Joe’s Disco Weather Central time Capsule

Hi everybody and welcome! I don’t know about you but I am enjoying the slightly cooler and drier temperatures. With the drier air starting to move in and the rainfall decreasing for the season comes a new threat for people who live in wooded areas. The fire season is approaching and I would mention a few things you can do to help prevent a disaster in the event of a wildfire in your area. A brush fire just a few houses away about 3 days ago reminded me all too well of the devastating wildfire that swept through Port St. Lucie just a couple of years ago. There are several things you can do to help protect your home and increase your chances of getting by with little or no damage. First, try to keep a 30-foot vegetation buffer between your house and the edge of the wooded area. Clear out as much dead and dry vegetation as possible. Rake up dead leaves that may be scattered around your yard to remove as much fuel as possible. Keeping your lawn healthy and green cam\n also help as it is less likely to catch fire then a lawn with a lot of dry grass. If you have gutters, be sure to keep them clear of pine needles. Pine needles are an excellent combustion source and can quickly catch fire from hot embers. Do the same on your roof. Remove the pine needles and other debris to keep the chances of combustion as low as possible. If you are told to evacuate, do so. Remember, unlike a hurricane, you will have very little time to gather belongings. Always have a plan in place so you can quickly access important papers or pictures and leave quickly. Another option is to have your important papers or pictures in a safety deposit box. Take your pets with you. If your house should catch fire, they will have no way to escape. Keep up with the latest fire weather forecasts especially when a very dry cold front passes through the region. The dry air in combination with the gusty winds can be just the right ingredients needed to fuel a serious fire. Last but not least, keep your eyes open for any suspicious activity in your neighborhood. Many wild fires are intentionally set. A little common sense can get us all through the fire season safely!!

Just a few climatologic notes. On October 30, 2002 the temperature at Vero Beach reached 91 degrees which broke the previous record set in 1993 of 89 degrees. Vero also broke the old record on October 29. The high at Vero reached 88 degrees and broke the existing record of 86 degrees which was set in 1996. The temperature here in Port St Lucie at the weather station was 85 degrees compared to 76 degrees on the same date last year. The rainfall for this October was only .16 inches for the month. The rainfall last year was 15.59 inches all recorded at my weather station near St Lucie West. We had a very dry October. The highest wind gust recorded at the weather station was 13 mph on 10/18/02 compared to 18 mph last year recorded on 10/08/01.

Now, on to the Time Capsule.

Here are some National Past Weather events….

November 8, 1943 -- An early season snowstorm raged across eastern South Dakota and Minnesota into northern Wisconsin. The storm produced 22 inches of snow at Fairbult and Marshall MN, 20 inches at Redwood Falls MN, and 10.1 inches at Minneapolis. Drifts fifteen feet high were reported in Cottonwood County MN. The storm produced up to two feet of snow in South Dakota smothering a million Thanksgiving day turkeys. (6th-8th)

November 8, 1953 -- Residents of New York City suffered through ten days of smog resulting in 200 deaths.

November 9, 1913 -- The "freshwater fury", a rapidly deepening cyclone, caused unpredicted gales on the Great Lakes. Eight large ore carriers on Lake Erie sank drowning 270 sailors. Cleveland OH reported 17.4 inches of snow in 24 hours, and a total of 22.2 inches, both all-time records for that location. During the storm, winds at Cleveland averaged 50 mph, with gusts to 79 mph. The storm produced wind gusts to 80 mph at Buffalo NY, and buried Pickens WV under three feet of snow. (9th-11th)

November 9, 1989 -- High winds prevailed along the eastern slopes of the Rockies from the afternoon of the 8th into the early morning hours of the 9th. Winds of 50 to 80 mph prevailed across the northwest chinook area of Wyoming, with gusts to 100 mph. Winds in Colorado gusted to 97 mph at Fritz Peak (located near Rollinsville) the evening of the 8th, and early in the morning on the 9th, gusted to 78 mph west of Fort Collins.

November 10, 1915 -- An unusually late season tornado struck the central Kansas town of Great Bend killing eleven persons along its 35 mile track. The tornado destroyed 160 homes in Great Bend killing 11 persons and causing a million dollars damage. Hundreds of dead ducks dropped from the sky northeast of the track's end.

November 10, 1975 -- Another "freshwater fury" hit the Great Lakes. A large ore carrier on Lake Superior, the Edmund Fitzgerald, sank near Crisp Point with the loss of its crew of 29 men. Eastern Upper Michigan and coastal Lower Michigan were hardest hit by the storm, which produced wind gusts to 71 at Sault Ste Marie MI, and gusts to 78 mph at Grand Rapids MI. Severe land and road erosion occurred along the Lake Michigan shoreline. A popular hit song by Gordon Lightfoot was inspired by the storm.

