Weather History: November 11: Record Heat, Cold, Blizzard, Tornadoes & the East Coast 1987 Snowstorm

November 10, 9:51 PMWilmington Weather ExaminerCharlie Wilson

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Listed are Meteorological events that happened on November 11th:

1099
A violent storm in the North Sea killed 100,000 people in England and The Netherlands.

1911
The central U.S. experienced perhaps its most dramatic cold wave on record.  During the early morning temperatures across the Central Plains ranged from 68° at Kansas City, MO to 4° at North Platte, NE.  Kansas City, MO warmed to a record 76° by late morning before the arctic front moved in from the northwest.  Skies became overcast, winds shifted to the northwest, and the mercury began to plummet.  By early afternoon it was cold enough to snow, and by midnight the temperature had dipped to a record low of 11°.  Oklahoma City, OK also established a record high of 83° followed by a record low of 17° just before midnight and to 14° by early the next morning.  Chicago, IL experienced their biggest day-to-day temperature drop. From a record high of 74° at 4 PM on this date, the mercury fell to a low of 14° by noon the next day – a drop of 61 degrees in 20 hours.  Columbia, MO set a then record high of 82°. Later in the day a cold front passed and the temperature dropped 69 degrees to set a then record low of 13° all in the same day.  In southeastern Kansas, the temperature at Independence plunged from 83° to 33° in just one hour.  The arctic cold front produced severe thunderstorms and tornadoes in the Mississippi Valley, a blizzard in the Ohio Valley, and a dust storm in Oklahoma.  The intense winter storm spawned an F4 tornado that struck a community near Janesville, IL.  Within an hour of the tornado, the residents dealt with blizzard conditions and temperatures near 0°.
A tornado outbreak strikes the Midwest, killing more than a dozen people. Nine people are killed as a violent tornado hits Janesville, Wisconsin. Within an hour, survivors of the storm were digging out in near-blizzard conditions with zero degree temperatures. In Michigan, a tornado kills two people and injures 21 others as it destroys five factories and 21 homes in the northern part of Owosso in Shiawassee County. Another tornado hits southeast of Battle Creek in Calhoun County, leveling barns and taking the roofs off homes. A tornado near Kingsland in Eaton County kills cattle and horses.

1940
A rapidly deepening low pressure system moved northeast from Kansas City, MO, through the Upper Mississippi Valley, into the Upper Great Lakes where Duluth, MN reported a barometric pressure of 28.66 inches. This became one of the most powerful blizzards on record.  Armistice Day began with blue skies and temperatures in the 40s and 50s. The day was so nice that duck hunters dressed in short- sleeved shirts and rushed to the marshes along the Mississippi River early that morning. However, during the late morning and early afternoon, a strong cold front moved through the region. Behind the cold front, the weather became rather blustery and the temperature plunged to the single digits by the next morning. The rain turned to sleet and eventually to driving snow. More than 20 duck hunters within a 50 mile radius of Winona, MN remained trapped on the Mississippi River by gusty winds and threatening waves. They had sought shelter on small islands and eventually froze to death. The howling winds and blinding snow brought all movement in Minnesota, Iowa, Wisconsin, and the Dakotas to grinding halt. Winona, MN received 22 inches of snow and up to 17 inches of snow fell in Iowa. Winds estimated at 50 to 80 mph whipped snow into drifts 20 feet deep isolating whole towns. The blizzard left 49 people dead in Minnesota, and gales on Lake Michigan caused ship wrecks resulting in another 59 deaths. The blizzard claimed a total of 154 lives, and killed thousands of cattle in Iowa. The storm became known as the "Armistice Day Storm". This storm along with a slow moving blizzard which would move across northern Minnesota in mid March 1941 caused the Weather Bureau to rethink its forecasting procedures. Forecasting for the entire region had been directed by the Chicago office, but in the wake of this storm, responsibilities were distributed to regional centers to provide more timely and accurate predictions.
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1955
An early arctic outbreak set many November temperature records across Oregon and Washington.  The severe cold damaged shrubs and fruit trees.  Readings plunged to near 0° in western Washington and dipped to -19° in the eastern part of the state.

