Joes Disco Weather Central Time Capsule for April 25

 

            Hi everybody and welcome. Summer like weather has finally arrived and many people are beginning to really fix up their yards for the season. Nothing can beat the wonderful feel of a lush backyard paradise. One thing that can really strike a pose is color. The color you can get from many seasonal plants. One idea is to create a gateway to your garden by using an arbor as a grand entrance. A great way to decorate your arbor is with colorful mandevilla plants. These colorful vining plants can make a plain arbor look almost enchanting.

            The mandevilla is a tender woody vine that is often used by people in warmer climates. These plants provide almost year round color for a spectacular display. The mandevilla plants come in pink and white varieties. The plant blooms heaviest during the summer although you will have sporadic blooms almost all year. Since the plants are vines, they will need a support to grow on such as the arbor I already mentioned or a trellis. The plants will grow up to 10 feet tall. A close cousin to the mandevilla is the dipladenia. The flowers on this plant are somewhat smaller and they can either be grown as a low bush or used on a trellis or arbor.

            Mandavilla’s like a lot of sun so they can get the most blooms possible. They will take part shade although they may not get as many blooms. They should be watered on a regular basis but they can be somewhat forgiving if you forget now and then. The plants are very hardy but will not tolerate extreme cold or freezes very well. The plants can also be easily propagated by using products such as Rootone. Simply dip the damp cutting in the hormone powder and plant in small starter pots until the plants “take”. They can then be planted in your favorite part of the garden. Happy gardening and enjoy the show!

 

            Now on to the Time Capsule…

 

 April 25 l99l -- afternoon -- Central Florida -- Widespread Severe weather outbreak. Many reports of tornadoes and severe thunderstorm winds during the afternoon with widespread minor property damage and only two minor injuries. Weak tornadoes struck Largo and Indian Shores in Pinellas County. - Lakeland and Mulberry in Polk County. and near McDill AFB and Temple Terrace in Hillsborough County Severe Thunderstorm Winds struck Clearwater, St. Petersburg Beach, Tampa, Sarasota, Venice, Port Charlotte, Wauchula, Arcadia, Avon Park, Lake Wales, Sebastian and Miami. Hail was also reported in Sarasota, Polk, and Pinellas Counties. Lightning struck a man working under a truck south of Miami.

 April 26, l954 -- Polk Co., Winter Haven -- Hail of "walnut to egg" size broke a few windows and caused minor damage to citrus fruit.

April 26, l993 -- Washington Co., Wausau -- Tornado touched down several times, damaged several homes, a church, barns, boats, overturned a 35,000 lb tractor trailer and uprooted many large trees.

 April 26, 1994 -- Charlotte Co., Punta Gorda -- A large waterspout crossed a bridge over the Peace River between Port Charlotte and Punta Gorda. A pickup on the bridge was thrown 60' down into the river, injuring the driver. Two cars were rolled over and an infant in one suffered cuts. Funnel clouds and dime-size hail were reported in the area.

 April 26, 1995 -- Volusia Co., New Symrna Beach -- A 74-year old male resident of Deltona drowned in a rip current.

 April 27 l979 -- Duval Co., Jacksonville -- Thunderstorm winds downed power lines, and damaged several boats, roofs, and docks. Quarter inch hail also fell.

 April 27, l980 -- Monroe Co.-- Thunderstorm wind gusts over hurricane force swept across the Florida Keys. A woman drowned when a boat capsized. This storm occurred during Cuban evacuation with estimated l0 to l5 boats sunk and at least two men drowned. True Cuban death toll not known.

 April 28, l990 -- Baker Co., S. Baxter -- Thunderstorm winds downed several trees. -- Holmes County, Bonifay -- Thunderstorm winds downed several trees and power lines. -- Putnam Co., Bostwick -- Thunderstorm winds downed power lines.

 April 29, l955 -- Ft. Pierce to Miami -- Wind, Rain, Hail, Lightning - Storm most severe in Fort Lauderdale area where winds of 90 mph with gusts to l30 mph. Hailstones marble size at Fort Pierce and Miami Beach, egg size at Fort Lauderdale. Hail damaged roofs, smashed windows, dented automobiles, and cut shrubbery to shreds. Lightning contributed to property damage by burning out portions of electric power distribution systems.

 April 29, l979 -- afternoon -- SE Palm Beach, Broward, and Dade Counties - A severe thunderstorm with golf ball size hail caused damage to fruit trees, nursery plants, and foliage crops. Power lines and trees were downed.