November 11. 1911 -- The central U.S. experienced perhaps its most dramatic cold wave of record. During the early morning temperatures across the Central Plains ranged from 68 degrees at Kansas City to 4 above North Platte NE. In Kansas City, the temperature warmed to a record 76 degrees by late morning before the arctic front moved in from the northwest. Skies become overcast, winds shifted to the northwest, and the mercury began to plummet. By early afternoon it was cold enough to snow, and by midnight the temperature had dipped to a record cold reading of 11 degrees above zero. Oklahoma City also established a record high of 83 degrees and record low of 17 degrees that same day (11/11/11). In southeastern Kansas, the temperature at Independence plunged from 83 degrees to 33 degrees in just one hour. The arctic cold front produced severe thunderstorms and tornadoes in the Mississippi Valley, a blizzard in the Ohio Valley, and a dust storm in Oklahoma.

November 11, 1987 -- A deepening low pressure system brought heavy snow to the east central U.S. The Veteran's Day storm produced up to 17 inches of snow in the Washington D.C. area snarling traffic and closing schools and airports. Afternoon thunderstorms produced five inches of snow in three hours. Gale force winds lashed the Middle and Northern Atlantic Coast. Norfolk VA reported their earliest measurable snow in 99 years of records.

November 13, 1933 -- The first dust storm of the great dust bowl era of the 1930s occurred. The dust storm, which had spread from Montana to the Ohio Valley the day before, prevailed from Georgia to Maine resulting in a black rain over New York and a brown snow in Vermont. Parts of South Dakota, Minnesota and Iowa reported zero visibility on the 12th. On the 13th, dust reduced the visibility to half a mile in Tennessee.

November 13, 1946 -- General Electric scientists produced snow in the Massachusetts Berkshires in the first modern day cloud seeding experiment.

November 14, 1989 -- Unseasonably warm weather prevailed east of the Rockies. Temperatures reached 70 degrees as far north as New England, and readings in the 80s were reported across the southeast quarter of the nation. Nineteen cities reported record high temperatures for the date. For the second time in the month Dallas/Fort Worth TX equalled their record for November with an afternoon high of 89 degrees. The high of 91 degrees at Waco TX was their warmest of record for so late in the season. Heavy snow blanketed parts of Wyoming overnight, with a foot of snow reported at Cody, and ten inches at Yellowstone Park.

Here are past weather events from Florida……

November 8, l896 -- Union Co. -- A Tornado destroyed one home at Lake Butler.

November 9, l968 -- All Day -- Statewide -- A major storm from the Gulf of Mexico moved across north Florida. Most reporting stations had maximum sustained winds of 20 to 30 mph, but several observers in the Tampa area reported gusts of 50 to 62 mph. At least a dozen tornadoes were reported over central and south Florida as a squall line swept across the peninsula south of the low. -- Collier/Hendry Counties -- A tornado struck near Naples, toppling a 705-ft tower and flattening a hunting camp. It swept through a labor camp and toppled a dozen houses. Two persons were killed, and two injured, when their trailer was carried 25 ft and demolished. 17 other injuries. A tornado moved northeast through Tampa, Plant City, Lakeland, and Windermere injuring three. Brevard, Melbourne -- A tornado, described as a "white swirling mass" unroofed one building and broke several plate glass windows at the Melbourne Shopping Center and Brevard Mall. Other tornadoes in Pasco, Sumter, Sarasota, Palm Beach, Pinellas, and Hillsborough Counties injured eight people.

November l0, l963 - - Charlotte Co., Punta Gorda -- A tornado unroofed four houses and damaged l0 others in Harbour Heights. - Indian River Co., Wabasso - A tornado moved from SW to NW and then out to sea damaging l0 homes. Several citrus trees were uprooted.

November 11, l947 -- early morning -- Washington Co. -- A tornado unroofed or tore apart a dozen homes at Ebro. - Okaloosa Co., Eglin Field - A tornado damaged three large planes and wrecked a barracks injuring 15 people. -- Taylor Co. - A tornado was reported in Perry.

