WX-MAN's Musings

On this day in U.S. weather history ..

• 1936 – Birmingham, AL, established a single storm record and 24 hour record with 11 inches of snow. (29th-30th) (David Ludlum) (The Weather Channel)
• 1977 – The great “Buffalo Blizzard” finally abated after three days. The storm added a foot of new snow to 33 inches already on the ground. Winds gusting to 75 mph reduced visibilities to near zero, produced snow drifts twenty-five feet high, and kept wind chill readings 50 degrees below zero. The blizzard paralyzed the city, and caused 250 million dollars damage. (David Ludlum)
• 1987 – A winter storm brought more heavy snow to the North Atlantic Coast Region, with 13.6 inches reported at Hiram ME. January proved to be the snowiest of record for much of Massachusetts. Worcester MA reported an all-time monthly record of 46.8 inches of snow. (National Weather Summary)
• 1988 – Strong southerly winds, gusting to 53 mph at Kansas City MO, spread warm air into the central U.S. Nineteen cities reported record high temperatures for the date. Snow and strong northwest winds ushered cold arctic air into the north central states. The temperature at Cutbank plunged from 54 degrees to a morning low of 7 degrees below zero. (National Weather Summary)
• 1989 – The temperature at McGrath, AK, dipped to 62 degrees below zero, and Fairbanks reported a reading of 51 degrees below zero, with unofficial readings in the area as cold as 75 degrees below zero. The massive dome of bitterly cold air began to slide down western Canada toward the north central U.S. Strong southwest winds ahead of the arctic front pushed the temperature at Great Falls MT to 62 degrees, and gusted to 124 mph at Choteau MT, overturning trucks and mobile homes, and a dozen empty railroad cars. (National Weather Summary) (Storm Data)
• 1990 – A major winter storm produced heavy snow from Indiana to New England. It was the biggest storm in two and a half years for eastern New York State. Snowfall totals in the mountains of Maine ranged up to 20 inches at Guilford and Lovell. Other heavy snowfall totals included 17 inches at Utica NY, and 19 inches at Bethel VT, Ludlow VT, and New London NH. The storm claimed three lives in eastern New York State, and four lives in Vermont. (National Weather Summary) (Storm Data)
• 2005 – A significant ice storm struck parts of northern Georgia on the 30th-31st. Ice accretion was as great as 2 inches in Monroe county, located southeast of Atlanta. Power outages in the area at the height of the storm affected nearly 320,000 homes and businesses.

On this day in Western New York weather history …

• 1966 - 30TH-31ST Great blizzard of ’66 temporarily isolated Buffalo and paralyzed the region. Train service was disrupted. Numerous highways, the New York State Thruway from Albany to the Pennsylvania state line, and the Buffalo Airport as well as other airports throughout western and central New York were closed. Hardest hit was the Syracuse-Oswego area. 100 inches of snow was reported from Oswego. Some schools in Orleans county were closed for the entire week following the blizzard. Economic loss from the weekend storm is estimated at $35 million. Gale winds gusting to 60 mph and temperatures in the teens along with heavy and blowing snow created truly severe blizzard conditions.
• 1979 – January 30th-31st…coatings of ice up to three inches thick snapped power lines and toppled utility poles throughout the snow belt region. An estimated 5000 homes and businesses were without power in Chautauqua and Erie counties. Hardest hit were the communities of Franklinville, Ellicottville, Otto, East Otto, Collins, North Collins, Eden, Concord, Boston, Perrysburg, New Albion, Fredonia, and Forestville. A State of Emergency was declared in Chautauqua county to help in the recovery.
• 1980 – The protracted thawing caused Niagara Frontier streams to rise and in combination with ice jams produced flooding in scattered areas. Most flooding was minor. Fifty families were evacuated from the sunset bay area at the mouth of Cattaraugus creek.
• 1993 – An east-west cold front remained nearly stationary across the Niagara Peninsula for most of the day. A southwest flow across Lake Erie to the south of the front concentrated heavy snowfalls across the Central Western Counties and portions of the Western Southern Tier. Snowfall amounts ranged from four inches at the Buffalo Airport to seventeen inches in East Otto. Snowfalls of nine inches in Portageville and Warsaw and ten inches in Colden and Orchard Park were reported.
• 1996 – 30th -31st A brisk northwest flow of cold air across Lake Ontario produced a lake effect squall. Fourteen inches fell at Redfield, seven inches at Montague and six to eight inches across southern Jefferson county.
• 2008 – Strong winds following the passage of a cold front caused the Lake Erie water level to substantially rise from Ripley to Buffalo. The high water levels and waves to twelve to sixteen feet resulted in erosion of the lake shore and significant flooding at the extreme eastern end of the lake. Roads along the lake shore were water covered or closed because of spray. Flood waters inundated the First Ward (West Side) of the city of Buffalo with entire neighborhoods under water. The Lake Erie water level rose eleven feet, was above its 8 foot flood stage for over three hours, and peaked at 11.06 feet above low water datum at 6:48 a.m. This was the second highest lake level on record.

On this day in Erie, PA weather history …

• 1887 – Last day of three day warm spell with temperatures averaging near 20 degrees above normal.
• 1939 – Rainfall of 1.09 inches.
• 1966 -Snowfall of 8 inches.
• 1972 – Snowfall of 6 inches.

Sources: All information, except those items marked as coming from Intellicast, are from a compilation of weather facts by Hugh Crowther of the Aviation Weather Center. Hugh is a weather historian and has collected and organized weather facts for every day of the year. The data is accessible by month at http://aviationweather.gov/wxfact.html. New York weather data from the National Weather Service in Buffalo, NY and the Erie, PA weather information from the National Weather Service in Cleveland, OH.

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