Weather History: November 23: Record Warm, Cold, Snow, Storms, Tornadoes, Flooding & Hurricane Iwa

November 22, 9:54 PMWilmington Weather ExaminerCharlie Wilson

Previous Next

Comment Print Email RSS Subscribe

Subscribe

Get alerts when there is a new article from the Wilmington Weather Examiner. Read Examiner.com's terms of use.

Email Address   Include other special offers from Examiner.com Terms of Use

 

Meteorological events that happened on November 23rd:

One of the foggiest places in the Lower 48 states is the appropriately named Cape Disappointment on the U.S. west coast where they have around 2,552 hours per year of foggy weather. That means that roughly a quarter of the year is foggy there.

1909
Rattlesnake Creek was deluged with 7.17 inches of rain in 24 hours to establish a record for the state of Idaho.

1931
A ridge across extending from the Midwest to the east and a trough out west spelled record temperatures.  Grand Rapids, MI hit 70, their warmest on record for so late in the season.  Other daily record highs included: Charleston, WV: 86°, Huntington, WV: 78°, Boston, MA: 77°, Tupelo, MS: 76°, Evansville, IN: 76°, Memphis, TN: 76°, Little Rock, AR: 76°-Tied, St. Louis, MO: 75°, Cincinnati, OH: 75°, Cleveland, OH: 75°, Knoxville, TN: 75°, Nashville, TN: 75°, Syracuse, NY: 75°, Hartford, CT: 75°, Akron, OH: 74°, Youngstown, OH: 74°, Newark, NJ: 74°, Erie, PA: 74°, Rochester, NY: 74°, Worcester, MA: 74°, Columbia, MO: 73°, Mansfield, OH: 73°, Milton, MA: 73°, Concord, NH: 73°, Springfield, IL: 72°, Indianapolis, IN: 72°, Columbus, OH: 72°, Dayton, OH: 72°, Beckley, WV: 72°, Elkins, WV: 72°, Allentown, PA: 72°, Avoca, PA: 72°, Pittsburgh, PA: 72°, Albany, NY: 72°, New York (Central Park), NY: 72°, Providence, RI: 72°, Philadelphia, PA: 72°-Tied, Peoria, IL: 71°, South Bend, IN: 71°, Toledo, OH: 71°, Harrisburg, PA: 71°, Grand Rapids, MI: 70°, Chicago, IL: 69°, Detroit, MI: 69°, Moline, IL: 68°, Flint, MI: 68°, Lansing, MI: 67°, Des Moines, IA: 66°, Williamsport, PA: 66°, Rockford, IL: 65°, Green Bay, WI: 65°, Milwaukee, WI: 65°, Alpena, MI: 65°, Burlington, VT: 65°, Dubuque, IA: 64°, Houghton Lake, MI: 64°, Madison, WI: 63°, La Crosse, WI: 61°, Ste. St. Marie, MI: 59° and Rochester, MN: 57°.
Meanwhile, a chilly airmass settled across the west.  It was 25° at Riverside, CA their lowest temperature on record for November.  Bakersfield, CA dipped to 22 degrees, tying their record low for the month of November (11/23/1931). Other daily record lows included: Lander, WY: -10°, Missoula, MT: -8°, Elko, NV: -7°, Flagstaff, AZ: -4°, Kalispell, MT: -1°, Winnemucca, NV: 0°, Denver, CO: 5°, Grand Junction, CO: 7°, Winslow, AZ: 7°, Albuquerque, NM: 10°, Medford, OR: 19°, Salem, OR: 21°, Bakersfield, CA: 22°, Santa Maria, CA: 25°, Santa Ana, CA: 27°, Phoenix, AZ: 27°, Astoria, OR: 28°, Palm Springs, CA: 29°, Yuma, AZ: 31°, San Diego, CA: 38°.

1943
Northern New Hampshire was in the grips of a record snowstorm that left a total of 55 inches at Berlin, 56 inches at Randolph and 51 inches at Pinkham Notch with many other areas receiving over 40 inches.  The 56-inch total at Randolph in Coos County established a 24-hour snowfall record for the state.  In Maine, Middle Dam received a record 35 inches of snow in 24 hours.

1956
It was a mild day at Yellowknife, Northwest Territories as the high reached a record 46°.

1960
The Tiros II weather satellite was launched.  It recorded 25,574 photographs during its 10 month lifespan.

1974
Bismarck, ND was in the middle of a 5-day snowstorm during which 28.3 inches fell, the greatest amount on record.

1977
European weather satellite Meteostat I was launched.

1982
Hurricane Iwa intensified as she moved north-northeast towards the northern Hawaiin Islands with maximum sustained winds of 90 mph.

1983
A 24-hour snowfall record for Duluth, MN was broken with 16.9 inches.  19.7 inches fell during the entire storm, also a record.
Ahead of the storm, high pressure brough record high temperatures from parts of the Great Lakes to the Tennessee Valley including: Montgomery, AL: 81, Jackson, KY: 74, Bristol, TN: 73, Fort Wayne, IN: 65-Tied and Marquette, MI: 51.
***See Slideshow***
1987
Rain and gale force winds prevailed along the Northern Pacific coast.  Quillayute, WA received 1.57 inches of rain in 24 hours, including just under an inch in 6 hours.  Heavy snow fell over northern Oregon and the Cascade Mountains of Washington State.
Dense fog with visibility reported at times less than 10 feet occurred in the Inland Empire. A number of multi-vehicle crashes occurred on I-215 between Temecula and Sun City, CA involving 42 vehicles. One was killed and 19 were injured.

