• 31 July 1498...On his third voyage to the Western Hemisphere, the explorer Christopher Columbus became the first European to reach the island of Trinidad. (Wikipedia)
• 31 July 1978...A 50-yard wide waterspout came onshore at Kill Devil Hills, NC and destroyed a small house. One person died and four were hurt. Waterspouts are typically considered relatively benign. (Accord's Weather Guide Calendar)
• 1 August 1498...Christopher Columbus reached Venezuela, the first known European to visit that country. (Wikipedia)
• 1-3 August 1989...Hurricane Chantal made landfall along the Upper Texas coast about sunrise on the 1^st. Chantal deluged parts of Galveston Island and southeastern Texas with 8 to 12 inches of rain. Unofficial totals ranged up to twenty inches. Winds gusted to 82 mph at Galveston, and reached 76 mph in the Houston area. Tides were 5 to 7 feet high. The hurricane claimed two lives, and caused 100 million dollars damage. The remains of Hurricane Chantal also deluged north central Texas with heavy rain. Up to 6.50 inches drenched Stephens County, and Wichita Falls reported 2.22 inches of rain in just one hour on the 2^nd. (The National Weather Summary) (Storm Data)
• 1 August 2002...At the Delaware Bay buoy located 26 miles southeast of Cape May, NJ, an ocean water temperature of 83.1 degrees Fahrenheit was measured--marking the highest ocean temperature recorded at that buoy since observations began there in 1984. (Accord's Weather Guide Calendar)
• 2 August 1880...Greenwich Mean Time (GMT) was adopted officially by the British Parliament, selected because Greenwich had been the national center for time since 1675. GMT was originally set-up to aid naval navigation, but was not on land until transportation improved. GMT was adopted by the U.S. at noon on 18 Nov 1883 when the telegraph lines transmitted time signals to all major cities. Subsequently, GMT was adopted worldwide on 1 Nov 1884 when the International Meridian Conference met in Washington, DC, USA and 24 time zones were created. (Today in Science History)
• 2-3 August 1922...A typhoon hit the China Coast at Swatow on the night of the 2^nd. The wind and the storm surge killed as many as 50,000 of the city's 65,000 residents. Barometric pressure at landfall had dropped to at least 932.3 millibars (27.53 inches). (Accord's Weather Guide Calendar)
• 3 August 1492...The Italian explorer Christopher Columbus, in command of three ships, embarked from the Spanish port of Palos de la Frontera on a journey westward in search of a sea route to Asia. This expedition, which reached the Bahamas near North America on 12 October, was the first of four expeditions that Columbus made to the "New World". (The History Channel)
• 3 August 1958...At 11:15 EDT, the USS Nautilus (SSN-571) was the first ship to reach the geographic North Pole submerged, traveling at a depth of approximately 500 feet from the Beaufort Sea near Point Barrow, AK on 1 August to the Greenland Sea near Spitzbergen on 5 August. (Naval Historical Center) (The History Channel)
• 3 August 1970...Hurricane Celia made landfall near Port Aransas on the Texas coast, producing wind gusts to 161 mph at Corpus Christi, and estimated wind gusts of 180 mph at Arkansas Pass. Even at Del Rio, 250 miles inland, Celia produced wind gusts to 89 mph. The hurricane was the most destructive of record along the Texas coast causing 454 million dollars damage as 8950 homes were destroyed on the Coastal Bend. Celia also claimed eleven lives and injured 466 people. (David Ludlum) (The Weather Channel) (Intellicast)
• 3-4 August 1978...The remnants of Tropical Storm Amelia produced up to 32 inches of rain on Schackelford County in Texas, an incredible amount of rain for a far-inland and non-mountainous area. A twenty-foot wall of water killed six during the evening of the 4^th in Albany, resulting in 89 percent of the city being covered by water. (Accord's Weather Guide Calendar)
• 4(?) August 1609...A tempest struck the western Atlantic Ocean scattering small British convoy headed to Virginia. Two vessels sank; another, the Sea Venture was presumed lost. However, a ship made landfall on Bermuda, shipwrecking the crew. After a ten-month stay to build two small rescue boats, they sailed to Jamestown (Virginia) Colony. Incident accounts may have provided William Shakespeare with background material for The Tempest. (The Weather Doctor)
• 4 August 1666...A violent hurricane raked the island of Guadeloupe, destroying all boats along its coast, including a 17-ship fleet with 2000 troops. The island's batteries, with 6-foot thick walls, were destroyed and the 16-pounders (large cannons) were washed away. (The Weather Doctor) (Accord's Weather Guide Calendar)
• 4 August 1858...After several unsuccessful attempts, the first trans-Atlantic cable, a 2000-mile submerged telegraph line conceived by Cyrus W. Field, was completed by USS Niagara and British ship Agamemnon. While the first messages were exchanged between President James Buchanan and Queen Victoria on 16 August, the cable ceased functioning in early September. The first permanent trans-Atlantic cable was laid in 1866. (Naval Historical Center) (The History Channel)
• 5-6 August 1959...Hurricane Dot crossed Kauai in the Hawaiian Islands producing sustained winds of 103 mph and gusts to 125 mph. Over 6 inches of rain fell there and over 9 inches on the island of Hawaii. The sugar cane crop on Kauai sustained $2.7 million in damages. (Intellicast)
• 5-7 August 1997...Although far to the southwest, Hurricane Guillermo generated surf to 12-foot heights along the beaches of southern California. In Newport Beach, lifeguards made almost 300 rescues on the 5^th and 6^th. Rip currents were responsible for one death and three injuries. (Accord's Weather Guide Calendar)
• 6 August 1986...A low-pressure system that redeveloped off the New South Wales coast of Australia dumped a record 12.91 inches of rain in one day on Sydney. (Wikipedia)
• 7 August 1679...The brigantine Le Griffon, commissioned by René Robert Cavelier, Sieur de La Salle, was towed to the southern end of the Niagara River, to become the first ship to sail the upper Great Lakes. The ship disappeared on the return leg of its maiden voyage from Lake Michigan. (Wikipedia)

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Prepared by AMS DS Ocean Central Staff and Edward J. Hopkins, Ph.D., email hopkins@meteor.wisc.edu
© Copyright, 2012, The American Meteorological Society.