History

  • The bright orange and pink clouds in Edvard Munch’s “The Scream” have long been thought to be a product of a volcanic eruption, most likely the very large eruption of Krakatoa in 1883.  Volcanic eruptions shoot sulfuric acid droplets and ash high into the atmosphere, producing spectacular sunsets around the world that have been linked…

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  • From This Day in Weather History on Facebook: April 25th, 1910 – Atlanta, Georgia was blanketed with 1.5 inches of snow while seeing their latest freeze ever with a morning low of 32°F. The high that day of 39°F was the second time ever that the high never got out of the 30s in April.…

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  • Today is a big anniversary for me–it marks the 50th anniversary of the tornado that went two blocks from my house in Grand Rapids MI, kicking off my interest in studying the weather. The storms in Michigan were overshadowed by the Belvidere IL tornado and others that also happened that day. You can read more…

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  • During the Dust Bowl era, there were a number of storms that made history for the size and length of the storm and the amount of soil they moved.  Chief among those is the Black Sunday dust storm of 1935, which was, by some accounts, 1000 miles long.  You can read about this storm in…

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  • One of the most deadly tornadoes in Georgia history occurred on April 6, 1936, in Gainesville, Georgia.  According to AthensGAWeather.com, “the F-4 tornado packed winds up to 260 mph, killed 203 people and injured 934 others. Almost a fourth of the deaths came from fires that burned after the storm struck the city. Although it…

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  • It’s no surprise that we are seeing a lot of activity in the severe weather department this week.  Historically, this has been a very active time of year across the US, and it’s the main peak of severe weather activity in the Southeast, although we have a secondary peak in fall and tornadoes can and…

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  • The record of the blossoming date of cherry trees in Kyoto, Japan, is one of the longest phenological records climatologists have.  Historical information on the blossom date goes back all the way to 812 AD, although nearly continuous records are not available until 1406 AD.  The dates have recently been compiled into a single record,…

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