November 11, l968 -- All Day - Statewide -- Second major storm in three days (see 9 1968) from the Gulf of Mexico crossed north Florida. Most reporting stations had maximum sustained winds of 25 to 45 mph, but observers in the Tampa Bay area reported gusts of 50 to 75 mph. Tides at Tarpon Springs were 3ft. above normal at 3pm. Over a dozen tornado/waterspouts/funnel clouds were reported in central and south Florida. The strongest tornado crossed Collier and /Hendry Cos., damaging l7 homes in Naples. Five homes were unroofed and torn apart. It skipped over to Clewiston destroying a barn and injuring three men.

November 11-12, 1980 - - Monroe Co. -- Heavy rain -- More than 23 inches of rain fell on Key West. This is greatest 24-hour amount ever recorded in Key West. Widespread flooding caused heavy damage to about 300 cars and 500 homes and businesses. Five waterspouts were sighted during the afternoon of the 12th.

November l2, l979 - - Martin Co. -- A funnel cloud hovered for l0 minutes over St. Lucie River near Stuart then retreated without touching down.

November 13, 1969 -- afternoon -- north central Florida - Tornado struck Beville's Corner (sw of Leesburg) in Sumter Co., damaged 10 buildings, three homes, and 11 mobile homes - injuring one. Two were killed in a traffic accident on SR 476 near the tornado site. Another tornado struck Inverness in Citrus County, damaging trailers. Hail reported up to l l/2" in Brevard and Baker Cos. Lightning caused a fire in Lake Wales (Polk Co.) that destroyed an auto parts shop and a car.

November 13-l6, l994 -- south, east central, and northeast Florida -- Tropical Storm Gordon - after a serpentine track through the Caribbean Sea, Gordon began affecting south Florida on the l3th when located off the northeast coast of Cuba. Gordon moved slowly west-northwest, reaching the lower Florida Keys late on the l5th. On the l6th, Gordon turned northeast and accelerated, moving inland near Ft. Myers in the morning and exiting into the Atlantic just north of Vero Beach in the late afternoon. After becoming a hurricane off the coast of North Carolina, then weakening to a tropical depression and moving south and west, Gordon moved ashore a second time just north of Melbourne on the 21st.

The maximum sustained wind was 53 mph at Virginia Key in east Dade County, and the minimum central pressure was 995 MB shortly after initial landfall near Ft. Myers. Gordon directly caused eight fatalities and 43 injuries. Seven of the deaths were by drowning, five in the Atlantic off the southeast coast, and two when cars plunged into canals in Dade County. One death and 40 injuries resulted from a tornado in Brevard County (see 15 1994 - 1853), one of six tornadoes spun off by Gordon on the evening of the 15th. There were three indirect deaths, one from a heart attack while pushing a car stalled in a flooded road, and two in traffic accidents. Gordon's total damage is estimated around $400 million. Agricultural interests suffered $275 million in losses, primarily from freshwater flooding caused by widespread rainfalls totaling six to l6 inches. Vegetable and tropical fruit crops in south Florida were particularly hard hit. Inland flooding caused damage to buildings through both rising freshwater and collapse of rain-loaded roofs. Especially hard hit was Volusia County where l236 buildings (977 single family homes, 68 mobile homes and l39 multi-family buildings) reported flood damage, and losses were estimated at over $26 million. Public works suffered from the effects of both water and wind with damage to roadways, sewer facilities, utility lines and signs. Marine effects included several boat sinkings or groundings, including a 506-foot freighter beached off Ft. Lauderdale. At least 37 people were rescued from sinking boats. One woman was rescued after being swept l000 yards off a fishing pier in Boynton Beach. Atlantic beaches suffered moderate to locally severe erosion that undermined a few buildings. Several sea walls and beach access walks were destroyed. Some coastal roads along the east coast were inundated by a storm tide, estimated to be a maximum of one to two feet along Miami Beach.

November 14, 1969 -l320 -- Okeechobee Co. -- A tornado demolished three trailers and injured two people north of Okeechobee. Several homes, a dairy barn, and an l4 ft boat were damaged.

November15 1916 -- Keys and south Florida -- A weak hurricane moved through the Keys from the southwest and weakened rapidly as it moved into the Atlantic.

November 15, 1983 - - Walton Co., Sandestin - Thunderstorm winds damaged a construction site and injured six workers.

November 15, l994 - - Brevard Co., Micco -- A waterspout/tornado, on the outer fringes of Tropical Storm Gordon, struck the Barefoot Bay area of southern Brevard County. A 74-year-old-male was killed by trauma to the head, and about 40 people were injured. Six people were hospitalized, two in serious condition. About 63 mobile homes were destroyed and l8l had minor damage. Five other, weaker, tornadoes were reported along the east coast during the evening of the 15th, four in Palm Beach Co., and one in Volusia Co. No injuries were reported.

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!