1968
The second major storm in three days from the Gulf of Mexico crossed north Florida. Most reporting stations had maximum sustained winds of 25 to 45 mph, but observers in the Tampa Bay area reported gusts of 50 to 75 mph. Tides at Tarpon Springs were 3 feet above normal. Over a dozen tornado/waterspouts/funnel clouds were reported in central and south Florida. The strongest tornado crossed Collier and Hendry Counties damaging 17 homes in Naples.  Five homes were unroofed and torn apart. It skipped over to Clewiston destroying a barn and injuring three men.

1980
On this date through the 12th, More than 23 inches of rain fell on Key West. This is their greatest 24-hour amount ever recorded. Widespread flooding caused heavy damage to about 300 cars and 500 homes and businesses. Five waterspouts were sighted during the next afternoon.

1983
A strong waterspout was observed over Millar Channel near Flores Island off the west coast of Vancouver Island, British Columbia Canada packing 69 mph wind gusts.

1987
On the weekend preceding the Veteran’s Day snowstorm, November 7th through the 9th, the region experienced beautiful 70 degree weather. The snow began during the early morning on this date with a quick burst of snow that produced 1 to 2 inches across the Baltimore/Washington D.C. area. But snowfall quickly ended, leading many to believe the storm was over. For a few hours in the morning no snow fell and people headed off to work, school and shopping. A second low system quickly intensified. By noon, a very heavy, nearly stationary, band of snow had set up across the area. Localized within this band, snow fell at a whiteout rate of 3 to 4 inches per hour for several hours, accompanied by lightning and thunder. This was the earliest snowstorm ever to hit the Baltimore/Washington area. The 11.5 inches of snow that fell at National Airport easily broke an old November record of only 6.9 inches that fell on 11/30/1967. Baltimore-Washington International Airport recorded a daily record of 6 inches and Dulles just over 5 inches.  National Airport was in the heavy snow band that reached its maximum of 14 to 16 inches in western Prince George's County. Snowfall amounts were much less to the northwest with Gaithersburg reporting only 3 to 4 inches of snow. Record low maximum temperatures were also set.  BWI and Dulles Airport only saw a high temperature of 34° while National Airport managed just 35°.  Gale force winds lashed the Middle and Northern Atlantic Coast. Norfolk VA reported their earliest measurable snow in 99 years of records. Both Boston and Providence received 10 inches of snow also setting new records. On November 12th, a high temperature 48 allowed for a quick return to normal road conditions for the area.
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1989
Veteran's Day was an unseasonably warm one across much of the nation east of the Rockies.  Temperatures warmed into the 70s and 80s from the southwest, to the southern and central Plains to the southern half of the Atlantic coast.  Many cities reported record high temperatures for the date, including Borrego Springs, CA: 94°, Calico, AR: 87°, Gilbert, AR: 87° and St. Louis, MO: 85°.

1990
An extremely unusual F4 tornado struck Mobara, Japan, causing severe damage.  60 people were injured; but fortunately no fatalities.

1991
Unseasonable severe thunderstorms brought large hail up to golf ball size in parts of Connecticut during the pre-dawn hours.

1995
Strong downslope winds gusted to 124 mph at the National Center for Atmospheric Research on the mesa in Boulder, CO.  Utility poles and power lines were downed leaving several hundred homes without power in Boulder, where windows were also blown out of cars.  Other reports of strong wind gusts included: 104 mph atop Squaw Mountain, west of Denver, 99 mph in Golden Gate Canyon, 85 mph on Rocky Flats, and 69 mph at the Jefferson County Airport.

1996
Heavy snows fell across the Great Lakes.  Cleveland, OH, Erie, PA and Syracuse, NY were blanketed under incredible snowfall.  Three-day storm totals included 68.9 inches at Chardon OH, 54.8 inches at Edinboro, PA and 50 inches at Shaker Heights, OH.  41 inches fell in downtown Erie, PA with 27 inches at the Erie Airport and 20.8 inches fell at Cleveland, OH. 

1999
High temperature records continued to fall across the Central and Western U.S.  Several spectators at the Veteran's Day Parade in Dallas, TX had to be treated for heat exhaustion.

2002
A late-season, major outbreak of tornadoes caused damage in 13 states across the Ohio and Tennessee Valley. A total of 105 tornadoes struck from the 9th through the 11th, resulting in at least 36 deaths.