TODAY  Version 3.7   06/24/94       Copyright 1986, 1994  By Patrick Kincaid

 Today is Saturday  February 20, 2016.
 This is the 51st day of the year, there are 315 days left.

 On this day...
    Weather data after 1990 is PARTIAL. For more current
    weather history, go to the National Climate Data Center
    website at www.ncdc.noaa.gov
    In 1805 The Potomac River was opened after being closed by ice
            for two months.
    In 1898 Eastern Wisconsin experienced their biggest snowstorm of
            record.  Racine received thirty inches, and drifts around
            Milwaukee measured fifteen feet high.
    In 1953 A snowstorm in Nebraska, South Dakota, Iowa and Minnesota
            produced drifts ten feet high which derailed trains.
    In 1985 A lightning strike in St. George, Kansas was so bright,
            students at a school 2 blocks away thought lights had been
            turned on and off.
    In 1987 A storm system over Arizona spread heavy snow from the
            Southern Rockies into the Southern Plains Region.
            Thunderstorms in central Texas produced golf ball size
            hail about the same time north central Texas was being
            blanketed with up to 8 inches of snow, closing many
            schools.
    In 1988 Snow and strong northerly winds ushered arctic air into
            the Great Lakes Region.  The temperature at Sault Ste
            Marie MI plunged from 30 degrees at 5 AM to one below
            zero by 3 PM, with a wind chill reading of 40 degrees
            below zero.  Five cities in Florida reported record high
            temperatures for the date.  The high of 90 degrees at
            Lakeland was just a degree shy of their February record.
    In 1989 Thunderstorms developing during the early afternoon
            produced severe weather from eastern Texas to Alabama and
            northwest Florida.  Thunderstorms spawned a dozen
            tornadoes during the afternoon and evening.  Thunder-
            storms also produced 90 mph winds around Vicksburg MS,
            and 100 mph winds around Jackson MS.
    In 1990 Heavy snow spread into southwestern Kansas and the
            panhandle region of Oklahoma and Texas.  Heavier snowfall
            totals included 12 inches at Boise City OK, 11 inches at
            Liberal KS, and 10 inches at Spearman TX.  Blowing and
            drifting snow closed roads in the Oklahoma panhandle.
    In 2013 (20th-23rd) A major winter storm provided a wide variety
            of weather from the Midwest to the Gulf Coast. Kansas,
            Nebraska, Iowa, north Oklahoma, and north Missouri...east
            into the Ohio Valley, were dealing with heavy snow. Central
            and south Oklahoma, south Missouri, north and central
            Arkansas, Kentucky, and Tennessee...were dealing with an
            ice storm. South Arkansas, Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi,
            Alabama, Georgia, Florida, and the Carolinas, dealt with
            severe thunderstorms and tornadoes. In Arkansas (on the
            21st), widespread quarter to half ice accumulations were in
            the northern two to three rows of counties. Parts of the
            northeast had more than a half inch of ice, including
            Batesville (Independence County). While there were
            thousands of power outages, this did not come close to the
            devastation caused by the Ice Storm of January, 2009.
            Freezing rain was accompanied by thunder in many cases.
            Some storms in the southern half of the state became
            severe, with quarter to half dollar size hail in East
            Camden (Ouachita County), near Pinebergen (Jefferson
            County) and in southwest Little Rock (Pulaski County). On
            the 20th, while there was some light freezing rain in
            places, snow made headlines in the west. Up to 4 inches of
            snow piled up at Fort Smith (Sebastian County) and near
            Alma (Crawford County). Two to three inch amounts were
            common around Clarksville (Johnson County) and Paris (Logan
            County). In the wake of the storm, roads were generally in
            pretty good shape. Warm ground temperatures kept roads
            mostly wet. However, bridges and overpasses were icy where
            readings were subfreezing. Also with the storms, lightning
            struck a church in Arkadelphia (Clark County), destroying
            the steeple, and damaging the roof...and lightning also
            struck a home near Hot Springs (Garland County). The storm
            moved into the northeast U.S. on the 23rd, bringing snow
            to areas hit by earlier blizzards, and from Hurricane
            Sandy in September, 2012.
            less than a month (26 days). This took the seasonal total
            to 98.7 inches, making it the second snowiest on record
            behind the 107.6 inches of snow in the winter of 1995/1996.
            Dozens of roofs collapsed under the weight of the snow.


--- GTMail 1.26 
 * Origin: The Thunderbolt BBS - wx1der.dyndns.org - GT Power 20 (1:19/33.0)