THIS DATE IN WEATHER HISTORY

1888: A day of extremes across the United States

Episode Details

1888 was a year of extremes across the United States, of course the famed Blizzard of ’88 in March in the Northeast brought heavy snow and blinding visibility and hundreds of deaths in the worst March snowstorm in that region since unofficial records began before the Revolutionary War. The wild weather continued and not only in the northeast. It would come to pass that on July 11, 1888 a high amplitude or high wave pattern would establish itself in the upper atmosphere where the Jetstream steers storms and other weather systems. In the western states the jet stream pulled way north into Canada and pumped up high heat and humidity all the way from Mexico. Meanwhile in the East the Jetstream plunged southward toward Georgia and brought record cold and storminess. On July 11, under that western heat, the temperature in Bennet Colorado reached 118 degrees, still listed as a state record. In the East heavy rains on the Monongahela River caused a flash flood as the water rose a whopping 32 feet in less that 24 hours. Meanwhile on the same day, July 11, 1888, along the Presidential range in New Hampshire heavy snow blanked the peaks like Mt Washington and some snow reached all the way down to the base of those mountains.

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THIS DATE IN WEATHER HISTORY

1888: A day of extremes across the United States

This Date in Weather History

This Date in Weather History Update

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