Contributed by Dr. William Minsinger, President Emeritus, BHOSC America’s 250th birthday – its semi-quincentennial – is a good opportunity to take a step back in time to look at the weather on April 19th, 1775 during the pivotal Battle of Lexington and Concord. British General Thomas Gage in Boston had received intelligence that John Hancock… Read More »
The 1804 Hurricane season had already produced a severe hurricane with a path from Antigua to Savannah and Charleston, South Carolina where the storm was felt to be the worst since 1752. In October another major hurricane moved northwestward across the Western Atlantic to north of Puerto Rico, then toward Charleston. Modern reanalysis showed the… Read More »
From the earliest period of English settlement in New England there have been reports of tornado activity. In the early days such storms were often referred to as “hurricanes” since the damage was similar to hurricanes, although in a more limited areal coverage. On Sunday June 23, 1782 a significant squall line appears to have… Read More »
A vigorous storm system moved from near Colorado on June 7th, 1953 to southeastern Canada on June 9th spawning a total of 46 tornadoes over three days from Colorado to New Hampshire. There were 245 deaths – 116 in the Flint Michigan storm on June 8th and 94 in the Worcester storm June 9th. There… Read More »
Not every significant storm comes in winter. This particular gale started on April 14th and moved slowly up along the coast of New England. At Boston the ocean inundated the waterfront crossing Washington Street at Waltham Street and covering Harrison Avenue to the depth of 4 feet. There was 3 feet of water at the… Read More »
In late November, 1921, a 3 day storm brought heavy rain to eastern sections of New England and as much as two feet of snow to northern areas, but in a band running from northern Rhode Island to Worcester to southern New Hampshire there was mixed precipitation lasting upwards of 75 hours with resultant severe… Read More »
Contributed by Eleanor Vallier-Talbot The May 9-10, 1977 snowstorm’s broad surface low pressure began to form during the night of May 8. By 8 AM on May 9, the surface low was east of the Mid -Atlantic coast and rapidly intensified southeast of Cape Cod through the afternoon of the 9th. Precipitation started out as… Read More »
The snowstorm on March 31 – April 1, 2017 from north of Boston into all of northern New England brings back memories from twenty years ago of the incredible “April Fools” nor’easter of 1997. This occurred when a rapidly deepening low formed off the New Jersey coast responding to a late season trough in the… Read More »
Contributed by Dr. Bill Minsinger, President Emeritus, BHOSC The recent snowstorm of March 2017 brings back memories of the big snows of March 1956. In New England winter can still rule in March and heavy snows can indeed occur. Even April can see heavy snowfalls – a future SkyMail will talk about that month. March… Read More »
Contributed by Dr. William E. Minsinger, President Emeritus, BHOSC The following is a quote from Ships and Shipmasters of Old Providence about this storm: “During the Great Gale of September 23, 1815, ships were tossed about in Market Square; 35 sailboats were blown ashore; 500 buildings were destroyed: and the sloop-of-war Ganges poked her bowsprit… Read More »
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