Hi everybody and welcome! I hope everybody is enjoying the beautiful weather we have been having. The lower temperatures and humidity have absolutely been a real treat. The weather should stick around for another week. That will mean excellent weather for the Florida Marlin’s World Series championship! Tropical storm Nicholas should stay well out to sea and not be a bother to us.
The excellent weather should give us all an opportunity to get out and do many of the outdoor yard chores we have all been putting off all summer. I know I have been doing a lot of sprucing up myself by putting in new outdoor lighting and creating pathways and islands. It is also a great opportunity to get out and see the sights. It is a great time of year to enjoy many of the great theme parks we have at our disposal such as Miami Metro Zoo and Sea World. It is also a great time to get out to some of our beautiful beaches we are blessed with. If you really think about it, we have some of the best weather in the country and we have a real multitude of things to do and places to see. We truly live in a wonderful place that is the closest thing to paradise you could ever find.
Now on to the Time Capsule…
October 24, l969 -- morning -- Palm Beach Co., Riviera Beach -- Winds -- A house boat sank after being battered by high winds and lashing water. Winds reported at 40-45 mph. - 16l6 - Boca Raton - Wind gusts at 42 mph caused a large crane to slip from a derrick barge.
October 25-26, 1921 -- peninsula -- 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 -- morning -- 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.
October 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-Bradenton 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.
October 31, l973 -- Pinellas/Hillsborough Co., Largo --A tornado damaged about l75 homes (mostly trailers), a school
Here are some national past weather events…
October 24,1785 --A four day rain swelled the Merrimack River in New Hampshire and Massachusetts to the greatest height of record causing extensive damage to bridges and mills.
October 24, 1878 -- A hurricane produced widespread damage across North Carolina, Virginia, Maryland, New Jersey and Pennsylvania. At Philadelphia Pennsylvania, the hurricane was the worst of record.
October 24,1987 -- Snow fell across northeast Minnesota and northwest Wisconsin overnight, with five inches reported at Poplar Lake Minnesota and Gunflint Trail Minnesota. Thunderstorm rains caused flash flooding in south central Arizona, with street flooding reported around Las Vegas Nevada. Strong northwesterly winds gusting to 50 mph downed some trees and power lines in western Pennsylvania and the northern panhandle of West Virginia.
October 26,1859 -- New York City had their earliest substantial snow of record as four inches blanketed the city.
October 27,1764 -- A "very remarkable storm of snow with high winds" produced 22 inches at Rutland in central Massachusetts.
October 27,1987 -- Showers and thunderstorms produced locally heavy rain from Virginia to New York State. Fallen leaves made roads and sidewalks slick, and also clogged sewers. Rainfall totals of 1.55 inches at Newark New Jersey, 1.54 inches at Harrisburg Pennsylvania, 1.27 inches at Scranton Pennsylvania, and 1.22 inches at Atlantic City New Jersey, were records for the date.
October 28,1988 -- Arctic cold invaded the north central U.S. Valentine, Nebraska dipped to 8 degrees, and Cutbank, Montana, reported a morning low of one degree above zero. The temperature at Estes Park Colorado dipped to 15 degrees, but then soared thirty degrees in less than thirty minutes.
October 29,1989 -- Thunderstorms developing along a cold front produced severe weather in Oklahoma and north central Texas during the late afternoon and evening hours. Thunderstorms in Oklahoma produced weak tornadoes near Snyder and Davidson, and produced hail two inches in diameter at Altus. Large hail damaged 60 to 80 percent of the cotton crop in Tillman County Oklahoma. Nine cities in the northeastern U.S. reported record high temperatures for the date as readings warmed into the 70s. For Marquette Minnesota it marked their fifth straight day of record warmth. Arctic cold invaded the western U.S. Lows of 7 degrees at Alamosa Colorado and 9 degrees at Elko Nevada were records for the date.
October 29,1956 -- A violent tornado, or series of tornadoes, moved along a path more than 100 miles in length from south of North Platte Nebraska into Rock County Nebraska. It was an unusually late occurrence so far north and west in the U.S. for such a storm.
October 30,1988 -- Ten cities in the Upper Midwest reported record low temperatures for the date. The morning low of 20 degrees at South Bend Indiana was a record for October, and lows of 18 degrees at Grand Rapids Michigan and 20 degrees at Fort Wayne Indiana equaled records for October. The low of 2 degrees at International Falls Minnesota smashed their previous record for the date by 11 degrees. Syracuse New York received 2.9 inches of snow to establish a record for October with 5.7 inches for the month.
October 31,1846 -- Eighty-seven pioneers were trapped by early snows in the Sierra Nevada Mountains that piled five feet deep, with 30 to 40 foot drifts. Just 47 persons survived the "Donner Pass Tragedy".
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 from your hometown go to
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Hometown News at the Stuart K Mart garden center every Saturday morning!