Weather during the 1850s: Daily Almanac for August
Posted: Tue Jul 27, 2004 5:07 pm
Weather during the 1850s: Daily Almanac for August
August 1:
1850: Grosse Isle, Michigan “was visited…by the most terrific hail storm” that occurred in that area. “The theatre of its operations was a very limited one; only some five farms on the island having been injured. But the destruction in that locality was complete.”
August 3:
1854: Fairmount, Virginia was hit by a “terrible and destructive” thunderstorm.
August 5-6:
1856: A thirty-six-hour rainstorm “caused a freshet [flood] in the Connecticut [Connecticut River at Keene, New Hampshire] said to exceed any for many years.”
August 7:
1856: A “severe Northeast storm…prevailed at the foot of Lake Michigan and the head of Lake Huron.”
August 8:
1853: Baltimore experienced a “very severe” hailstorm.
August 9:
1850: The southern part of Guilderland, New York and the northern part of New Scotland, New York saw hail “of large size and much quantity… The storm was more violent than has been known in twenty years, in the vicinity where it prevailed…”
1851: Northern Westchester County [New York], particularly the southern and western parts of Somers, was hammered by a severe hail storm. “The lights were shattered in many dwellings…”
August 9-13:
1856: Hurricane #1 roared ashore just west of New Orleans with maximum sustained winds of 150 mph. “Its effects…were most disastrous at Lost Island, a great summer resort” which was “entirely inundated.” At New Orleans, it was the “most terrible ever experienced…” There, “the wind…blew a hurricane, accompanied by torrents of rain.” Its remnants brought a “tremendous rainstorm, amounting almost to a water-spout” to Baltimore.
August 10:
1854: “A violent storm” swept through Bedford and Macedonia in Ohio.
August 14:
1853: The temperature rose to as high as 101° at Boston.
August 17:
1858: Cruger’s, New York was hit by a “terrific hail-storm… The hailstones were as large as hickory nuts.”
August 19:
1852: A “terrific hail storm” hit Ogdensburg, New York. The hailstones “fell in quick succession in all directions, and were almost of uniform weight—some of them the size of a robin’s egg.”
August 19-21:
1856: Tropical storm #3 came ashore just west of Cape Hatteras, North Carolina, recurved across extreme southeastern Virginia, and then passed just to the south of Long Island. At New York City, the wind “blew violently from the South East, accompanied with a very high tide.” Albany, New York saw a “severe rain storm” which lasted 36 hours. In the Catskills, “a wild, fierce storm” prevailed. “The wind, night and day…roared and whistled…and tossed the branches of trees about…”
August 21:
1857: Woodland, Wisconsin saw a “terrific hurricane” [tornado] pass through the town, which laid much of it “level with the dust.”
August 22:
1852: Memphis was drenched by a “tremendous rain storm.”
August 23:
1858: There was a “slight frost” at Princeton, Minnesota.
August 25-29:
1852: Hurricane #1 came ashore and battered parts of the Gulf Coast. Its remnants brought Virginia’s James River to a point two feet below the flood of Spring 1851 and “five or six feet below the great flood of 1847.” At New York City, as the remnants moved through, “the wind commenced blowing furiously, and the water came down in torrents.”
August 26:
1854: A “furious gust” took place in Philadelphia, “which was followed by copious rain, vivid lightning, and awful claps of thunder. Many trees were prostrated…”
August 27:
1854: Baltimore was visited by a “glorious” rainstorm and Louisville, Kentucky was hit by a tornado.
1856: 3” of snow fell at the top of Mount Washington, New Hampshire.
1857: An early-season nor’easter brought heavy rain and strong winds to the Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern U.S.
August 28:
1858: There was a “white frost” at Princeton, Minnesota.
Sources: The Brooklyn Daily Eagle, The New York Times, and The First Fifty Years of Recorded Weather History in Minnesota (1820-1869).
August 1:
1850: Grosse Isle, Michigan “was visited…by the most terrific hail storm” that occurred in that area. “The theatre of its operations was a very limited one; only some five farms on the island having been injured. But the destruction in that locality was complete.”
August 3:
1854: Fairmount, Virginia was hit by a “terrible and destructive” thunderstorm.
August 5-6:
1856: A thirty-six-hour rainstorm “caused a freshet [flood] in the Connecticut [Connecticut River at Keene, New Hampshire] said to exceed any for many years.”
August 7:
1856: A “severe Northeast storm…prevailed at the foot of Lake Michigan and the head of Lake Huron.”
August 8:
1853: Baltimore experienced a “very severe” hailstorm.
August 9:
1850: The southern part of Guilderland, New York and the northern part of New Scotland, New York saw hail “of large size and much quantity… The storm was more violent than has been known in twenty years, in the vicinity where it prevailed…”
1851: Northern Westchester County [New York], particularly the southern and western parts of Somers, was hammered by a severe hail storm. “The lights were shattered in many dwellings…”
August 9-13:
1856: Hurricane #1 roared ashore just west of New Orleans with maximum sustained winds of 150 mph. “Its effects…were most disastrous at Lost Island, a great summer resort” which was “entirely inundated.” At New Orleans, it was the “most terrible ever experienced…” There, “the wind…blew a hurricane, accompanied by torrents of rain.” Its remnants brought a “tremendous rainstorm, amounting almost to a water-spout” to Baltimore.
August 10:
1854: “A violent storm” swept through Bedford and Macedonia in Ohio.
August 14:
1853: The temperature rose to as high as 101° at Boston.
August 17:
1858: Cruger’s, New York was hit by a “terrific hail-storm… The hailstones were as large as hickory nuts.”
August 19:
1852: A “terrific hail storm” hit Ogdensburg, New York. The hailstones “fell in quick succession in all directions, and were almost of uniform weight—some of them the size of a robin’s egg.”
August 19-21:
1856: Tropical storm #3 came ashore just west of Cape Hatteras, North Carolina, recurved across extreme southeastern Virginia, and then passed just to the south of Long Island. At New York City, the wind “blew violently from the South East, accompanied with a very high tide.” Albany, New York saw a “severe rain storm” which lasted 36 hours. In the Catskills, “a wild, fierce storm” prevailed. “The wind, night and day…roared and whistled…and tossed the branches of trees about…”
August 21:
1857: Woodland, Wisconsin saw a “terrific hurricane” [tornado] pass through the town, which laid much of it “level with the dust.”
August 22:
1852: Memphis was drenched by a “tremendous rain storm.”
August 23:
1858: There was a “slight frost” at Princeton, Minnesota.
August 25-29:
1852: Hurricane #1 came ashore and battered parts of the Gulf Coast. Its remnants brought Virginia’s James River to a point two feet below the flood of Spring 1851 and “five or six feet below the great flood of 1847.” At New York City, as the remnants moved through, “the wind commenced blowing furiously, and the water came down in torrents.”
August 26:
1854: A “furious gust” took place in Philadelphia, “which was followed by copious rain, vivid lightning, and awful claps of thunder. Many trees were prostrated…”
August 27:
1854: Baltimore was visited by a “glorious” rainstorm and Louisville, Kentucky was hit by a tornado.
1856: 3” of snow fell at the top of Mount Washington, New Hampshire.
1857: An early-season nor’easter brought heavy rain and strong winds to the Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern U.S.
August 28:
1858: There was a “white frost” at Princeton, Minnesota.
Sources: The Brooklyn Daily Eagle, The New York Times, and The First Fifty Years of Recorded Weather History in Minnesota (1820-1869).