Today in Weather History…for March 8th
On this date in 1987… A record 24 hour temperature fall began at Detroit, Michigan. It started at 1:00 PM EST with a temperature of 74 degrees when a sharp cold front dropped the temperature down to 23 degrees at 1:00 PM EST on the 9th. The total temperature fall for the 24 hour period was 51degrees.
On this date in 1992… A springtime blizzard struck metro Denver with snowfall amounts up to a foot and a half blown in on north winds at speeds of 30 to 40 mph with gusts as high as 52 mph. Visibilities dropped to near zero and piled the snow in drifts of 2 to 4 feet deep. Many roads were closed including I-70 east and I-25 north and south of metro Denver. Many homes and stores were temporarily without power during the storm. Snowfall totaled 18 inches at Conifer, 13 inches in Boulder, 12 inches at Brighton and Morrison, 10 inches in Aurora, and 12.4 inches at Stapleton International Airport.
On this date in 1996… Florida Citrus regions braced for another blast of cold air. A strong cold front swept through the entire state two days before, abruptly ending the summer-like weather the region had been enjoying. Low temperatures across the Panhandle dipped into the teens while Floridians braced for another frost or freeze in the citrus areas.
On this date in 1998…three days of heavy rain sent floodwaters from Beaver Dam Creek churning through the small South Alabama town of Elba as a levee gave way.. Five people died across South Alabama from the flooding. Two thousand of the town’s four thousand residents had to evacuate as the downtown area was under six feet of water. Very cold weather would follow the flooding just three days later with temperatures in the area dropping into the middle 20s. It was the third flood in the small town in eight years. In 1990, the town was inundated when a levee on the Pea River broke, with only rooftops poking through a sea of floodwaters. That levee was reinforced by the Corps of Engineers after the 1990 flood. The 1998 flood happened suddenly with little warning, so even though the flood crest was less than during the 1990 flood, the 1998 flood caused more damage. With more warning, people had time to move their belongings to higher ground in the 1990 flood.
