On This Day In Weather History...

MARCH 12TH
HISTORIC WEATHER EVENTS

...1888...
One of the most vicious blizzards ever to strike the U.S. was in progress across 
Northeast.  When the storm finally ended on the 13th, Saratoga, New York was 
buried under 58 inches of new snow and 50 inches was recorded at Middletown, 
Connecticut. Winds to hurricane force whipped drifts over 30 feet deep.  The 
combination of snow, wind, and record cold temperatures claimed 400 lives.  New 
York City received 20.7 inches of snow and Albany, New York had 46.7 inches.

...1923...
The record low pressure of 28.70 inches for Chicago, Illinois was set during a 
winter storm.  Heavy snow, a thick glaze, gales, and much rain caused $800,000 
damage.

...1954...
A blizzard raged from eastern Wyoming into the Black Hills of western South 
Dakota while a severe ice storm was in progress from northeastern Nebraska to 
central Iowa.  The ice storm isolated 153 towns in Iowa.  Dust from the Great 
Plains caused brown snow, while hail and muddy rain fell over parts of 
Wisconsin and Michigan.

...1967...
A tremendous four day storm was in progress across California. Winds to 90 mph 
closed mountain passes, heavy rains flooded the lowlands, and in 60 hours 
Squaw Valley was buried under 96 inches of snow.

...1990...
Unseasonably warm temperatures occurred from the Mississippi Valley to the 
Atlantic coast.  Over 90 high temperature records for this date were broken or 
tied.  Many of the records were topped by 15 degrees or more and some of the 
records broken had been set 100 years ago or more.  The high temperature for the 
nation was recorded in Baltimore, Maryland where the temperature reach 95 
degrees.  Washington, DC and Richmond, Virginia both recorded 89 degrees.

...1993...
What was to become the "Great Blizzard of '93" began to develop as a huge 
mesoscale convective complex formed in the western Gulf of Mexico.  As the low 
pressure area moved eastward and intensified, howling north winds exceeding 
hurricane force intensified behind the storm, were reported by platforms in the 
Gulf.  One platform near 28.5N/92.5W recorded sustained winds of 85 mph with 
gusts to 99 mph.  As the low crossed the coast around midnight near Panama City, 
Florida, the central pressure was already down to 980 millibars (28.94 inches).   
During the late evening into the early morning hours of the 13th, a vicious 
squall line swept through Florida and spawned 11 tornadoes resulting in 5 
fatalities.  Thunderstorm winds gusted to 110 mph at Alligator Point and 109 mph 
at Dry Tortugas.  Extremely high tides occurred along the western Florida coast.  
A 13 foot storm surge occurred in Taylor County, Florida, resulting in 10 deaths 
with 57 residences destroyed.  A 5 to 8 foot storm surge moved ashore in Dixie 
County.  Over 500 homes were destroyed with major damage to another 700 
structures.