ABC 33/40 E-Forecast

Welcome to The Weather Notebook for Thursday, June 24, 2004.

The Weather Notebook is a historical database of past significant weather
events. It includes a history of major tornadoes, blizzards, hurricanes, and
everything and anything else related to weather. We hope you enjoy it, and
if you know of a significant weather event we haven't included, please let
us know.

On this day in ..

1816 - 99 degrees at Salem MA was significant because the 90 degree readings
represented a major break from the cold weather of early June that year.

1924 - Six men at a quarry in Winston-Salem NC sought shelter in a structure
that was storing dynamite. Lightning struck a tree near the building causing
the dynamite to explode. The men were killed.

1929 - A hailstorm at Durban, South Africa, produced a "rain" of hailstones
the size of baseballs. The noise produced by the storm was described as
sounding like "machine gun fire".

1946 - 11.72 inches of rain fell at Mellen, WI during a 24 hour period. This
is the greatest 24-hour precipitation ever recorded in the state. There was
flooding on the Bad and White Rivers.

1951 - A major hailstorm dumped twelve inches of hail along a 200 mile path
from Kansas into Missouri. The Wichita area was hard hit. The storm would be
one of the most destructive ever recorded in Kansas.

1952 - Hail up to 10 inches in circumference was reported in South Dakota.
The large hailstones killed livestock and many people were hurt.

1957 - On the basis of meteorological data and a radio report froma shrimp
boat, the Weather Bureau in New Orleans issued the first advisory on a
tropical depression in the Bay of Campeche at 10:30 PM. The depression was
located 300 miles south of Brownsville TX. The storm would become Hurricane
Audrey, moving northward over the next 3 days and striking near the
Louisiana/Texas border causing extreme loss of life.

1960 - A tornado at Schenectady, NY destroyed 16 homes. Over 300 homes
suffered major damage.

1972 - Washington state's Rainier Pass Ranger Station recorded 4.4 inches of
snow on this date, marking the last snowfall of an incredible snow season
that saw 1122 inches fall, a record for any snowfall season in the U.S.

1975 - Eastern Airlines Boeing 727 crashes at JFK airport in New York City.
. 113 of the 124 people on board the aircraft died. Researcher Theodore
Fujita studies the incident and discovers that the crash was caused by a
microburst. His research leads to improved air safety. The tower never
experienced the microburst, which was held back by a seabreeze front. Plane
crashed 2400 feet short of the runway.

1991 - Scranton, ND - 3.50 inches of rain fell in 28 minutes at Scranton ND.
There were also 1.50 foot drifts of marble size hail. Front end loaders were
needed to clear the streets.

1996 - Severe weather pounded much of the mid-Atlantic Coast late in the
afternoon. The Nation's Capital was especially hard hit. Numerous reports of
tornadoes, funnel clouds, damaging winds, large hail and heavy rain.
Tornadoes were reported in Upperville, Middleburg, Manassas, Centreville and
Fairfax City VA. Reports of numerous downed trees and damage to structures
across Northern Virginia and the Eastern Shore Area.

1997 - Charleston, WV, finally hit 90 degrees for the first time in the
summer of 1997. The last 90-degree day had been back on May 19, 1996,
totaling 400 days in which it stayed below 90 degrees. That is now the
longest this century between 90 degree days at Charleston. The high of 90
was far from the record of 103 set in 1930.

1998 - An unusually damaging wind event occurred during the late night hours
on the 23rd and the early morning hours of the 25th in southwest Iowa. Winds
were sustained at 30-50 mph for over an hour at several locations, including
Creston, Shenandoah, Clarinda and Red Oak. The wind gusted to 80mph at
Shenandoah at 11:23 PM. Two factors are surmised to have caused the event.
First, light showers had moved through the area left lots of hot, dry air
aloft between 4000-10,000 feet. When rain falls through the dry air, it
cools evaporatively, which makes it heavier and results in strong downdrafts
and high winds. Secondly, winds between 600-5000 feet were quite strong and
the momentum of these winds dropped to the surface causing higher winds. The
wind event was accompanies by dramatic rises in temperature.

1998 - The Davis-Beese Nuclear Power plant on the shores of Lake Erie in
western Ohio was shut down automatically as a tornado broke power lines. 30
people were injured in the Green Cove Resort area.

To subscribe or unsubscribe from the ABC 33/40 E-Forecast, go here:
http://www.jamesspann.com/eforecast.html