Hi everybody and welcome! First and foremost I would like to thank all my readers for their great support. I really like hearing from you and getting your input on weather topics you would like to read about. Please e-mail me with your questions and comments at JOESDISCOWEATHER@AOL.COM or write to the Hometown News and mention my column.
This week I enjoyed a nice vacation week away from work. The week was interrupted on Tuesday when I had a complete computer crash. The worst nightmare type of crash when you have to format your hard drive and start all over. Luckily I had most of my important programs and pictures all on backup. Still, it took a good 17 hours to get the system back to the way I like it with all my programs installed. I had absolutely no Website updates for almost three days. But now, all is great, after a few temper tantrums, and the computer is faster then ever
This is the first week I had no tropical systems to talk about and all remains quiet in the tropics. Here at home the month of September was very dry. I only recorded a total of 7.01 inches here at the weather station. That is about half of what fell last year during the same time period. Last September I recorded 15.47 inches of precipitation. The high temperature was 93.9, which was set on September 1st compared to, believe it or not, 93.9 degrees last September 2nd. The low temperature for this month was 71.8, which was set on September 10th.Last years low was 68 degrees set on September 16th. The highest wind gust was 14 mph set on September 7th at 12:17 pm. Last years high gust was 28 mph recorded on September 26, 2001.
Here is some weather history for Central Illinois that I thought was interesting. September 14th, 1928 was the day of the Rockford tornado. The terrible event started as the tornado touched down eight miles southwest of town. The tornado traveled over two miles across the southwest part of the city crossing Grant Highway as it moved into the county. Most of the eight deaths, 40 injuries and 1.2 million dollars damage occurred in the destruction of a chair factory. There was much destruction throughout the city. Rockford is about 81 miles nw of Chicago. Speaking of Chicago, on October 19th 1989, a strong Canadian cold front moved through the area leaving a blanket of snow across much of the area. Chicago received 3.8 inches of snow making it the earliest time the city received one inch or more of snow for any season. Another 1.8 inches. fell the next day with a 3day total of 6.3 inches. This made it the snowiest October on record.
Now on to the Time Capsule.
October 25-26, 1921 -- A hurricane made landfall near Tarpon Springs with winds of 100 mph and a 10.5-foot storm surge on the evening of the 25th and crossed the peninsula, exiting near Ponce De Leon Inlet on the morning of the 26th. There was great damage in the Tampa area. Eggmont and Sanibel Islands were practically covered with water. Six deaths attributed to this storm.
October 25 l98l, -- Calhoun Co., Blountstown - A Tornado damaged 75 houses and destroyed three. The high school football stadium was destroyed and trees and power lines were downed. Twelve persons were injured. The tornado did all this damage in less than five minutes.
October 26, 1968 -- northwest Florida --Canadian high-pressure system behind a strong cold front brought an early cold spell to northwest Florida. Cross City reported and all-time October record low of 30 degrees.
October 26, 1979 - - Palm Beach Co. - A waterspout was observed 15 miles southeast of Palm Beach.
27-29 1942 - north Florida - Early Cold Spell with freezing temperatures and damaging frost extending southward to north Florida border.
October 27, l972 -- Gulf Co., near Apalachicola - A tornado destroyed five homes, two churches, and five trailers. One pickup truck was overturned and the driver sustained a shoulder injury. Taylor Co., Cedar Island - Tornado unroofed a dozen homes and knocked six houses over on Dark Island. Two cars and six boats were also destroyed. One injury.
October 28,1957 -- north and northwest Florida - Arctic high pressure center dipped to the Gulf Coast and brought widespread unseasonably cold weather to much of north Florida.
October 28 - 3l, l985 -- Panhandle and West Coast - -Hurricane Juan -- Persistent high winds caused high water and waves along the west coast and panhandle of Florida, resulting in minor beach erosion and flooding as Juan passed well west of Florida. Some seawalls previously weakened by Hurricane Elena were destroyed. Most of the severe weather reported on the 28th through the 3lst was related to the fringes of Hurricane Juan. Four tornadoes and waterspouts on evening of the 28th in the Panhandle injured six.
October 29, l993 -- Wakulla Co., Panacea -- A waterspout/tornado ripped the roof off a vacation home and damaged a screen porch.
October 29 l986 -- Brevard Co., Palm Bay - A tornado damaged the roofs of l2 homes and moved a pickup truck l5 feet.
October 30 l967 -- Escambia Co., Pensacola -- A Tornado moved through West Pensacola damaging between 550 and 600 buildings. Forty-four people were injured, five required hospitalization.
October 31 1958 -- Manatee Co., Palmetto -- A tornado damaged four homes north of the Sarasota Airport. A hotel was also heavily damaged. Four people were injured.
October 31, l960 -- Lee Co., Sanibel Island -- A tornado moved across the island and demolished a small marina. An employee of the marina was killed.
31 l973 -2230 - Pinellas/Hillsborough Co., Largo -A tornado damaged about l75 homes (mostly trailers), a school, and shopping center.
October 1-3, 1956 -- entire east coast -- A Tropical Depression that moved north out of Cuba on October 31st and made a loop east of Florida on the 1st through 3rd brought high tides and heavy surf to much of east Florida. Extensive property damage and beach erosion was reported from Jacksonville to Neptune Beach. Many beach roads and oceanfront properties were undermined at various points by pounding surf.
That’s it
for this week’s time capsule and I sincerely hope you enjoyed it. As always for
the latest tropical and severe weather updates go to
JOESDISCOWEATHERCENTRAL.COM.