Extreme weather in your area

Here are a few highlights for me -

-was in New York for "the Perfect Storm" in October, 1991 ... what an unbelievable day! It was an unusually high tide anyway that day due to several factors ... but then this nor'easter blew through that was stronger in some respects to a hurricane (Hurricane Bob) that hit Long Island the same year. It became really frightening as bricks started falling off of many of the skyscrapers, killing people as they walked down the street. In the building where I worked, a massive smokestack blew over in the wind. The water level in the bay came up to the point that houses in Brooklyn were washed away! ... High rises in the financial district were flooded with water sweeping in from the East River ... it was quite an event - I doubt if I'll ever forget the howling of the wind that day.

-the 'superstorm' on March 12-14, 1993 ... this was a blizzard and a half ... the city was paralized ... it was so eerily quiet - couldn't hear traffic, or trains ... it was the first time I remember feeling that the city was peaceful ... cars were buried under piles of snow to the point that you could only see maybe a mirror or an antenna sticking up ... plows eventually got through the streets and backhoes loaded the snow into dumptrucks that made trip after trip down to the river to dump the snow into the water ... was an amazing sight

-the great floods of 1993. I came back on vacation during the height of the floods in Missouri. It was wall-to-wall water everywhere. Every road, highway, interstate was closed somewhere. To get from St. Joseph to Kansas City, a person had to figure out a trek that took them miles out of the way. At one point after I left, travel between the two became completely impossible. The water plant in St. Joseph was underwater (how ironic) - - the crazy thing was that it left the city without clean water! ... So my dad rigged up a huge tank that caught rainwater coming in off the roof (it rained every single day that summer) ... they used this for washing clothes and for cleaning and the bathroom. They had to wait for the National Guard to ship in drinking water. The Missouri River bottom became its own sea that year with water from wall to wall. Houses were washed away ... cemeteries were flooded, washing old caskets and bodies down the Missouri River ... the levy broke on the Kansas side in St. Joseph, allowing a wall of water to destroy much of Elwood, Kansas.

-the great Kansas City ice storm of 1/29-31/02 ... I had been through another huge ice storm the winter I moved back to the plains in 1994-95 ... we had lost power in St. Joe for a week in below zero temps ... but it was nothing compared to the KC storm ... people were without power week after week afterward ... not a tree was left intact. Piles of debris lined the streets while everything was coated with this massive glaze. It literally took months to recover. http://www.crh.noaa.gov/eax/SnowIceStorm.htm

-Hurricane Bonnie ... lived in NC during Bonnie in 1998 ... a Cat 3 storm ... I lived inland, but we had tornadoes at our location ... I remember watching the cloud bands roll through and the wicked rain/wind ... was an interesting day.

-Tornadoes ... won't even go into them ... we've had so many at this point I really don't know where to even start. :)
 
Tim, I know you said to avoid hurricanes however consider the extreme flloding that hit Richmond from the "remnants" of Tropical Storm Gaston yesterday Aug 30. 14 inches of rain, 5 deaths, collapsed buildings, 20 blocks of the historic district condemned.

Only about 4 inches or less of rain were forecast. It was totally unexpected.
info links:

http://www.timesdispatch.com/
http://www.nbc12.com/

Bill Hark
 
The Christmas Ice Storm of 1987 in Oklahoma. I believe it's the most devasting ice storm to ever hit the state. Began on Christmas Eve and lasted two days. Looking at past maps, the surface low pressure had pushed well east of the Southern Plains, while the 500mb system remained near the Four Corners. It was a beast of a system. I remember it quite well even though I was only 5 years old.

BTW, anyone in here besides me and Jeff that are in Synoptic at OU right now should be able to name some other events once are presentations are finished in the next two weeks. For those interested, we're presenting sounding analysis of "all-star, classic" events. Examples: ice storm listed above, Big Thompson Canyon flood, several tornado outbreaks from recent years, etc.
 
1982 St. Louis thundersnow

Don't forget the massive thundersnow storm that hit the St. Louis area on or about January 31, 1982. The storm dumped 14-22 inches, accompanied by large amounts of thunder and lightning. The snow was preceded by upwards of 2 inches of rain before it changed to snow. This occurred just as I was going into a movie; we began to hear thunder during the show and when we came out there was already 5 inches of snow. A couple pics from this storm:

http://www.siue.edu/~jfarley/weasnow3.jpg (Those are cars under there, some completely buried.)

http://www.siue.edu/~jfarley/weasnow1.jpg

A curiosity of this storm is that, because of the heavy rain that preceded the snow, the area was under a flash flood watch or warning and a winter storm warning at the same time. However, due to the thunderstorms that developed right over St. Louis, the amount of snow far exceeded the predicted amount. Not much moved for 3 days or so after this storm.
 
Re: 1982 St. Louis thundersnow

Don't forget the massive thundersnow storm that hit the St. Louis area on or about January 31, 1982. The storm dumped 14-22 inches, accompanied by large amounts of thunder and lightning. The snow was preceded by upwards of 2 inches of rain before it changed to snow. This occurred just as I was going into a movie; we began to hear thunder during the show and when we came out there was already 5 inches of snow. A couple pics from this storm:

http://www.siue.edu/~jfarley/weasnow3.jpg (Those are cars under there, some completely buried.)

http://www.siue.edu/~jfarley/weasnow1.jpg

A curiosity of this storm is that, because of the heavy rain that preceded the snow, the area was under a flash flood watch or warning and a winter storm warning at the same time. However, due to the thunderstorms that developed right over St. Louis, the amount of snow far exceeded the predicted amount. Not much moved for 3 days or so after this storm.

WOW! And to think that I have never seen snow >14 inches here just north of Detroit, MI. Seems like all of our snow hits you guys to the south. (In case you couldn't tell, I am a winter enthusiast) :o
 
I forgot another flood that affected me.
On the morning of Saturday, May 6, 2000, I awoke to find Kiefer OK cut in two by a flooded creek that runs through town. Eight inches of rain had fallen overnight on the northeast corner of Creek County to the southwest of Tulsa.

As an emergency management volunteer, I went out to see how I could help. I wound up blocking traffic where another creek had covered an east-west road south of Sapulpa. Then I got stranded as the water backed up over the road to my east. I did get out by going north on an unpaved road that looked more like a country driveway. I've never seen the movie Deliverence, but after that experience, I don't have to.
 
Back
Top