Portal:Weather/On this day list/February
February 1
[edit]2007: The National Weather Service began using the Enhanced Fujita scale for assessing tornado damage.
February 2
[edit]1992: Hurricane Ekeka, an unusual winter hurricane that formed unusually far south, reached peak intensity near the International Date Line with maximum sustained winds of 115 miles per hour (185 km/h).
February 3
[edit]1952: The Groundhog Day Storm (not to be confused with the Groundhog Day Gale) brushed by western Cuba and made landfall on southern Florida, the earliest in the year that a North Atlantic tropical cyclone has done so.
February 4
[edit]2010: Cyclone Oli struck parts of French Polynesia, including Tahiti. One person was killed on the island of Tubuai.
February 5: National Weatherperson's Day
[edit]2002: Cyclone Chris, one of the strongest tropical cyclones to strike Western Australia on record, reached peak intensity just hours before landfall.
February 6
[edit]1893: A tropical cyclone brought extremely heavy rainfall to Queensland, Australia, with 907 millimetres (35.7 in) of rain recorded in just 24 hours at Crohamhurst. This resulted in the first of three major floods in less than a month to hit the Brisbane River. Thirty five people were killed in the floods.
February 7
[edit]2009: Record high temperatures and strong, erratic winds contributed to the deadliest wildfires in Australia's history. 3,500 buildings were destroyed, and 173 people were killed.
February 8
[edit]2013: A severe nor'easter began affecting the northeastern United States, bringing blizzard conditions and record snowfall to parts of New England.
February 9
[edit]1870: The National Weather Service (originally known as the United States Weather Bureau) was founded through a joint congressional resolution signed by President Ulysses S. Grant.
February 10
[edit]2013: A violent tornado caused major damage in the town of Hattiesburg, Mississippi, including damage to several buildings on the University of Southern Mississippi campus.
February 11
[edit]1895: The lowest temperature in the United Kingdom, -27.2°C (-16.7°F), was measured at Braemar, Grampian, Scotland.
February 12
[edit]2006: New York City experienced its largest snowfall on record, 26.4 inches (67.1 cm).
February 13
[edit]1899: In the wake of a major blizzard that affected much of the eastern United States, hundreds of cities across the country, including Dallas, New Orleans, and Atlanta, set record low temperatures that still stand today. Several U.S. state records were set as well, in Nebraska, Ohio, Texas, and most notably Florida, where Tallahassee sank to −2 °F (−19 °C); the only time on record the state has seen temperatures below zero Fahrenheit.
February 14
[edit]2011: Cyclone Bingiza made landfall in northeastern Madagascar, killing 22 people.
February 15
[edit]1967: The TIROS-9 weather satellite ended its mission. The satellite was the first of the TIROS program to be in a near-polar orbit, allowing cloud cover pictures and radiometric temperature observations to cover the entire surface of the earth over the course of several orbits.
February 16
[edit]2005: Cyclone Olaf struck areas of American Samoa, causing severe damage.
February 17
[edit]2003: A major snow storm dropped 15–30 inches (38–76 cm) of snow from Washington, D.C. to Boston in the Eastern United States.
February 18
[edit]1952: A strong nor'easter caused the ship SS Pendleton to break in two off the coast of Cape Cod, Massachusetts. 32 of the 41 crew were saved in a daring rescue by the United States Coast Guard.
February 19
[edit]2015: Cyclone Lam and Cyclone Marcia, both severe tropical cyclones, struck Northern Territory and Queensland, Australia respectively on the same day.
February 20
[edit]2010: Flooding and landslides in Madeira, Portugal killed dozens.
February 21
[edit]1971: A tornado outbreak killed 121 people in Louisiana and Mississippi.
February 22
[edit]2007: Cyclone Favio made landfall in Inhambane Province, Mozambique, causing major damage in the town of Vilankulo where 80% of homes were destroyed.
February 23
[edit]1998: The deadliest tornado outbreak in Florida history killed 42 people in the northern half of the peninsula just after midnight local time.
February 24
[edit]2015: A series of avalanches began in Panjshir Province, Afghanistan that would last for 5 days, killing at least 310 people.
February 25
[edit]1955: The Hunter Valley flood began with a major levee failure near Maitland, New South Wales, Australia.
February 26
[edit]1987: The GOES 7 weather satellite was launched. Part of the Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite program, GOES 7 would provide weather forecasting data to the United States until its retirement and transfer to the PEACESAT program in 1999.
February 27
[edit]1938: The first of two consecutive powerful storms struck the area around Los Angeles, California, resulting in major flooding which would kill 115 people.
February 28
[edit]1966: The ESSA-2 weather satellite was launched.
February 29
[edit]2004: Cyclone Monty reached its peak intensity off the Pilbara coast of Western Australia, with estimated wind gusts as high as 215 kilometres per hour (134 mph).