Hi everybody and welcome! I hope everybody had a great Christmas and you got that special gift you wanted from Santa. Actually, I got all my electronic toys and probably my most special gift of all is being married to my wife Carol from the classified department. That is one gift I can carry with me all year! Now we get look forward to the new year with all the great opportunities we will have to improve over whatever we were doing this year. The main objective is to have a safe and happy New Year!
Winter has finally arrived in full swing!! The past couple of days have been surprisingly cold for this time of year. In fact, on December 18th, I recorded a low of 36.9 degrees and on December 17th I saw a slightly warmer low of 44.6 degrees. This compares to a low of 56.8 set on December 18, 2002 and 41.9 degrees set on December 17th 2002. On December 18, 2001, the temperature went down to only 52 degrees. As you can see, we are somewhat colder then many previous years for this early in the winter. The extended forecast right now looks for a slow warming trend with New Years day being sunny with a high near 73 and a low of 54.
As of this writing on December 19th, freeze warnings are in place for Monroe and western Broward County. There were no freeze warnings issued for our area. We were, however, under a wind chill advisory. Wind chill values dropped into the 30’s in many locations.
Now on to the Time Capsule….
December 27, 1996 -- Pinellas -- Dense fog developed across West and Southwest Florida during the pre-dawn through late morning. Visibilities dropped to near zero at a few locations but consistently were reported at 1/8 of a mile over West and Southwest Florida observational sites through mid morning. Patchy dense fog lingered along coastal waterways and bays of West Central Florida through late morning. At 11:20 am, motorists heading northbound on the Pinellas County side of the Sunshine Skyway Bridge descended from the center span in sunshine and unlimited visibility into a patch of dense fog near sea level. A chain reaction of vehicle accidents occurred on the northbound lane followed by a similar chain reaction of accidents by rubber-neckers in the southbound lane. In total, fifty-four vehicles were involved in the fog-related accident. Of the fifty-four vehicles, 38 were automobiles, 11 were pick-up trucks, and 5 were semi-tractor trailer trucks. One 69-year-old female fatality occurred when her vehicle was crushed between a car carrier and a flatbed truck. Thirty persons were injured in the mishap.
December 28-29, 1894 -- statewide -- Severe Freeze with low temperatures of 12 degrees reported at Tallahassee, 14 at Jacksonville, 19 at Ocala, 18 at Orlando, and 20 at Bartow. Vegetable and pineapple crops killed. Citrus frozen in north and central Florida.
December 28, 1968 - - Lafayette Co., Mayo -- A 30 year old man was killed by lightning while sitting on a bed in a cabin at Steinhatchee National Forest.
December 28, 1978 -- Dade Co.-- Severe thunderstorm produced lightning and golf ball-size hail. The lightning killed a jockey at Calder Race Track. He was running for cover when struck.
December 29, l970 -- Panama City -- Waterspouts moved onshore near Panama City. Other waterspouts were sighted over the Gulf of Mexico.
December 30, l969 -- Duval Co., Jacksonville -- A Funnel Cloud was sighted.
December 31, -- statewide -- Severe Freeze with low temperatures of 20 degrees reported at Tallahassee, 16 at Gainesville, 20 at Ocala, 22 at Orlando, and 20 at Bartow.
December 31, l975 -- Marion Co., Ocala -- An unusually large tornado struck a mobile home park 7 miles southwest of Ocala, destroying 20 mobile homes and heavily damaging 50 more. One person died three weeks after the tornado, and of the 26 injuries, eight required extended hospitalization. Witnesses reported ping-pong ball size hail before the tornado.
January 1, l942 -- Washington Co. -- A tornado moved from Ebro to Greenhead and destroyed six buildings injuring five people.
January 1 1996 - - Brevard Co., Melbourne -- A
small F0 tornado touched down in the Eau Gallie area of Melbourne near
U.S. Highway 1. It moved east-northeast about one half mile and lifted as
it approached the Indian River Lagoon. The tornado blew down trees on top of
houses and garages and overturned a large travel trailer with estimated damage
at 40 thousand
dollars.
January 2, l972 -- Pinellas Co., St. Petersburg -- A small waterspout/tornado moved in from the Gulf of Mexico ripping a screened enclosure and roof from a house and downing power lines.
January 3, l994 -- Polk Co., Frostproof -- A tornado touched down four times, damaging cars, buildings, signs, and citrus trees. Windows were blown out of vehicles and stores. Flying debris injured an l2 year old boy. Brief tornado touchdowns were also reported in Alachua, Bradford, Baker, and Duval Counties.
Now for some National past weather events….
December 27, 1869 -- A post Christmas storm in New York and Vermont produced record storm totals of 30 inches at Burlington VT, and 39 inches at Montpelier Vt. A public emergency was declared in Vermont.
December 27, 1892 -- An Atlantic coast storm produced a record 18.6 inches of snow at Norfolk Va., including 17.7 inches in 24 hours. The storm also produced 9.5 inches of snow at Raleigh N.C., and brought snow to northern Florida for the first time in 35 years. (26th- 28th)
December 27, 1987 -- A winter storm produced snow and high winds in Wyoming, Colorado and Nebraska. Denver Colo. experienced its worst snowstorm since December 1983 as high winds gusting to 46 mph created near blizzard conditions, whipping the fifteen inch snow into drifts five feet high, and closing Stapleton Airport. Snowfall totals in the foothills southwest of Denver ranged up to 42 inches, at Intercanyon. Blizzard conditions raged across southeastern Wyoming through the day, stranding 300 holiday travelers in the tiny town of Chugwater. Heavier snowfall totals included 19 inches at La Grange Wyoming.
December 31, 1933 -- A 24 hour rainfall of 7.36 inches set the stage for the worst flood in Los Angeles history. Flooding claimed 44 lives.
December 31, 1941 -- Snow which began on New Year's Eve became a major blizzard on New Year's Day, burying Des Moines Iowa uunder 19.8 inches of snow in 24 hours, an all-time record for that location.
January 1, 1864 -- Snow, gales and severe cold hit the Midwest. It was the most bitter cold New Year's day of record with afternoon highs of 16 below zero at Chicago Ill. and 25 below at Minneapolis Minn.
January 1, 1934 -- Heavy rain which began on December 30th led to flooding in the Los Angeles Basin area of California. Flooding claimed the lives of at least 45 persons. Walls of water and debris up to ten feet high were noted in some canyon areas. Rainfall totals ranged up to 16.29 inches at Azusa, with 8.26 inches reported in Downtown Los Angeles.
January 1, 1987 -- A winter storm brought rain and snow and high winds to the Southern and Middle Atlantic Coast Region. The storm, which occurred in a period of unusually high astronomical tides, produced a tide of 9.4 feet at Myrtle Beach S.C. (their highest since Hurricane Hazel in 1954) which caused a total of 25 million dollars damage in South Carolina.
January 2, 1910 -- A great flood in Utah and Nevada washed out 100 miles of railroad between Salt Lake City Utah and Los Angeles Calif. causing seven million dollars damage.
January 2, 1987 -- A winter storm moving up the Atlantic coast brought heavy snow and high winds to the northeastern U.S. Wind gusts reached 82 mph at Trenton N.J. and Southwest Harbor in Maine. Snowfall totals ranged up to two feet at Salem N.H. and Waterboro Maine