1988
Tropical Storm Keith moved across the Florida Peninsula, entering near Sarasota after midnight and exiting just north of Melbourne late in the morning. Most of the convection had been sheared off before the storm crossed Florida. Most of the weather associated with Keith was to the north of the track. Maximum rainfall was 11 inches at Largo. Most rainfall totals were 4 to 7 inches to the north of the storm track and under one inch to the south of the storm track. A storm surge of nearly 6 feet maximum and 3 to 4 feet generally accompanied the storm on the Florida west coast south of the track as far south as Naples. Damage was near $3 million, mostly due to the storm surge. In Lee County damage was estimated at $1.5 million. Two tornadoes touched down in Pinellas County just before landfall, damaging hangar doors at St. Petersburg Airport.

Low pressure crossing the Great Basin brought wintry weather to parts of the western U.S.  Up to a foot of snow blanketed Yellowstone Park and winds gusted to 95 mph near Reno, NV and 70 mph at Casper, WY.  Up to 7 inches of rain was reported in the Grass Valley and Nevada City area of California.  Paradise, CA was soaked with 5.37 inches of rain in 24 hours.

1989
Low pressure tracking across the Carolinas brought heavy rain to parts of the Southern Atlantic Coast Region for Thanksgiving Day, and blanketed the Mid-Atlantic Coast and southern New England with heavy snow. The storm produced up to 9 inches of snow over Long Island, NY, up to 14 inches over Cape Cod at Yarmouth, MA, 12 inches at Chatham, MA and 4 inches at Boston, MA. Records for this date include 5.3 inches at Newark, NJ and 4.7 inches at New York City; where it was the first white Thanksgiving in 51 years. The 8.0 inch total at Providence, RI was a record for any given day in November, and the 6.5 inch total at Strasburg, CT was a record for the month of November. 

Borrego Springs, CA and Miami, FL set record highs with 88° and 87° respectively.

1991
A winter storm dropped 6 to 12 inches of snow across parts of Iowa, Minnesota and Wisconsin.  La Crosse, WI set a new record for 24-hour snowfall with 13 inches. This storm brought the monthly total to 28.2 inches, also a record. 
A few locations on the east coast reported record high temperatures including: Wallops Island, VA: 69°, New York (LaGuardia), NY: 63°-Tied and Islip, NY: 61°.

1992
As school buses hit the road for their morning pickups in the area around Elizabeth City, NC, the drivers were unaware that a series of tornadoes was approaching. Just before 7:30 am, one busload of students watched from a ditch as their bus was blown 75 yards by a tornado. Fortunately, the students and driver were unharmed. Overall, two F3 tornadoes struck in North Carolina resulting in 2 deaths and 59 injuries.  This was the last day of the 3-day outbreak in which 93 tornadoes touched down claiming 25 lives.
Record highs were set from North Carolina into southern New England including: Norfolk, VA: 81°, Wilmington, NC: 81°-Tied, Wallops Island, VA: 77°, Cape Hatteras, NC: 76°, Atlantic City, NJ: 74°, New York (Kennedy Airport), NY: 71°, Islip, NY: 70°, New York (LaGuardia), NY: 70°, Bridgeport, CT: 67° and Williamsport, PA: 66°-Tied.

Out west, a pre-Thanksgiving blizzard struck the Rockies from with wind gusts to 40 mph caused near white-out conditions.  The strong winds drove snow into drifts of more than 4 feet in places.  Flights were cancelled at the airport in Denver.  Snowfall totals included: 19 inches at Littleton, CO, 16 inches at Castel Rock, CO, Story, MT: 14 inches, 12 inches at Conifer, Morrison & Wheat Ridge, CO, 9 inches at Brighton, CO, 8 inches at Aurora, CO, 7 inches at Sheridan, WY, 6 inches at Parker, CO & Burgess Junction, MT and 5 inches at Red Lodge, MT.
45 inches of snow fell in 24 hours at Alta, UT to set their all-time record for snowfall in a 24-hour period breaking their previous record of 38 inches set on 12/1-2, 1982.. 
***See Slideshow***
1993
Severe flooding occurred through the Guantanamo Province in Cuba as an average of 6.9 inches of rain fell over the region.  Flooding resulted in 22 deaths and left 6,500 people homeless.  Thousands of acres of vegetable crops were destroyed.

1999
A ridge of high pressure across the east brought scattered areas of record high temperatures from the Ohio Valley to the East Coast including: Jackson, KY: 75°, Oak Ridge, TN: 74°, Indianapolis, IN: 73°, Toledo, OH: 71°-Tied, Fort Wayne, IN: 70°, Portland, ME: 70°, Paducah, KY: 69°, Muskegon, MI: 67° and Lansing, MI: 67°-Tied.
***See Slideshow***
2001
An F2 tornado in Hunt County, Arkansas destroyed three chicken houses that contained 120,000 chickens near the town of Hunt.  Most of the chickens were killed.  Tragically, the tornado also resulted in death of a woman in a mobile home.

Marquette, MI set a record high with 54°.

2002
Extreme cold covered northern Sweden. The low temperature in the town of Nikkaluokta dropped to -22°, over 30 degrees below normal.

2003
A trough extending from the Rockies to the West Coast brought record low temperatures for the date including: Pueblo, CO: -6°, Denver, CO: -3°, Grand Junction, CO: 4°, Hanford, CA: 24°, Madera, CA: 26°, Stockton, CA: 26°, Merced, CA: 27° and Eureka, CA: 30°.

Paducah, KY hit 70°, setting record high temperature for the date while Buffalo, NY tied their afternoon high with 70°.
***See Slideshow***