Historical Weather Events<

HISTORICAL WEATHER EVENTS - 28 January

From the files of the Aviation Weather Center, Kansas City, MO and Intellicast

...1772...The "Washington and Jefferson" snowstorm occurred across the Mid-Atlantic States. George Washington in Mount Vernon and Thomas Jefferson in Monticello were marooned by this storm. Snowfall was estimated at 3 feet on a level across Virginia and Maryland. Washington wrote,"... the deepest snow which I suppose the oldest living ever remembers to have seen in this country". (Intellicast)
...1887...Snowflakes "as large as milk pans" fell at Fort Keogh in Montana. The flakes, which were said to measure 15 inches across and 8 inches thick, hold the unofficial size record! (National Weather Service files)
...1922...The "Knickerbocker Storm" immobilized the city of Washington, DC. The storm produced 28 inches of snow in 32 hours, and the heavy snow caused the roof of the Knickerbocker movie theater to collapse killing 96 persons. (David Ludlum)
...1925...The temperature at Pittsburg, NH fell to 46 degrees below zero, establishing a new record low temperature for the state. (Intellicast) In January 1934, this record was broken with a reading of 47 degrees below zero. (NCDC)
...1963...The low temperature of 34 degrees below zero at Cynthiana, KY equaled the state record established just four days earlier at Bonnieville. (The Weather Channel) This all-time state record for Kentucky has since been eclipsed by a 37 degree zero reading in January 1994. (NCDC)
...1986...The Space Shuttle Challenger exploded at 11:39am EST; 73 seconds after liftoff from the Kennedy Space Center at Cape Canaveral, Florida on an extremely cold morning. Starting in the 20s, the ground temperature at liftoff was 36 degrees. Morton Thiokol recommended not launching if the liftoff temperature were below 53 degrees. The cold was blamed for causing the O-rings on the Shuttle's external booster to fail, leading to the explosion. (National Weather Service files)
...1987...A storm moving out of the Central Rockies into the Northern Plains Region produced up to a foot of snow in the Colorado Rockies, and wind gusts to 9 9 mph at Boulder CO. High winds in Colorado caused 5.6 million dollars damage. (National Weather Summary) (Storm Data)
...1988...Barometric pressure readings of 30.55 inches at Miami FL, 30.66 inches at Tamp a, FL, and 30.72 inches at Apalachicola, FL were all-time record high readings for those locations. (National Weather Summary)
...1989...Nome, AK reported an all-time record low reading of 54 degrees below zero, and the temperature at Fairwell, AK dipped to 69 degrees below zero. Deadhorse, AK reported a morning low of 49 degrees below zero, and with a wind chill reading of 114 degrees below zero. In the Lower Forty-eight States, a winter storm over Colorado produced up to 15 inches of snow around Denver. (National Weather Summary) (Storm Data)
...1990...Strong and gusty winds prevailed across the northwestern U.S., and heavy snow continued over the mountains of Washington State and Oregon. In Idaho, Mullan received seven inches of snow, and winds gusted to 65 mph southeast of Burley. Heavy rain soaked coastal sections of western Oregon. Rainfall totals of 1.20 inches at Portland and 1.57 inches at Eugene were records for the date. Winds in Oregon gusting to 60 mph downed power lines in Umatilla County knocking out power to more than 13,000 homes, just prior to the kick-off of the "Super Bowl" game. (National Weather Summary) (Storm Data)