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Weather History
| Tornadoes Probably one of the most remembered tornado events is the May 3rd, 1999 Bridge Creek, Okahoma tornado. It ended up having the strongest winds ever recorded at 301 mph and was a multivortex tornado. It was covered most notably by Gary England. Tragically, several residents took shelter under an overpass and didn't survive. Their markings are still visible under the bridge. More recently, the super outbreak of 2011 was another major event. It ended up having more EF-5s than in a typical year and was outside typical typical tornado season in the spring. The entire year racked up over 600 reports of severe weather. Just about every state in the area known as Dixie Alley was impacted in some form. Moore Oklahoma would see another tornado in 2013, causing extensive damage to Plaza Towers Elementary. As with the 1999 event, it was also an EF-5, the highest on the Enhanced Fujita Scale. |
| Hurricanes In 1992, Hurricane Andrew struck the southern tip of Florida near Miami and caused catastrophic damage. It was also remembered for being a relatively small storm but was one of the few Category 5 hurricanes at the time. The name "Andrew" was subsequently retired afterwards. 2012 saw a rare hybrid storm in the form of Hurricane Sandy, which made landfall in Atlantic City, New Jersey on October 29, 2012. Sandy grew to over 1000 miles across and caused major damage despite being "only" a Category 1 storm. Fires even broke out in New York neighborhoods and the subway in NYC was flooded. |
| Floods x |
| Avalanches The village of Galtur in the French Alps suffered an avalanche that went beyond what was predicted. The area had colored zones from green to red regarding safety. The avalanche had gone beyond the green zone, which was deemed safe and destroyed the village. The avalanche was also a very unusual compact avalanche as opposed to a powder avalanche. |
| Blizzards x |
| Droughts California routinely sees drought in the summer and fall, leading to many wildfires. |
| Ice Storms Canada had a notoriously bad ice storm in 1998. Freezing rain fell for 5 days straight and nearly casued total failure of their power grid. Only one section of the grid actually survived and it wasn't without extensive help. In 2020, the state of Texas saw a severe ice storm of its own with billions of dollars in damage done as a result of power outages and pipes bursting. Residents said it was the longest they'd ever been with ice and was an unusual occurence as the state typically doesn't reach freezing temperatures, even in winter. |
| Volcanoes The 1988 eruption of Mount St. Helens in Washington state is one of the most notorious in history due to erupting not from the top, but from the side as a rare pyroclastic flow. Everyone was caught off-guard and forced to flee the area. Perhaps the most notorious eruption was in 79 AD in Pompeii, where the impacts are still displayed, albeit buried. Mount Vesuvius erupted catastrophically and buried the town of Pompeii in ash, which eventually hardened, sealing anyone trapped in a concrete-like tomb. Similar to Pompeii, the island of Monserat has seen many volcanic eruptions over the years with the city being buried in repeated pyroclastic flows after fires destroyed the structures. Little is even visible and will one day bury any evidence of people living there. |