 2016 is coming to an end and the New Year is here! Many people celebrate in different ways and one small example is the celebration that happens in Times Square, New York City. Thousands of people gather outside, braving the elements to watch the famous ball drop! So what was the weather like on the very first Times Square New Year’s ball drop way back in 1907? For spectators back then, the weather on December 31, 1907 was good. The day started out cloudy and then cleared by the afternoon with a daytime high temperature of 44°F coupled with an overnight low temperature of 35°F going into January 1st. These temperatures were warm in comparison to the current (2016) average high and low temperatures in Central Park (based on the average high and low temperatures between 1981-2010) with a typical high of 39°F and a low of 28°F. There was no rain or snow that New Years Eve, but as the clock struck midnight, the temperature dropped to 35°F with winds of around 20 mph. That brought the winter coats and gloves out in full force! To learn more about other past historic weather events from around the world, be sure to click here!
© Meteorologist Shannon Scully
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  DISCUSSION: In looking back to the earlier part of the 20th century, there was quite an unprecedented cold spell which took hold of much of the southeastern United States. As a result of this unexpected intrusion of particularly cold air, there was a severe agriculture impact felt across a large swath of the regional and national orange crop success. More specifically, temperatures across many parts of south/central Florida fell as low as the lower-to-middle 20's while parts of northern Florida experienced temperatures as low as 0 to 10 degrees Fahrenheit. This cold air blast was triggered as a consequence of a strong low pressure system from the north-central United States having its associated cold front push through nearly the entire south-central and southeastern United States. Therefore, upon this strong cold front moving through, this allowed modified Arctic air to slide down across many areas which did not anticipate the arrival of such cold air. Thus, this was quite an extremely rare and unexpected intrusion of very cold air which induced substantial impacts on national agricultural gross domestic product and overall crop production revenue. Thus, aside from the sensible weather impacts from the cold air itself, there were many unique impacts from this one cold air blast.
To learn more about other past historic weather events from around the world, be sure to click here! ©2016 Meteorologist Jordan Rabinowitz  DISCUSSION: Just over 15 years ago today, there was a very impressive tropical cyclone event which came to be over the South China Sea. This somewhat unusual event was observed by way of Typhoon Vamei forms in the South China Sea (or about 100 miles north of the Equator). Vamei was the first recorded tropical cyclone in history to develop within 1.5 degrees of latitude (or within about 104 miles) from the position of the equator. Needless to say, when this storm made landfall back on December 27th of 2001, there were severe impacts felt across northeastern sections of the Malaysian state of Johor. In all, five people lost their lives and more than 13,000 people in that region were forced to evacuate ahead of the storm's landfall which ultimately saved thousands of additional lives in the process. This certainly was an event which will forever go down in history across Oceania and beyond.
To learn more about other past historic weather events from around the world, be sure to click here! ©2016 Meteorologist Jordan Rabinowitz  DISCUSSIONS: As far as the recorded history of White Christmas events is concerned, here is one of the more impressive white christmas occurrences of all-time. Back on December 24th, 2004 an extremely rare snowstorm impacted southeastern Texas which made for an incredibly unprecedented situation. This event was particularly impactful based on the fact that even during the Winter-time months, there is often little to no snowfall typically observed in this part of the United States. More specifically, upon the conclusion of the accumulating snowfall during this winter storm which delivered a White Chirstmas to parts of South Texas, Corpus Christi International Airport officially measured 4.4 inches from this event. This was their second white Christmas ever recorded in Corpus Christi, Texas. The other white Christmas occurred in 1918 when 0.1 inches was reported. To learn more about this particular winter blast from back in December 2004, click here!
To learn more about other past historic weather events from around the world, be sure to click here! ©2016 Meteorologist Jordan Rabinowitz Looking Back on Severe Cyclone Bondo from December 2006! (credit: This Day in Weather History)12/23/2016  DISCUSSION: Just over 10 years ago today, there was a truly impressive tropical cyclone in place off the coast of Madagascar by way of Severe Cyclone Bondo. Being as though this tropical cyclone had been estimated to be at the equivalent intensity of a Category 5 hurricane with maximum sustained wind speeds of 161 mph (or 258 km/hr). Thus, this storm presented a serious and ultimately a verified threat over and in the vicinity of the island of Madagascar! This certainly was quite historic tropical cyclone as far as its maximum intensity goes, the time of year at which it reached such a high intensity, and the unusually low latitude at which this all occurred at. You can also note in the image attached above (courtesy of the NASA Earth Observatory), there was incredibly symmetric outflow associated with the circulation of Bondo near the time of maximum intensity. More importantly, this symmetric outflow associated with Bondo allowed it to remain at this maximum intensity for a substantial period of time as a result of very efficient storm ventilation processes at work. To read more about this particular tropical cyclone, read the more detailed summary of this event at the following link!
To learn more about other past historic, high-impact weather events from around the world, be sure to click here! ©2016 Meteorologist Jordan Rabinowitz Flashback to Typhoon Cobra From Back in December of 1944! (credit: This Day in Weather History)12/19/2016  DISCUSSION: Attached below is a neat discussion (courtesy of the "This Day in Weather History" group on Facebook) which details the specifics of what has been known as Typhoon Cobra or Halsey's Typhoon. Feel free to read this well-written account of this historic tropical cyclone for more detailed information.
