Weather History - July 5: Record Heat, Cold, Severe Storms, Lightning, Hail, Fire and Flooding

July 4, 7:42 PMWilmington Weather ExaminerCharlie Wilson

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Listed are Meteorological events that happened on July 5th:

1643
(15 July 15th on current calendar) A violent windstorm hit the Plymouth Colony. The "sudden gust" downed trees and killed one Native American. This may have been the first documented American tornado or microburst.

1816
In parts of New England and the Middle Atlantic, crop damage was severe and fruit trees were killed. In parts of Pennsylvania ice was found the thickness of window glass.

1882
A trace of snow was observed at Newton, NJ and other locations in the Northeast.

1900
Lightning struck the Standard Oil Refinery at Bayonne, NJ.  A massive three day fire resulted with burning oil floating on the bay waters.  The smoke column rose to 13,000 feet.  Total damage was $2 million dollars.

1916
A very destructive early season hurricane struck the Mobile, AL and Pensacola, FL areas. Seven deaths resulted. Winds reached 82 mph with gusts as high as 104 mph in parts of the Florida Panhandle and tides were up to 11.6 feet above normal. The pressure at Fort Morgan, AL was measured at 961 millibars.

1925
An immense hailstone weighing 0.5 lb fell at Plumstead, just outside of London, England, This was the heaviest hailstone ever recorded in the United Kingdom.

1936
South Dakota recorded its hottest temperature ever with a reading of 120° at Gann Valley.  This same day Sioux Falls reached 109°, their second hottest temperature on record. 3 of the 4 hottest days on record in Sioux Falls occurred during the Dust Bowl summer of 1936.

Canada's longest and deadliest heat wave continued through the 17th claimed 1,180 lives (mostly elderly and infants). Temperatures in Manitoba and Ontario exceed 111°.

1937
The temperature at Medicine Lake, MT soared to 117° to establish a state record.  In Saskatchewan, Midale and Yellow Grass each hit 113° to establish an all-time record for Canada.

1967
Canadian high pressure continued to bring record lows to parts of the upper Midwest.  Daily record lows included: Duluth, MN: 36°, Rochester, MN: 42°, Rockford, IL: 43°, Asheville, NC: 46°, Bristol, TN: 48°, Oak Ridge, TN: 51°, Richmond, VA: 52°, Knoxville, TN: 54°, Wallops Island, VA: 56°, Charlotte, NC: 57°, Greenville-Spartanburg, SC: 58° and Macon, GA: 61°.
***See Slideshow***

1970
Usually, the extreme heat of desert days is followed by relatively chilly nighttime readings. Not on this date at Death Valley, CA. The morning low was 103° was followed by an afternoon high of 120°.

Wichita Falls, TX tied a July record low with 54°.

1972
Temperatures fell to record lows in the upper 30s and lower 40s across the Great Lakes region. The 37° at Lansing, MI was their coldest July reading of the 20th century.  Other daily records included: Alpena, MI: 37°, Casper, WY: 38°, Sioux Falls, SD: 39°, Ste. St. Marie, MI: 39°, Huron, SD: 40°, Madison, WI: 40°, North Platte, NE: 42°, Topeka, KS: 43°, St. Cloud, MN: 43°, Flint, MI: 43°, Denver, CO: 43°, Omaha, NE: 44°, Norfolk, NE: 44°, Rapid City, SD: 44°, Green Bay, WI: 44°, Grand Rapids, MI: 44°, Dubuque, IA: 45°, Waterloo, IA: 45°, Minneapolis-St. Paul, MN: 45°, Milwaukee, WI: 45°, Springfield, MO: 46°, Chicago, IL: 46°, Grand Island, NE: 47°, Sioux City, IA: 47°, La Crosse, WI: 47°, Moline, IL: 47°, Peoria, IL: 47°, Detroit, MI: 47°, Concordia, KS: 48°, Des Moines, IA: 48°, Lincoln, NE: 49°, Columbia, MO: 49°, Indianapolis, IN: 49°, Columbus, OH: 49°, Wichita, KS: 51°, St. Louis, MO: 53°, Fort Smith, AR: 56°, Chattanooga, TN: 59° and Birmingham, AL: 59°.
***See Slideshow***

1985
Utah recorded its official hottest temperature ever when the city of St. George reached 117°.

1986
The early morning temperature at Boise, ID dropped to 35° to set a daily record and a record for the month of July.

1987
Severe thunderstorms raked south central Kansas for the second morning in a row. Thunderstorm winds again gusted to 80 mph at Clearwater, and the Wichita area reached 100 mph. 25 people were injured at a trailer park at El Dorado Lake.

