STORM2K

February 8th...


1835 - Deep freeze in the deep south. Mercury plunged to zero at Savannah and 8 degrees at Jacksonville FL. Severe damage to the citrus industry with orange trees killed to the roots.

1933 - Texas records its coldest temperature ever (-23F) at Seminole.

1936 - Denver CO records a record cold 36 degrees below zero.

1956 - Vega TX picks up an incredible 61 inches of snow from one storm (Feb 1-8) which still stands as the state record for snowfall from a single storm.

1985 - Blue Canyon CA sets a 24-hour February snowfall record with 42 inches (Feb 7-8). Blue Canyon is the snowiest place in the lower 48 states with an average of 241 inches of snow.

1987 - Severe winter storm strikes Chicago with mountainous waves along the waterfront. Seven million dollars in damage, the most ever caused by shoreline flooding and erosion in the city's history. Waves reached 12-18 feet high and the water level in Lake Michigan was raised two feet.

1989 - Mammoth traffic jams in Los Angeles area as a freak snow struck California. Snow was reported from the beaches of Malibu to the desert around Palm Springs.


Eric

February 9th...

1741 - Greatest snow of the hard winter of 1740/1741 with 3 feet near Hartford.

1870 - President Grant signs the measure which creates a federal weather agency. It is later assigned to the U.S. Army Signal Corps.

1933 - Wyoming's coldest ever ( -63F) at Moran, next to the Teton National Park. West Yellowstone Montana recorded the coldest February U.S. temperature ever until that time with a -66F reading. The record would stand until 1954.

1934 - Ohio records its coldest temperature ever (-39F). Michigan's coldest (-51) at Vanderbilt. New York City recorded its coldest reading ever at -15 degrees. -17 in Boston. New York state coldest temperature set at Stillwater Reservoir where it was -52 degrees. New York City dropped to -14. Boston fell to -17.

1960 - Talk about wacky swings in temperature. On this date in 1960, the mercury soared to 102 degrees in Rio Grande City, Texas. Just 2 days later, there was ten inches of snow in Port Arthur.

1967 - Atlantic City hit by its second major snowstorm in 3 days. 14 inches fell.

1969 - A major winter storm pounded the Northeast. Bedford MA recorded 25 inches of snow. 20 inches fell in New York City. Portland ME recorded 22 inches. Drifts would pile up to 20 feet! Known as the "Lindsay Storm" because of the political fallout that resulted for New York Mayor John Lindsay when portions of the city were still not plowed a week after the storm. 800 cars were stranded on New York's Tappan-Zee Bridge. Damages totaled over $10 million.

1971 - Sixty five people died in this California earthquake. $1 billion in damaged occurred.

1987 - Cape Cod blasted by its worst blizzard since 1960. 23 inches of snow fell at Chatham MA where winds also gusted to 80 mph. Much of Nantucket Island was without power.

1994 - Ocean effect and overrunning snowfall caused huge snowfall accumulations over east central Massachusetts.