"Typhoon Cobra, also known as the Typhoon of 1944 or Halsey's Typhoon (named after Admiral William "Bull" Halsey) was the United State Navy designation for a tropical cyclone that struck the Task Force 38 in the during World War II in the Pacific. The typhoon was first observed on December 17 as it surprised a fleet of ships in the open waters of the western Pacific Ocean. Sustained winds associated with the storm were up to 100 mph with gusts to 140 mph. On December 18, the small but violent typhoon hit the Task Force while many of the ships were attempting to refuel. Due to the extreme seas and winds, three destroyers capsized and went down with practically all hands, while a cruiser, five aircraft carriers, and three destroyers suffered serious damage. Approximately 790 officers and men were lost or killed with another 80 injured. This storm inflicted more damage on the Navy than any storm since the hurricane at Apia, Samoa in 1889. In the aftermath of this deadly storm, the Pacific Fleet established new weather stations in the Caroline Islands and, as they were secured, Manila, Iwo Jima, and Okinawa. Also, new weather central offices (for coordinating data) were established at Guam and Leyte." To learn more about other past historic weather events from around the world, be sure to click here! ©2016 Meteorologist Jordan Rabinowitz  DISCUSSION: Back in the later part of the second week of December 1992 certainly provided a substantial thrill for snow lovers across many parts of the eastern United States. This was a fairly long-lived extra-tropical cyclone which ultimately had very far-ranging impacts which extended all the way from the south-central United States to interior New England. Though the event was relatively well-forecasted by all of the associated National Weather Service offices involved, it certainly still had a number of forecast challenges tied to it (e.g., the snowfall forecast map depending upon the spatial extent and variation in the position of the freezing line during the course of the winter storm's evolution. Attached below is the exact discussion provided as a storm summary which was courtesy of the "This Day in Weather History" page on Facebook.
"December 11th, 1992 - A complex storm system moved eastward from the Gulf Coast of Texas to eastern Georgia on December 9 and 10th. In the next 24 hours, the low-pressure system moved to the Chesapeake Bay and rapidly intensified. This system produced gale force winds with gusts exceeding hurricane force affected not only the Mid-Atlantic coastline but also as far southwest as the southern Appalachians where trees were downed and roofs damaged. This storm also produced 20 to 30-foot waves in Massachusetts on December 12 and 13th. Precipitation amounts with the Nor'easter varied considerably. Rainfall amounts of 8 inches occurred in southeastern Massachusetts, while several areas in New York, Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, and Maryland recorded more than 30 inches of snow. Precipitation ended during the evening hours on the 12th. Ten deaths resulted from the storm with insured losses totaling near $850 million and non-insured losses near $2 billion." To learn more about other past historic weather events from around the world, be sure to click here! ©2016 Meteorologist Jordan Rabinowitz  DISCUSSION: By going back in time to just over 99 years ago today, we arrive at the start of what was one of more impressive winter storms of all-time and definitely one of the more historic snowstorms to occur during the earlier part of the 20th Century. During the period between December 8th and 9th of 1917, the hardest hit areas in terms of total snowfall accumulation were between the Ohio Valley and Great Lakes regions of the U.S. One of the harder hit cities during this major snowstorm was the city of Vevay, Indiana where an impressive 26 inches of snowfall fell before the storm came to an end. As is described but may be hard to read in the graphic attached above from a local data archive from Vevay, Indiana (which is located in far southeastern Indiana), there were snow drifts of 9 to 14 deep on-average just after the conclusion of the heaviest snowfall during this event. Thus, it was a very prolonged, wind-driven snowstorm which evidently paralyzed travel and communication into or out of this part of the country for several days. It just goes to show how far technology and communication has come since people far away from this region likely did not hear about how much snowfall various parts of the affected states received until days later; whereas today with the advent of social media and real-time weather broadcast channels there is a very transparent distribution of up-to-date information on a real-time basis.
To learn more about other historic past weather events from around the world, be sure to click here! ©2016 Meteorologist Jordan Rabinowitz A History National Weather Service Benchmark Anniversary! (credit: This Day in Weather History)12/8/2016  DISCUSSION: Through taking a look back in history, we have quite an impressive anniversary by looking a few days ago plus another 178 years. A few days ago this week back in 1838, Cleveland Abbe (an American meteorologist and a strong advocate of time zones) was born. He was trained as an astronomer and was appointed the director of the Cincinnati Observatory in 1868. He eventually turned to meteorology and inaugurated a public weather service that served as a model for today's National Weather Service. Attached below is some other neat background information on Cleveland Abbe (courtesy of the NOAA History page).
To learn more about other neat topics in global weather history, be sure to click here! © 2016 Meteorologist Jordan Rabinowitz  DISCUSSION: Quite a long time ago on an early winter day back in December of 1896, a fairly unexpected winter storm took shape over large portions of the southeastern United States. As noted in the post courtesy of the "This Day in Weather History" page on Facebook, this particular storm dumped a sizeable snowfall anywhere from Atlanta, Georgia to Charlotte, North Carolina. At the time, even with earlier forecasting abilities of that era, this event likely induced quite a shockwave of surprise across this region of the country which sees shovelable snowfall not nearly as often as other parts of the nation further north. The image linked above was the graphic issued at around 8:00 AM EST on December 2nd of 1896 by what was then called the U.S. Weather Bureau. The U.S. Weather Bureau first began in Washington D.C. back in the early 1890's before it gradually became more modernized into the large, dispersed network it is as of the current day.
To learn more about other past historic weather events from all over the world, be sure to click here! ~Meteorologist Jordan Rabinowitz |
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