Wednesday, April 15th, marks the 114th anniversary of the sinking of the Royal Mail Ship (RMS) Titanic which took place in 1912, and the weather played an important role. By studying weather maps and written records from that time, some definitive conclusions can be drawn about the weather during the trip across the Atlantic, and there are also some interesting relatively new theories involving atmospheric conditions and their possible effects.
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Most have been waiting for this kind of warmup in the eastern states following several false starts this season, but this may end up being a little too much on the extreme side. Not only are daily high temperature records in jeopardy this week in the Mid-Atlantic region with 90+ degrees on the table, but a few spots could experience their highest April temperatures ever recorded although it will be tough to beat the heat wave of April 1976. This warmup should last well into the upcoming weekend, but there are strong signs that another chilly air outbreak is destined to reach the northeastern part of the country by early next week. In fact, there are signs that additional colder-than-normal air masses will impact the central and eastern states during the last week of April at the same time a teleconnection index known as the Madden-Julian Oscillation or MJO shifts into a colder-than-normal phase for this time of year.
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The weather looks good...the countdown is on...and NASA is set to launch four astronauts on a 10-day flight around the moon, marking the first such mission since the Apollo era. If the countdown continues without a hitch, an Artemis II rocket will launch a crew of four this evening with a 2-hour window of opportunity beginning at 6:24 pm (ET). The astronauts will not land on the moon this time but are scheduled to fly around the far side in a maneuver reminiscent of Apollo 8 in 1968.
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March is known to feature some crazy and surprising weather and the 1958 blizzard that occurred in the Mid-Atlantic region between March 18th and 23rd was indeed rather unexpected. In general, forecasts on the morning of March 18th had no mention of snow. This was in an era before computer forecast models were being utilized by weather forecasters on a daily basis and it was even before satellite imagery existed which could aid in the forecast. By afternoon on that particular day, the light rain had changed into huge, wet snowflakes and - for the next few days - history was being made.
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The winter of 1992-1993 was not bad at all in the Mid-Atlantic region in terms of cold and snow, but one storm at the end of the season will put that particular winter in the history books forever. One of the most intense storms ever observed in the eastern US took place from March 12-14, 1993 and it will be forever known as the “Storm of the Century”. This intense storm generated tremendous snowfall totals from Alabama through Maine, high winds all along the east coast, extreme coastal flooding along the Florida west coast and incredibly low barometric pressures across the Southeast and Mid-Atlantic regions. The aftermath of the “Storm of the Century” was unseasonably cold and broke records in many spots for the middle of March. To this day, the storm also known as the “Superstorm of 1993” ranks among the deadliest and most costly weather events in US history.
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Running for his third presidential term, Franklin Roosevelt made a 1940 campaign promise to allow for the training of African American military pilots. In cooperation with the Tuskegee Institute in Alabama which was founded by Booker T. Washington in 1881, the Army created a program in 1941 to induct and train what would eventually amount to more than 14,000 airmen, of whom about 1,000 would become pilots; the others became navigators, bombardiers, radio operators, administrators, support personnel - and some became weathermen.
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It was a little past 1 AM on February 3rd, 1959 when American musicians Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens and J.P. “The Big Bopper” Richardson were killed in a plane crash near Clear Lake, Iowa along with pilot Roger Peterson. Weather conditions were certainly contributing factors in the plane crash as there was poor visibility on that cold night with snow blowing across the runway. Hours before, Holly and his tour mates were on the eleventh night of their “Winter Dance Party” tour through the snow-covered Midwest. It was a Monday and a school night, but 1,100 teenagers crammed into the Surf Ballroom in Clear Lake, Iowa for two sold out shows with the second one ending around midnight. The event later became known as “The Day the Music Died” after singer-songwriter Don McLean referred to it as such in his 1971 song “American Pie” which paid homage to the tragedy of February 3rd, 1959.
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In the wake of the major weekend winter storm, a very cold weather pattern has set up across the eastern states, and it looks like it’ll be quite a memorable stretch both in terms of magnitude and duration. A long-wave trough parked over the eastern US is allowing for the reinforcement of Arctic air masses with an especially bitter one coming to the Mid-Atlantic region for the second half of the week. Low temperatures on Wednesday night, Thursday night, and Friday night are likely to flirt with the zero-degree mark in many locations and challenge low temperature records. In addition, there may be record low high temperatures later in the week with afternoon highs likely limited to the teens - even in the big cities.
In addition to the relentless bitter cold, it looks like a powerful storm system will form this weekend somewhere near the eastern seaboard. This system is likely to have its origins over the Gulf region and then push northeastward to near the east coast while intensifying dramatically. It is still too early to determine its ultimate path, but a close trek to the coast could indeed bring significant snowfall and strong winds to portions of the northeastern states.
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The current cold pattern across the eastern states is reminiscent of January 1986 when an Arctic air outbreak played a key role in the Space Shuttle Challenger disaster that took place 40 years ago from Wednesday on January 28th, 1986. NASA’s Space Shuttle orbiter Challenger (mission STS-51-L) broke apart 73 seconds into its flight leading to the deaths of its seven crew members. STS-51-L was the 25th American Space Shuttle Program flight since the program began in 1981. It was also the first mission to have a civilian on board, American teacher Christa McAuliffe. The spacecraft disintegrated over the Atlantic Ocean, off the coast of Cape Canaveral, Florida at 11:39 EST (16:39 UTC). According to the Report of the Presidential Commission on the Space Shuttle Challenger Accident, weather conditions were likely one of the factors that contributed to the incident. Tests conducted during the subsequent investigation showed that O-rings were much less resilient at lower temperatures, but the extreme cold at the Kennedy Space Center was not the only weather factor involved with this tragedy. Wind shear aloft may have been a contributing factor as well with two different airstreams in the vicinity of the launch site of the Space Shuttle Challenger.
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December 1776 was a desperate time for General George Washington and the American Revolution. Morale was low, hope for winning the war was diminishing, and the Continental Army led by George Washington was thinning in numbers after many battles lost to the British. There was even talk of replacing General Washington with either General Charles Lee or General Horatio Gates. December began with lots of rain and muddy travel conditions for the men which did not help with their spirits. After retreating through New Jersey, they set up camp on the Pennsylvania side of the Delaware River where the army was met with very cold weather that led to plenty of ice on the water. All in all, things were not looking good for Washington's army. However, General George Washington devised a plan that would change the course of the war and the history of our nation.
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