even though I was only 5 years old.

BTW, anyone in here besides me and Jeff that are in Synoptic at OU right now should be able to name some other events once are presentations are finished in the next two weeks. For those interested, we're presenting sounding analysis of "all-star, classic" events. Examples: ice storm listed above, Big Thompson Canyon flood, several tornado outbreaks from recent years, etc.

[John Farley]

Don't forget the massive thundersnow storm that hit the St. Louis area on or about January 31, 1982. The storm dumped 14-22 inches, accompanied by large amounts of thunder and lightning. The snow was preceded by upwards of 2 inches of rain before it changed to snow. This occurred just as I was going into a movie; we began to hear thunder during the show and when we came out there was already 5 inches of snow. A couple pics from this storm:

http://www.siue.edu/~jfarley/weasnow3.jpg (Those are cars under there, some completely buried.)

http://www.siue.edu/~jfarley/weasnow1.jpg

A curiosity of this storm is that, because of the heavy rain that preceded the snow, the area was under a flash flood watch or warning and a winter storm warning at the same time. However, due to the thunderstorms that developed right over St. Louis, the amount of snow far exceeded the predicted amount. Not much moved for 3 days or so after this storm.

[Robert Dewey]

Don't forget the massive thundersnow storm that hit the St. Louis area on or about January 31, 1982. The storm dumped 14-22 inches, accompanied by large amounts of thunder and lightning. The snow was preceded by upwards of 2 inches of rain before it changed to snow. This occurred just as I was going into a movie; we began to hear thunder during the show and when we came out there was already 5 inches of snow. A couple pics from this storm:

http://www.siue.edu/~jfarley/weasnow3.jpg (Those are cars under there, some completely buried.)

http://www.siue.edu/~jfarley/weasnow1.jpg

A curiosity of this storm is that, because of the heavy rain that preceded the snow, the area was under a flash flood watch or warning and a winter storm warning at the same time. However, due to the thunderstorms that developed right over St. Louis, the amount of snow far exceeded the predicted amount. Not much moved for 3 days or so after this storm.

WOW! And to think that I have never seen snow >14 inches here just north of Detroit, MI. Seems like all of our snow hits you guys to the south. (In case you couldn't tell, I am a winter enthusiast) :o

[Doug Lee]

I forgot another flood that affected me.
On the morning of Saturday, May 6, 2000, I awoke to find Kiefer OK cut in two by a flooded creek that runs through town. Eight inches of rain had fallen overnight on the northeast corner of Creek County to the southwest of Tulsa.

As an emergency management volunteer, I went out to see how I could help. I wound up blocking traffic where another creek had covered an east-west road south of Sapulpa. Then I got stranded as the water backed up over the road to my east. I did get out by going north on an unpaved road that looked more like a country driveway. I've never seen the movie Deliverence, but after that experience, I don't have to.