Weather History: December: 1: Record Warm, Snow, Windstorm, Storms, Tornadoes & 1925 Hurricane

November 30, 6:59 PMWilmington Weather ExaminerCharlie Wilson

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Meteorological events that happened on December 1st:

1831
A cold outbreak commenced throughout the northeastern U.S., marking the coldest December on record in the area.  New York City had an average monthly temperature of 22° with only four days above freezing while Burlington, VT never rose above the freezing mark during the entire month.  The Erie Canal was closed for the entire month of December beginning on this date.

1896
The temperature rose 34 degrees in just 7 minutes at Kipp, MT and an astonishing 80 degrees in several hours.  A 31-inch snow cover melted in 12 hours.

1913
A 6-day Front Range snowstorm began, ultimately producing a 45.7 inches of snow at Denver, CO, the heaviest 5-day total snowfall on record for the city.  The first three days of the month, 8 inches accumulated followed by an additional 37.4 inches on the 4th and 5th.  The town of Georgetown west of Denver picked up 86 inches over the five days with 63 inches of that falling on the 4th.  Snow cover on an inch or more from the storm persisted for 60 consecutive days from this date through 1/29/1914, the third longest period of snow cover on record for Denver. Additional snowfall during this time prolonged the snow cover. 

1925
An extremely rare late November hurricane began to affect the west coast of Florida as it strengthened during the day. The storm made landfall very early on this date south of Tampa Bay, weakened to a tropical storm as it crossed central Florida, and exited around St. Augustine. The storm regained Hurricane strength off Jacksonville later in the day. Heavy rain continued over northeast Florida on the 2nd. Gale force winds were reported from the Keys to Jacksonville and over 50 people lost their lives, mostly on ships at sea. Damage along the coast south of Jacksonville was heavy and excessive rain and wind seriously damaged citrus and truck crops.
***See Slideshow***
1959
An upper level ridge brought an off shore flow to central and southern California.  Record high temperatures were set at Santa Ana, CA: 92°, Riverside, CA: 89°, Los Angeles (LAX), CA: 88°, Long Beach, CA: 87°, Downtown Los Angeles, CA: 85°, San Diego, CA: 83°, Bishop, CA: 73°, Palomar Mountain, CA: 72°, San Francisco (Airport), CA: 70°, Stockton, CA: 69° and Sacramento, CA: 68°.

1962
An upper level ridge over the Ohio Valley brought record high temperatures from the northern Plains, Midwest to the Ohio Valley and New York.  The following locations reported their warmest December temperatures: Hatfield, WI: 64°, Decorah, IA: 63° and Charles City, IA: 62°.  Other daily record high temperatures for the date included:
Tupelo, MS: 74°, Paducah, KY: 71°, New York (Central Park), NY: 68°-Tied, Cincinnati, OH: 67°, Newark, NJ: 67°, Elkins, WV: 66°, Akron, OH: 64°, Columbus, OH: 64°, Dayton, OH: 64°, Springfield, IL: 64°-Tied, Des Moines, IA: 63°, Moline, IL: 63°, Indianapolis, IN: 63°, Sioux City, IA: 62°, Waterloo, IA: 62°, Rochester, MN: 62°, Chicago, IL: 62°, Rockford, IL: 61°, Fort Wayne, IN: 61°, Mansfield, OH: 61°, Peoria, IL: 61°-Tied, Green Bay, WI: 60°, La Crosse, WI: 60°, Milwaukee, WI: 60°, Flint, MI: 60°-Tied, Alpena, MI: 59°, Muskegon, MI: 59°, Lansing, MI: 59°-Tied, St. Cloud, MN: 58°, Madison, WI: 58°, Marquette, MI: 58°, Fargo, ND: 57°, Minneapolis, MN: 57°, International Falls, MN: 56°, Duluth, MN: 54° and Grand Forks, ND: 51°.

A severe lakefront fog halted the Grey Cup game between the Hamilton Tiger-Cats and Winnipeg Blue Bombers with 9:22 left to play at Toronto, Ontario Canada.  Winnipeg won the Fog Bowl the following day by a score of 28-27.
***See Slideshow***
1964
On this date through the 2nd, a severe windstorm hit the Canadian Maritimes packing winds gusting to 100 mph.  Three fishing vessels and 23 lives were lost.  Total damage due to high seas, wind and flooding was estimated at over $1 million.

1970
High pressure provided a warm flow out ahead of a strong cold front bringing record high temperatures from the southern Plains to the Ohio Valley and Great Lakes region. 
Record high temperatures for the date included: Corpus Christi, TX: 83°-Tied, Houston, TX: 82°, Dallas, TX: 81°, Waco, TX: 81°, New Orleans, LA: 81°, Lake Charles, LA: 80°, Mobile, AL: 80°, Little Rock, AR: 79°, Columbia, SC: 79°, Bristol, TN: 74°, St. Louis, MO: 73°, Nashville, TN: 73°, Knoxville, TN: 72°, Decatur, IL: 72°, Huntington, WV: 72°-Tied, Chattanooga, TN: 71°, Kansas City, MO: 70°, Springfield, IL: 70°, Indianapolis, IN: 70°, Cincinnati, OH: 70°, Lexington, KY: 70°, Louisville, KY: 70°, Oak Ridge, TN: 69°, Chicago, IL: 68°, Evansville, IN: 68°, Champaign, IL: 68°, Fort Wayne, IN: 67°, South Bend, IN: 67°, Columbus, OH: 67°, Dayton, OH: 67°, Mansfield, OH: 67°, Des Moines, IA: 66°, Omaha, NE: 65°, Peoria, IL: 65°, Grand Rapids, MI: 65°, Lansing, MI: 65°, Akron, OH: 65°, Cleveland, OH: 65°, Toledo, OH: 65°, Lincoln, NE: 64°, Detroit, MI: 64°, Milwaukee, WI: 63°, Flint, MI: 63°, Green Bay, WI: 62°, Madison, WI: 62°, Rockford, IL: 62°, Muskegon, MI: 60°, Dubuque, IA: 59°, Houghton Lake, MI: 59° and Alpena, MI: 59°-Tied.

