History
-
Thirty years ago, Chairman of the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee and Republican John Chafee convened a two-day hearing on climate change. Chris Mooney writes in the Washington Post that the top level message of scientists at the time was “eerily” familiar to today. Much of what the climate scientists were saying in 1986…
Posted in: History -
The Capital Weather Gang has posted a great story about the eruption of Mount Tambora in Indonesia in 1816, 200 years ago this summer. The sulfuric acid emissions from this eruption helped contribute to some of the coldest temperatures we have seen in the Northern Hemisphere in modern times, due to the reflection of sunlight…
-
The History Channel has an excellent retrospective on the D-Day invasion of Normandy, France, which occurred on June 6, 1944. The weather forecast for that event was crucial in making it a success. You might enjoy reading about it and watching some video at https://www.history.com/news/the-weather-forecast-that-saved-d-day. USA Today also had a feature about this in 2014 which…
-
Back in June 2001, Tropical Storm Allison dropped immense amounts of rain across Texas before the remains of the storm moved slowly across the Southeast, causing flooding and damage from tornadoes across a wide swath of the eastern US. As with many tropical storms, winds were not the main impact of the storm–instead the heavy…
-
Today marks the 5 year anniversary of the incredibly deadly Joplin MO tornado. Over 150 people died in that storm alone, and in the outbreak that included it, an unprecedented 1,691 tornadoes claimed 553 lives in all. NOAA has published two documents describing the storm outbreaks. NOAA has put together a photo book of the outbreaks…
-
In preparation for an interview next week, I am reading “The Worst Hard Time: The Untold Story of Those Who Survived the Great American Dust Bowl.” It’s a great book, and I am enjoying it. I was struck this morning by a description of the dust storms of mid-May, 1934 (82 years ago this week),…
-
Today in weather history marks the anniversary of the Mother’s Day tornado outbreak in Georgia in 2008. At least two people were killed in the storms, which hit north and central Georgia. You can read more about the storms from the National Weather Service Office in Peachtree City, which created the map below, and see…
Posted in: History