1988
Afternoon and evening thunderstorms spawned 11 tornadoes in Montana and three in North Dakota. Baseball size hail was reported at Shonkin, MT, and wind gusts to 85 mph were reported south of Fordville, ND.

20 cities in the north central U.S. reported record high temperatures for the date, including Fargo, ND: 106°, Grand Forks, ND: 104°, Rapid City, SD: 103°, Fort Wayne, IN: 99°, Toledo, OH: 99°, Lansing, MI: 99°, St. Cloud, MN: 98°, Cincinnati, OH: 98°, International Falls, MN: 96°, Green Bay, WI: 96°, Lexington, KY: 96°, Detroit, MI: 96°, Mansfield, OH: 95° and Marquette, MI: 94°. Muskegon, MI equaled their July record with a high of 95°.
***See Slideshow***

1989
Moisture from what once was Tropical Storm Allison triggered thunderstorms over the Mid-Atlantic region, which deluged Wilmington, DE with a record 6.83 inches of rain in 24 hours, including 6.37 inches in just six hours. Up to 10 inches of rain was reported at Claymont, northeast of Wilmington. July 1989 was thus the wettest month in 70 years for Wilmington, with a total of 12.63 inches of rain.

The temperature in Denver, Colorado rose above 100° for the second day in a row, hitting 101°, setting records for the date.  The occurrence also marks the second time in history at Denver that the temperature has risen above the century mark on two consecutive days previously recorded on July 4th and 5th, 1972.
Alamosa, CO reported an all-time record high of 96°, and Pierre SD hit 113°.  Other daily records included: Borrego Springs, CA: 118°, Scottsbluff, NE: 108°, Grand Junction, CO: 104° and Cheyenne, WY: 96°.

1993
Big rains deluged the Central Plains once again as one of the greatest river floods in U.S. history continued to unfold.  24 hours total rainfall included 5.90 inches at Columbia, IA, 5.50 inches at Chariton, IA, 5.15 inches at Centralia, KS, and 4.80 inches at Haddam, KS.

1994
The South Canyon Fire was growing on Storm King Mountain near Glenwood Springs, CO. The fire would double in size during the night. Strong winds from a cold front would fan the flames the following afternoon into a blowup that would overrun firefighters battling the blaze. 14 firefighters perished.

1998
Hopeful Floridians, harried by the scourge of out-of-control wildfires turned their eyes toward a tropical weather system in the Caribbean as a potential source of much-needed rainfall. About 110,000 residents were still under evacuation orders on this date.

2000
Thunderstorms repeatedly moved over parts of southeast Illinois during the morning, producing rainfall of 5 to 6 inches.  Numerous roads were reported closed by flood waters.  A road north of Noble, in Richland County, collapsed.  Flooding along Highway 40 west of Effingham caused a 6 by 10 foot hole underneath the pavement, and a train track trestle over the Salt Creek River had a 50 by 100 foot hole washed out under the tracks.  Three homes in Newton were evacuated due to flood waters, and four mobile homes and one house in Wheeler were also evacuated.

The temperature at Tuscaloosa, AL reached 100°. It was the first of a scorching 15 straight days with temperatures in the triple digits.  Alamosa, CO fell to a record low of 34°. 

2001
2.20 inches of rain fell in just 15 minutes at Pine Mountain, CA in Kern County.  Water over a foot deep was reported on most streets in town.

International Falls, MN set a record low with 34°.

2003
An early morning band of severe thunderstorms blew across Northern Illinois with peak winds reported at 104 mph at Rockford. Over 80,000 people were without power for various durations after the storm.

The worst snowstorm in 50 years struck across New Zealand, causing power outages to thousands of homes and businesses and stranding hundreds of motorists. In some areas, 12 inches of snow fell.

2004
For the second day in a row a derecho, a line of thunderstorms that produces widespread damaging winds, tracked from southeast Kansas into central Missouri across the Lake of the Ozarks region.

2007
Ash Mountain, CA set their all-time record high with 118°. 

2008
A streak of 26 consecutive days of 90°+ heat beginning on June 13th ended on this date, shattering the previous record of 18 consecutive days established in 1874 & 1901.