1978
A small tornado cut a path 6 miles long near Zephyrhills, FL.  Three mobile homes were destroyed and 17 others were damaged.  Five brooder houses were also destroyed, resulting in the death of about 3,000 chickens.

A powerful winter storm began to produce heavy snows across mainly the Nebraska panhandle. By the time it ended the next day, Bridgeport, NE reported 15 inches and Scottsbluff, NE reported 11.5 inches.

1985
On this date through the 2nd, a winter storm produced 6 to 15 inches of snow from the Northern and Central Plains to parts of Michigan, with 36.4 inches reported at Marquette, MI.  Many roads were blocked by the blowing and drifting snow.  A family was stranded for 25 hours south of Colome, SD.  Drifts up to 12 feet high were reported in north central Nebraska.  Locations setting their greatest 24 hour snowfall total were
Jump River, WI: 17 inches, Necedah, WI: 16 inches, Winona, MN: 16 inches, tied 3/19/1933 and 3/30/1934 for greatest one-day snowfall, Spring Grove, MN: 15 inches, In IA: Decorah, IA: 14.5 inches,  Westby, WI: 13.5 inches and Mondovi, WI: 11.5 inches.

1987
A powerful storm hit the northwestern U.S.  Winds gusted to 94 mph at Cape Blanco, OR and 80 mph at Cape Disappointment, WA.  Thunderstorms in western Washington State produced wind gusts to 60 mph, and dime size hail at Hoquiam. Stevens Pass, in the Cascade Mountains of Washington, received 7 inches of snow during the morning hours.  Quillayute, WA recorded the lowest air pressure ever recorded on land in the continental United States at 28.40 inHg.

1988
Squalls in the Great Lakes Region produced up to a foot of snow in Ashtabula County, Ohio, up to 10 inches in Erie County, Pennsylvania, and up to a foot in western New York State.
Out west, Redding, CA tied their daily record high with 70° and Quillayute, WA set a record high with 58°.

1989
Heavy snow blanketed the mountains of New Mexico, with 12 inches reported at the Angel Fire Ski Basin.  Strong northerly winds ushering cold air into the north central U.S. gusted to 55 mph at Devils Lake, ND.  Low pressure over the Gulf of Alaska produced wind gusts to 69 mph at Kodiak Island.

1990
An F4 tornado struck the coastal city of Mobara, Japan injuring 100 people and destroying over 1,000 homes.

1998
An unprecedented late autumn heat wave shattered records from the Rockies to the East Coast courtesy of an upper level ridge extending from off the southeast coast to the southern Plains.  More than 70 record highs were set in the first 8 days of December alone, as temperatures rose into the 70s as far north as South Dakota and Maine.
Locations setting their all-time December high temperature record on this date included: Austin, MN and Mondovi, WI hit 65°, establishing their warmest December temperature.
Other locations reporting daily record highs included: Macon, GA: 79°, Columbus, GA: 79°-Tied, Galveston, TX: 78°, Pueblo, CO: 76°, Valentine, NE: 74°, Charlotte, NC: 74°-Tied, Scottsbluff, NE: 73°,  Greensboro, NC: 72°-Tied, Madera, CA: 71°, Colorado Springs, CO: 71°-Tied, Chattanooga, TN: 71°-Tied, Grand Island, NE: 70°, Lincoln, NE: 70°, Sioux City, IA: 70°, Wallops Island, VA: 70°, Norfolk, NE: 69°, Omaha, NE: 69°, Oak Ridge, TN: 69°-Tied, Minneapolis, MN: 68° (broke previous record by 11 degrees), Cheyenne, WY: 66°, Atlantic City, NJ: 65°-Tied, Waterloo, IA: 63°, Islip, NY: 62°, New York (Kennedy Airport), NY: 62°, Rochester, MN: 62°-Tied, St. Cloud, MN: 61°, La Crosse, WI: 61° and Binghamton, NY: 57°-Tied.
***See Slideshow***
2000
An early winter storm swept across eastern Newfoundland bringing nearly 22 inches of snow to St. John's.  The snow and winds over 55 mph cut power to thousands of residents.

2001
Strange bright lights were seen across the evening skies of Oklahoma and western north Texas. Witnesses described the lights as white and blue as they crossed the horizon from southwest to northeast then broke apart. The National Weather Service in Norman, OK speculated that it was likely space junk. The North American Aerospace Defense Command later officially confirmed that it was space debris from an expended Russian rocket reentering the atmosphere. The light show was seen in many places including Oklahoma City, Tulsa, Enid, Shawnee, Ok and as far west as the Texas Panhandle, and as far north as Wichita, KS.

2002
The game-time temperature at Lambeau Field in Green Bay, WI was 23°.  That meant a virtually guaranteed win for the Packers with QB Bret Favre starting.  The Packers won the game against the Chicago Bears 30-20, making Favre 34-0 at home when the temperature was 34° or below.  Favre's streak would come to an end a month later in a playoff game against the Atlanta Falcons.

2007
Heavy rain from a cutoff low with a tropical feed produced up to 6 inches of rain at Palomar Mountain and Forest Falls, CA beginning the previous day ending on this date. A debris flow, including large trees over the Poomacha Burn area buried a house in mud and caused serious damage to several vehicles. The flow was estimated at 15 feet high and 150 to 200 feet wide.