Events in History Relating to Weather
November 5, 1530
St. Felix's Flood destroys the city of Reimerswaal in the Netherlands
November 2, 1570
A tidal wave in the North Sea devastates the coast from Holland to Jutland, killing more than 1,000 people.
November 25, 1703
The Great Storm of 1703, the greatest windstorm ever recorded in the southern part of Great Britain, reaches its peak intensity which it maintains through November 27. Winds gust up to 120 mph, and 9,000 people die.
November 27, 1703
The first Eddystone Lighthouse is destroyed in the Great Storm of 1703.
November 25, 1839
A cyclone slams India with high winds and a 40 foot storm surge, destroying the port city of Coringa (which has never been completely rebuilt). The storm wave sweeps inland, taking with it 20,000 ships and thousands of people. An estimated 300,000 deaths result from the disaster.
November 1, 1870
In the United States, the Weather Bureau (later renamed the National Weather Service) makes its first official meteorological forecast.
October 31, 1876
A monster cyclone ravages India, resulting in over 200,000 deaths.
January 21, 1887
Brisbane receives a daily rainfall of 465 millimetres (18.3 inches), a record for any Australian capital city.
January 28, 1887
In a snowstorm at Fort Keogh, Montana, the world's largest snowflakes are reported, being 15 inches (38 cm) wide and 8 inches (20 cm) thick.
February 13, 1899
Tallahassee, Florida records its coldest temperature of -2 degrees Fahrenheit.
July 10, 1913
Death Valley, California hits 134 °F (~56.7 °C), the highest temperature recorded in the United States.
October 31, 1923
The first of 160 consecutive days of 100 degrees at Marble Bar, Australia.
April 12, 1934
The strongest surface wind gust in the world at 231 mph, is measured on the summit of Mount Washington, US.
January 1, 1939
Sydney, Australia, swelters in 45 ˚C (113 ˚F) heat, a record for the city.
November 7, 1940
In Tacoma, Washington, the original Tacoma Narrows Bridge collapses in a windstorm, a mere four months after the bridge's completion.
November 11, 1940
Armistice Day Blizzard: An unexpected blizzard kills 144 in U.S. Midwest.
February 3, 1947
The lowest temperature in North America is recorded in Snag, Yukon.
November 25, 1950
The "Storm of the Century", a violent snowstorm, paralyzes the northeastern United States and the Appalachians, bringing winds up to 100 mph and sub-zero temperatures. Pickens, West Virginia, records 57 inches of snow. 323 people die as a result of the storm.
March 16, 1952
In Cilaos, Réunion, 1,870 millimetres (74 in) of rain falls in one day, setting a new world record.
February 17, 1959
Project Vanguard: Vanguard 2 – The first weather satellite is launched to measure cloud-cover distribution.
November 12, 1970
The 1970 Bhola cyclone makes landfall on the coast of East Pakistan becoming the deadliest tropical cyclone in history.
November 13, 1970
Bhola cyclone: A 150-mph tropical cyclone hits the densely populated Ganges Delta region of East Pakistan (now Bangladesh), killing an estimated 500,000 people in one night. This is regarded as the 20th century's worst natural disaster.
November 26, 1970
In Basse-Terre, Guadeloupe, 1.5 inches (38.1 mm) of rain fall in a minute, the heaviest rainfall ever recorded.
November 24, 1971
During a severe thunderstorm over Washington state, a hijacker calling himself Dan Cooper (AKA D. B. Cooper) parachutes from a Northwest Orient Airlines plane with $200,000 in ransom money – neither he nor the money have ever been found.
October 27, 1973
The Cañon City meteorite, a 1.4 kg chondrite type meteorite, strikes in Fremont County, Colorado.
January 5, 1974
Warmest reliably measured temperature in Antartica of +59°F (+15°C) recorded at Vanda Station
November 10, 1975
The 729-foot-long freighter SS Edmund Fitzgerald sinks during a storm on Lake Superior, killing all 29 crew on board.
January 19, 1977
Snow falls in Miami, Florida. This is the only time in the history of the city that snow has fallen. It also fell in the Bahamas.
January 28, 1977
The first day of the Great Lakes Blizzard of 1977, which severely affected and crippled much of Upstate New York, but Buffalo, NY, Syracuse, NY, Watertown, NY, and surrounding areas are most affected, each area accumulating close to 10 feet of snow on this one day.
February 18, 1979
Snow fell in the Sahara Desert in southern Algeria for the only recorded time in history.
October 12, 1979
The lowest recorded non-tornadic atmospheric pressure, 87.0 kPa (870 mbar or 25.69 inHg), occurred in the Western Pacific during Typhoon Tip.
January 17, 1982
"Cold Sunday" in the United States would see temperatures fall to their lowest levels in over 100 years in numerous cities.
February 8, 1983
The Melbourne dust storm hits Australia's second largest city. The result of the worst drought on record and a day of severe weather conditions, the 320m deep dust cloud envelops the city, turning day to night.
April 14, 1986
1 kilogram (2.2 lb) hailstones fall on the Gopalganj district of Bangladesh, killing 92. These are the heaviest hailstones ever recorded.
December 30, 1986
The Swift Current Broncos' bus crashes during bad weather outside Swift Current, Saskatchewan, killing 4 players and injuring 1.
April 10, 1991
A rare tropical storm develops in the Southern Hemisphere near Angola; the first to be documented by satellites.
February 4, 1996
Major snowstorm paralyzes Midwestern United States, Milwaukee, Wisconsin ties all-time record low temperature at -26°F (-32.2°C)
November 25, 1996
An ice storm strikes the central U.S. killing 26 people. A powerful windstorm affects Florida and winds gust over 90 mph, toppling trees and flipping trailers.
December 26, 1999
Severe weather in France kills over 100 people and causes extensive damage to property, trees and the French national power grid (see Lothar).
June 5, 2003
A severe heat wave across Pakistan and India reaches its peak, as temperatures exceed 50°C (122°F) in the region.
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