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!
Last week I gave you a little insight on how I derived the name of Joe’s Disco. Now I want to tell you about how Joe’s Disco was reborn.
After we all started going our own ways around 1987. The Joe’s Disco parties became smaller and much less frequent and finally faded away in early 1988. For almost 10 years I stayed in touch with some of my disco friends and for the whole 10 years we always talked about the good times we had in the 80’s. Finally, in 1997, I decided to rebuild a new Joe’s Disco at my home in Port St. Lucie. The disco is built on my back porch and deck. The dance floor area is smaller then the original but even that could not kill the Joe’s Disco spirit. So, I got to work decorating and buying all new lights and speakers. The new disco is much more advanced in technology and has 4 strobes, 2 colored disco balls, red rotating lights, a color bar, a smoke machine and many more too numerous to mention. The whole disco works on a wireless handheld remote control. Once the construction was done, I had my first Joe’s Disco party on my birthday, which is April 23. I set out to contact as many of the originals as I could find and invited many more. The party was a smashing success! The air was full of excitement as we all reminisced days gone by and relived again the 1980’s. The reunion party was about as exciting as a party could possibly be and it renewed a lot of old friendships and started many new ones. My backyard disco is still used often even though a lot of the music has changed but the spirit will remain the same.
Now you know where the Joe’s Disco name actually came from. I have a couple of pictures of the deck and weather station posted on my Website. Click on the Photo Gallery link on the bottom of the page.
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 observatonal 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 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.
I would
like to take this opportunity to wish all my readers a very happy, safe and
prosperous New Year!
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!