Weather History

This Day In Weather History

In 1988, a strong storm system produced a variety of severe weather across the Central United States. A winter storm dropped 22 inches of snow at Rye, Colorado and Timpas, Oklahoma, and 19 inches at Sharon Springs, Kansas. In far Northeast Texas, a severe thunderstorm spawned an F3 tornado. The track was 13 miles long and around 400 yards wide. The tornado injured nine and caused $2.5 million damage in the tiny town of East Mountain, located 40 miles northeast of Tyler.

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In 1946, likely the cruelest April Fool's 'prank' of all time occurred when a major earthquake occurred about 100 miles south of Unimak Island, the closest of the Aleutian Chain to the Alaska Peninsula. The earthquake, the moment magnitude of which was 8.6, generated a Pacific-wide tsunami that struck the south shores of Unimak Island in about 50 minutes. Reaching a hideous height around 115 feet, the tsunami obliterated the newly built Scotch Cap Lighthouse that was constructed of steel reinforced concrete. All five crew were killed.

The tsunami reached the Hawaiian Islands in 4.5 hours where it reached heights that ranged greatly from 25 to 55 feet along the northeast shores of the Big Island. In Hilo, 159 were killed and the entire waterfront was destroyed. Just northwest of Hilo, in Laupahoehoe, a school was completely destroyed where 24 more were killed.

Waves 10-15 feet high slammed into the Pacific Northwest Coast from Washington to Northern California. The tsunami was so powerful that waves reached heights of 30 feet when they struck French Polynesia. Many boats were damaged or destroyed as far away as the coast of Chile.
This Day in Weather History Archive