1792 - Heavy snow causes Ashley
River Bridge in Charleston SC to collapse.
1900 - Huge snowstorm from the Midwest to the northeast.
Topeka KS reported 18.7 inches of snow in 24 hours to set their record
for most snow in a 24-hour period. Up to 60 inches fell in the
Adironadacks of New York. 36 inches of snow at Astoria IL sets new state
24-hour snowfall record. Northfield VT picked up 31 inches of snow.
1952 - Intense coastal storm across southeastern
Massachusetts. 3000 motorists stranded on Lower Cape. Tens of thousands
of homes on the cape without electricity. 18 inches of snow buried
Nantucket and Hyannis and very strong winds blew the snowfall into huge
drifts. Winds at Nantucket were sustained at 61 mph with gusts to 72
mph. Barometer fell to 29.02 inches on the Cape. The central pressure in
the storm was measured by a ship at 948.9 millibars or 28.02 inches. The
Loran tower at Siasconset was felled by the high winds.
1964 - 12-hour world rainfall record set at Belouve, Reunion
with 52.76 inches of rain
1972 - Unusual late winter warmth across the central U.S. 83
at Kansas City MO set their all-time record high for February.
1987 - Huge F4 tornado cut 35-mile path from near Moselle MS
to west of Shubuta. The tornado touched down at 9:05 am on a Saturday
morning. Southeast of Laurel, the tornado was 1 1/2 miles wide and
reached F4 intensity. The Glade Elementary School was almost completely
destroyed, but school luckily was not in session since it was the
weekend. All six deaths occurred in Glade, Mississippi and 4 of those
were in one trailer. One man was killed as he ran to warn a neighbor of
the approaching storm. This type of tornado would have killed 50-100
people before warning systems were built. Damage was $28.5 million. 350
were injured.
1997 - Flagstaff AZ was in the process of digging out from 18
inches of snow. Authorities re-opened an 80-mile stretch of Interstate
17 outside Flagstaff. In Ely NV, the mercury hit minus 9 degrees, a
record for the date.
1998 - No measurable snow in Chicago in February. 21 inches
of rain in month at Santa Barbara CA.