Counting down my top 20 U.S. Weather Events of 2008…
20. Sale of The Weather Channel in July to NBC Universal and two private equity firms for $3.5 billion. The main attraction may have been the 40 million unique visitors who type weather.com into their browsers every month.
19. New NHC Director named. On January 25th, Bill Red was named the tenth Director of the National Hurricane Center. Read brings a long resume of NWS experience to his new role.
18. For the first time in history, a World Series game was suspended. Rain caused officials to suspend Game Five of the Fall Classic between the Phillies and Rays in Philadelphia on October 27th with the score 2-2 and heavy rain falling. The game was finished the next night and the Phillies won the World Championship.
17. Snow in strange places: On January 3rd, Daytona Beach saw snow flurries. On December 10th, amazing snows developed along the Gulf Coast from the Houston area across Louisiana into southern Mississippi. Ten inches fell near Brookhaven, Mississippi. Heavy snow fell in Las Vegas on December 17th. The 3.6 inches officially measured at McCarran International Airport.
16. Rainfall Records: On the 7th of June, 10.71 inches of rain fell at Edinburgh, Indiana. This report is unofficial, but if it were, it would be enough to break the state 24 hour rainfall record of 10.50 inches. Hurricane Ike helped to fuel record rainfalls across the Midwest in September. On September 13th, Chicago’s O’Hare Airport picked up 6.64 inches of rain, the greatest calendar day rainfall in its history. On the same day, South Bend, IN recorded its all time rainfall record for a single calendar day with 6.58 inches of rain fell. On September 11-12, Lubbock, TX picked up 7.46 inches of rain in 24 hours to established a new 24 hour record for the city.
15.Caledonia, Mississippi Tornado: On January 10th, the warning system worked to perfection when a dramatic EF3 tornado hit a school in Caledonia, MS. Only two minor injuries were reported at the school.
14. Early season snowstorm in the West: A significant early season snow storm pounded parts of Montana, Wyoming and Idaho with heavy snow between October 10-12th. Up to 33 inches of snow fell across parts of Wyoming. Lander experienced its greatest October snowfall as 27.6 inches fell. Red Lodge, MT picked up 42 inches of snow in 24 hours, its highest 24 hour snowfall total on record.
13. Fay’s Four Landfalls: TS Fay made four landfalls in Florida in August. After bringing devastating floods to the Dominican Republic and Haiti, Fay curved over Cuba and made its first U.S. landfall at Key West on August 18th. It would land again south of Naples, move over the Atlantic, loop back near Daytona, move over Apalachee Bay and make final landing near Panama City. No other named storm has ever made four U.S. landfall, let alone four in one state.
12. New Hampshire EF2 Tornado: Tornadoes are rare in New Hampshire, but an EF2 on July 24th cut a fifty mile path, killing one woman. The Granite State has only had three killer tornadoes in its history.
11. Serious Lightning Strike: On September 11th, a sudden storm formed over Warner Robbins, Georgia, where an 8th grade football game was being played. As coaches were trying to get the players off the field, lightning struck, injuring thirteen people, including seven children and adults that were treated at local hospitals.
10. EF5 tornado Parkersburg: the first EF5 tornado in Iowa since 1976 struck the town of Parkersburg on May 25th. Much of the town was flattened and six people died.
9. SEC Basketball Tournament Tornado: On March 14th, a tornado struck the Georgia Dome during a basketball game. Fortunately, the game between Alabama and Mississippi State had gone into overtime, or thousands of spectators might have been outside the arena. No one was injured in the area, but one man was killed in downtown Atlanta. Several buildings in downtown Atlanta were heavily damaged including the Dome, CNN Center, Omni Hotel, Georgia World Congress Center and Philips arena.
8. California Wildfires: A series of wildfire across Southern California in November resulted in the destruction of 400 homes and 500 mobile homes. Thirty two people were injured.
7. New England Ice Storm December 11-12: A crippling ice storm cut off power to more than a million people in New England and Upstate New York. The states that were hardest hit include New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts, Maine, Connecticut and New York. A state of emergency was declared in New Hampshire, where the storm was unprecedented.
6. Southeastern Drought: Although the drought eased up in Alabama, it continued to be relentless throughout the year across northeastern Georgia, western North Carolina and northwestern South Carolina. Lake Hartwell, which straddles the border between Georgia and South Carolina is still 18 feet below normal.
5. Boy Scout Camp Tornado: On June 11th, a tornado struck the Little Sioux Boy Scout Camp in western Iowa. Four campers were killed, and over sixty injured.
4. Hurricane Gustav – Gustav was the second of four straight named storms to strike the U.S. After bringing more devastating floods to Haiti, Gustav sets its sight son southeastern Louisiana on Labor Day weekend, prompting a frantic evacuation of New Orleans. Fortunately, the hurricane did not recover completely from an encounter with Cuba, but it was as borderline Category Three hurricane when it made landfall near Cocodrie, Louisiana on September 1st. Some of the worst damage occurred in the Baton Rouge area. 25 U.S. fatalities are blamed on Gustav.
3. Midwestern Floods: Heavy rains across the Midwest during the first two weeks of June caused tremendous flooding. The floods were the worst since 1993 across the region. Eighty three counties were declared disaster areas in Iowa. An entire lake emptied into the Wisconsin River when land between the river and lake eroded during serious flooding. Downtown Cedar Rapids, Iowa was inundated when a levee broke on the rampaging Cedar River in mid June. The flooding killed at least 24 people across the Midwest.
2. Super Tuesday Tornado Outbreak: On February 5th, the date of the Super Tuesday Presidential Primaries, the largest February outbreak on record produced 87 tornadoes from Louisiana to Ohio that killed 57 people. At least five EF4 tornadoes occurred. One tornado in Arkansas tracked for 123 miles, the longest track since 1951 in the state. Thirty two people died in Tennessee, making it the deadliest outbreak there since the 1974 Superoutbreak. Two EF4 tornadoes in Alabama early on the morning of the 6th killed five. The well forecast event (up to one week in advance) was caused by an unseasonably strong early season trough.
1. Hurricane Ike: This huge hurricane pounded a wide area of the Gulf Coast as it plodded toward a devastating landfall at Galveston, Texas on September 13th. Max winds at landfall were 110 mph, but a massive storm surge inundated a wide area east of the center.
Your list might differ. Let me hear from you if you disagree with an item’ splacement, have one I should have included, or can add your input to anything on the list.
– Bill Murray
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