 April 30, l988 -- Okeechobee Co. -- A tornado damaged five buildings, including City Hall, and downed trees.

 April 30, 1996 -- Citrus Co. -- Thunderstorm winds produced eight-foot waves, which capsized and sunk a 30-foot fishing vessel
in Homosassa Bay.

 May 1, l978 -- afternoon-evening -- north central Florida -- A line of severe thunderstorms moved through northern Florida accompanied by strong gusty winds, lightning, torrential rain, and several reports of hail. Widespread tree damage occurred, many power lines were blown down, and several fires were started by lightning. Many large trees crashed into homes and cars and fell across roads. Tornadoes and severe thunderstorm winds were reported in Alachua, Putnam, Brevard, and Duval Counties. Five persons received minor injuries. Four were injured in a shopping center parking lot in Cocoa (Brevard Co.) when high winds blew down a large tent and damaged cars.

 May 2, l929 -- Duval Co., Jacksonville Heights and Ortega - Tornado destroyed seven homes and damaged l5 others. A man was killed in a farmhouse.

 May 2, l964 -- entire day -- North Florida -- Madison, Hamilton, Baker, Union, Clay, Columbia, Duval, St. Johns, Putnam and Bradford Counties -- Heavy rains from a slow moving low pressure system caused considerable local flooding on most streams and forced evacuation of some residential areas. Maxville and Middleburg communities were hardest hit. Two persons drowned at Maxville while fleeing rising waters. Hail fell in scattered areas and caused some crop damage. Early on the morning of the 3rd thunderstorm winds unroofed two houses and damaged other homes and commercial buildings at Roseland in Indian River County.

            Here are some National past weather events…

 

 April 25, 1875 -- New York City received three inches of snow, the latest measurable snow of record for that location.

April 25, 1984 -- A late season snowstorm struck the Northern Rockies and the Northern Plains. The storm produced some unsually high snowfall totals. The town of Lead, located in the Black Hills of western South Dakota, was buried under 67 inches of snow. Red Lodge, located in the mountains of southern Montana, reported 72 inches of snow. Up to 60 inches blanketed the mountains of northern Wyoming. It was rated the worst late season storm of record for much of the affected area. (25th-28th)

April 25, 1990 -- Thunderstorms produced severe weather from Texas to Nebraska. Thunderstorms spawned fifteen tornadoes, including a powerful (F-4) tornado near Weatherford Texas. Between 3 PM and 8 PM, a storm complex tracking northeastward across central Kansas spawned four tornadoes along a 119-mile path from Ness to Smith Center, with the last tornado on the ground for 55 miles. Del Rio Texas was raked with hail two inches in diameter, and wind gusts to 112 mph. Brown County and Commanche County in Texas were deluged with up to 18 inches of rain, and flooding caused more than 65 million dollars damage. Two dozen cities in the north central U.S. reported record high temperatures for the date. Highs of 87 degrees at Flint Michigan and 90 degrees at Alpena Michigan were records for April.

April 25, 1978 -- An unusually strong occluded front swept out of the Gulf of Alaska and produced the first April thunderstorm of record at Fairbanks. Pea size hail fell northeast of Fairbanks from thunderstorms whose tops were less than 8000 feet.

 April 27, 1987 -- Forty-two cities in the western and south central U.S. reported record high temperatures for the date. The afternoon high of 87 degrees at Olympia Washington was an April record, and highs of 92 degrees at Boise Idaho, 95 degrees at Monroe Louisiana, and 96 degrees at Sacramento California tied April records. (The National Weather Summary) More than 300 daily temperature records fell by the wayside during a two week long heat wave across thirty-four states in the southern and western U.S. Thirteen cities established records for the month of April.

April 28, 1921 -- A severe hailstorm in Anson County North Carolina produced hail the size of baseballs. Gardens, grain fields and trees were destroyed. Pine trees in the storm's path had to be cut for lumber because of the hail damage.

 

That’s all for this weeks Time Capsule. I hope you enjoyed it. I love to hear from you! Please e-mail me your ideas and suggestions to JOESDISCOWEATHER@AOL.COM. As always, for the latest in severe weather updates and now winter weather updates from your hometown go to JOESDISCOWEATHERCENTRAL.COM! You can also join me for a free cup of coffee and a free copy of The Hometown News at the Stuart K Mart garden center every Saturday morning!