Subj : Today's Weather History
To : All
From : Daryl Stout
Date : Mon Feb 20 2017 08:42 am
TODAY Version 3.7 06/24/94 Copyright 1986, 1994 By Patrick Kincaid
Today is Monday February 20, 2017.
This is the 51st day of the year, there are 314 days left.
On this day...
Weather data after 1990 is PARTIAL. For more current
weather history, go to the National Climate Data Center
website at www.ncdc.noaa.gov
In 1805 The Potomac River was opened after being closed by ice
for two months.
In 1898 Eastern Wisconsin experienced their biggest snowstorm of
record. Racine received thirty inches, and drifts around
Milwaukee measured fifteen feet high.
In 1953 A snowstorm in Nebraska, South Dakota, Iowa and Minnesota
produced drifts ten feet high which derailed trains.
In 1985 A lightning strike in St. George, Kansas was so bright,
students at a school 2 blocks away thought lights had been
turned on and off.
In 1987 A storm system over Arizona spread heavy snow from the
Southern Rockies into the Southern Plains Region.
Thunderstorms in central Texas produced golf ball size
hail about the same time north central Texas was being
blanketed with up to 8 inches of snow, closing many
schools.
In 1988 Snow and strong northerly winds ushered arctic air into
the Great Lakes Region. The temperature at Sault Ste
Marie MI plunged from 30 degrees at 5 AM to one below
zero by 3 PM, with a wind chill reading of 40 degrees
below zero. Five cities in Florida reported record high
temperatures for the date. The high of 90 degrees at
Lakeland was just a degree shy of their February record.
In 1989 Thunderstorms developing during the early afternoon
produced severe weather from eastern Texas to Alabama and
northwest Florida. Thunderstorms spawned a dozen
tornadoes during the afternoon and evening. Thunder-
storms also produced 90 mph winds around Vicksburg MS,
and 100 mph winds around Jackson MS.
In 1990 Heavy snow spread into southwestern Kansas and the
panhandle region of Oklahoma and Texas. Heavier snowfall
totals included 12 inches at Boise City OK, 11 inches at
Liberal KS, and 10 inches at Spearman TX. Blowing and
drifting snow closed roads in the Oklahoma panhandle.
In 2013 (20th-23rd) A major winter storm provided a wide variety
of weather from the Midwest to the Gulf Coast. Kansas,
Nebraska, Iowa, north Oklahoma, and north Missouri...east
into the Ohio Valley, were dealing with heavy snow. Central
and south Oklahoma, south Missouri, north and central
Arkansas, Kentucky, and Tennessee...were dealing with an
ice storm. South Arkansas, Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi,
Alabama, Georgia, Florida, and the Carolinas, dealt with
severe thunderstorms and tornadoes. In Arkansas (on the
21st), widespread quarter to half ice accumulations were in
the northern two to three rows of counties. Parts of the
northeast had more than a half inch of ice, including
Batesville (Independence County). While there were
thousands of power outages, this did not come close to the
devastation caused by the Ice Storm of January, 2009.
Freezing rain was accompanied by thunder in many cases.
Some storms in the southern half of the state became
severe, with quarter to half dollar size hail in East
Camden (Ouachita County), near Pinebergen (Jefferson
County) and in southwest Little Rock (Pulaski County). On
the 20th, while there was some light freezing rain in
places, snow made headlines in the west. Up to 4 inches of
snow piled up at Fort Smith (Sebastian County) and near
Alma (Crawford County). Two to three inch amounts were
common around Clarksville (Johnson County) and Paris (Logan
County). In the wake of the storm, roads were generally in
pretty good shape. Warm ground temperatures kept roads
mostly wet. However, bridges and overpasses were icy where
readings were subfreezing. Also with the storms, lightning
struck a church in Arkadelphia (Clark County), destroying
the steeple, and damaging the roof...and lightning also
struck a home near Hot Springs (Garland County). The storm
moved into the northeast U.S. on the 23rd, bringing snow
to areas hit by earlier blizzards, and from Hurricane
Sandy in September, 2012.
In 2015 Heavy snow that began in late January, continued at Boston,
Massachusetts, with an unprecedented 88.1 inches of snow in
less than a month (26 days). This took the seasonal total
to 98.7 inches, making it the second snowiest on record
behind the 107.6 inches of snow in the winter of 1995/1996.
Dozens of roofs collapsed under the weight of the snow.
In 2016 The most powerful storm on record in the Southern
Hemisphere slammed into the island of Fiji, with 184 mph
category 5 typhoon winds. Widespread flooding and damaging
winds battered much of the island.
