7:15 AM | *Remembering the Tuskegee Weathermen*

February 15, 2023Paul Dorian

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.

7:15 AM | *The role of the weather on “The Day the Music Died” – February 3rd, 1959*

February 03, 2023Paul Dorian

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”. 

7:15 AM | *Weather and the Space Shuttle Challenger disaster on January 28, 1986*

January 27, 2023Paul Dorian

This Saturday marks the 37th anniversary of the Space Shuttle Challenger disaster which occurred on January 28, 1986, when the NASA 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.   

*Weather and the pivotal “Battle of Trenton” on December 25-26, 1776*

December 25, 2022Paul Dorian

December 1776 was a desperate time for 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.  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, George Washington devised a plan that would change the course of the war and the history of our nation.  

7:15 AM | *The role of the weather on December 7th, 1941…"a date which will live in infamy"…and an important indirect benefit of the weather which may have saved many lives*

December 06, 2022Paul Dorian

The weather on Oahu, Hawaii in the early morning hours of Sunday, December 7th, 1941 was not at all unusual for the time of year with mild temperatures and mainly clear skies. Unfortunately, the weather conditions on that particular day would play an inviting role in the bombing of the U.S. naval base by Japanese fighter planes at Pearl Harbor near Honolulu, Hawaii. As Japanese fighters crossed the Pacific Ocean, they were given hope that their mission would succeed when the announcement was made of “clouds mostly over the mounts…visibility good”. It is believed that the decision to attack on that particular day had plenty to do with the projected favorable weather conditions. There was, however, an indirect benefit of the weather on that fateful day which may have actually saved many lives.

7:15 AM | *The role of the weather in the assassination of President Kennedy on November 22nd, 1963*

November 23, 2022Paul Dorian

Yesterday marked the 59th anniversary of the assassination of President John F. Kennedy and the weather played a crucial role. The day started off with some rain in Dallas, Texas on November 22nd, 1963 and the forecast was for more rain later in the day. If the forecast had turned out to be correct with more rain on that fateful day then that would have likely meant that a plexiglass bubble top would have been used on President Kennedy’s 1961 Lincoln Convertible on a planned motorcade through the Dallas metro region. But the weather cleared unexpectedly, the protective top was removed from the car, and shots rang out in the early afternoon hours at Dealey Plaza killing the 35th President and seriously wounding Texas Governor John Connally.

7:15 AM | *Recovery continues in an Alaskan glacier 70 years after a military plane crash during a storm*

November 22, 2022Paul Dorian

For 60 years, the Colony Glacier of Alaska hid the remains of 52 servicemen in a frozen grave after an Air Force plane crashed into the side of a mountain during bad weather. The military transport plane was on route to Elmendorf Air Force Base near Anchorage just five days before Thanksgiving Day when it crashed into 9,629-foot Mount Gannett on November 22nd, 1952 in the Chugach Mountain Range about 40 miles east of Anchorage. The wreckage of the plane and the remains of the 52 servicemen slid into the glacier next to the mountain. Recovery efforts never got into high gear that year as Alaska’s unforgiving winter came on quickly and by later the following year, the glacier and new deep snow pack had claimed the aircraft and its passengers.

It was not until 60 years later in June 2012 that the wreckage was spotted by members of the Alaska National Guard UH-60 Black Hawk crew during a routine training mission in the spring melt on the glacier about 14 miles from the original crash site. Since then crews have returned every summer to try to recover the remains and personal effects during a small window of opportunity of about one month when it is relatively safe to do so on the glacier. This painstaking effort is in a race against time, however, as the relentlessly north-flowing Colony Glacier continues to advance relatively quickly and it won’t be long before the plane wreckage and passenger remains are pushed into nearby Inner Lake George - and perhaps lost forever to history.

7:15 AM | *The role of the weather in “The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald” on November 10th, 1975*

November 10, 2022Paul Dorian

A powerful storm will bring blizzard conditions to parts of the Upper Midwest later today and on this same date in 1975, a major storm over the Great Lakes helped to sink the SS Edmund Fitzgerald on Lake Superior taking the lives of all 29 crew members. When launched on June 7, 1958, it was the largest ship on North America's Great Lakes, and to this day she remains the largest to have sunk there. The Edmund Fitzgerald was in the worst possible location during the worst weather of the ferocious storm. The wind and waves from the west hit the freighter broadside as it tried to flee south to safety in Whitefish Bay. The Edmund Fitzgerald was loaded with about 26,000 tons of taconite pellets on November 9th, 1975, at Superior, Wisconsin and was bound for Detroit, Michigan when the storm hit.