Meteorological events that happened on March 15th:
1905
0.94 inches of rain fell in just 30 minutes at San Diego, CA.
1930
A rare tornado struck the Los Angeles area in California, moving from the coast through the community of Hawthorne.
1935
Suffocating dust storms occurred frequently in southeast Colorado between the 12th and the 25th of the month. Six people died, and many livestock starved or suffocated. Up to six feet of dust covered the ground. Schools were closed, and many rural homes were deserted by tenants.
1938
A tornado hit McPaul, IA while moving from southeast to northwest. Another tornado raced through Batesville, IL at 60 to 65 mph. Another tornado causing F4 damage killed 10 and injured 12 in St. Clair County, Missouri. This tornado was part of an outbreak that produced four different tornadoes and was responsible for 11 deaths and 42 injuries.
1941
The most severe blizzard in modern history struck North Dakota and Minnesota. The blizzard hit on a Saturday night while many are traveling, and thus claimed 71 lives: 39 in North Dakota and 32 perishing in Minnesota. Winds gusted to 75 mph at Duluth, MN, and reached 85 mph at Grand Forks, ND. Snow drifts 12 feet high were reported in north central Minnesota. A cold front traveling at 30 mph crossed Minnesota in just 7 hours.
1952
73.62 inches of rain fell in 24 hours at Cilaos, La Reunion Island in the South Indian Ocean to set a world record.
1982
An F3 tornado hit Ada, OK killing one person and injuring 36 at a mobile home park. 68 trailers were damaged or destroyed, with damages totaling $2 million dollars.
1984
Severe thunderstorms in Arkansas produced two violent F4 tornadoes. The first tornado tracked 48 miles through Van Buren, Cleburne, and Independence counties. Two people were killed and 13 were injured. 63 homes and 22 mobile homes were destroyed. The tornado lifted the highway 16 bridge and threw it into Greers Ferry Lake. The bridge was ¼ mile long and had a large steel superstructure. The second tornado tore through Jackson and Poinsett counties with 5 people killed and 12 injured.
1987
A winter storm produced heavy snow and high winds in the western U.S. Austin, NV reported 23 inches of snow. Widespread strong storm winds pushed gusts to 40 mph at San Diego, CA with sustained winds 25-35 mph all day. Power outages occurred all over the San Diego metro area. Motor homes toppled in the desert. Boats flipped over in harbors. A 22 foot boat turned over at the Mission Beach jetty. High winds raked the desert areas of southern California and southern Arizona. Winds gusted to 59 mph at Douglas, AZ.
1988
More than 100 hours of continuous snow finally came to an end at Marquette, MI, during which time the city was buried under 43 inches of snow.
1989
Afternoon and evening thunderstorms produced severe weather from Alabama to the Mid-Atlantic Coast. Thunderstorm winds gusted to 80 mph at Virginia Beach, VA. Prior to the storms, temperatures reached the 70s and 80s.
Low pressure in southeastern Ontario produced high winds in the northeastern U.S. Winds gusted to 70 mph at Saint Albins, VT.
1990
Low pressure crossing the Upper Mississippi Valley produced high winds from the northern and central Plains to the Great Lakes Region and Ohio Valley. Winds gusted to 73 mph at Iowa City, IA and 79 mph at Waukesha, WI. Winds of 75 mph were reported around Rapid City, SD, with gusts to 100 mph. Up to a foot of snow with blizzard conditions was reported in western Iowa, western Minnesota, and extreme eastern North Dakota.
In Washington, D.C., due to an early season extended period with temperatures in the 70’s and 80’s, the cherry blossoms peaked on this date, the earliest ever. Many cities reported record high temperatures for the date including Danville, VA with 88°, Georgetown, DE hit 87°, Atlantic City, NJ with 83°, Baltimore, MD°, Dulles Airport, VA and Harrisburg, PA hit 82° and Washington, D.C. and Philadelphia, PA with 81°.
1992
Intense snow squalls that began 3 days earlier finally came to an end over Oswego and Onondaga counties in central New York. Palermo was buried under an incredible 85 inches of snow over the four day period. Parish checked in with 60 inches and Fulton recorded 51 inches.
1993
New Orleans, LA dropped to 31° to break their old record by 9 degrees as cold air remained in place over the East in the wake of the "Superstorm". Fort Myers, FL dropped at 39°.
1994
9 inches of snow on this day brought the seasonal snowfall total at Binghamton, NY to 123.2 inches, the city's snowiest winter ever.
1997
Marquette, MI established their record for greatest snow depth with 63 inches on the ground.
2002
A huge thunderstorm over the River Plate Estuary on the Argentina/Uruguay border produced some very wet weather. In Montevideo 4.18 inches of rain fell in less than 24 hours; most within 12 hours. This equaled their entire monthly average. Across the border, Buenos Aires had 2.25 inches of rain while La Plata recorded 3.74 inches. Other wet spots included Junin with 3.62 inches, Las Flores with 1.42 inches and Bolivar with 1.26 inches. Another thunderstorm dumped 6.78 inches of rain on Florida, Uruguay in 24 hours. This exceeded their monthly average rainfall of 4.33 inches.
2003
A deluge covered Los Angeles, CA with 4.10 inches of rain, their second greatest daily rainfall total for March.
2004
Brownsville, TX broke a century-old record for the greatest daily rainfall for March with 3.23 inches.
2007
Tropical Cyclone Indlada made landfall along the island of Madagascar's northeastern coast just south of Antalaha. The category 4 storm packed maximum sustained winds near 120 mph.
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