December Weather History
1–6, 1913: A long duration snow storm dumped 45.7 inches on Denver, Colorado.
1–2006: Two tornadoes touched down in Pennsylvania on this day. These are the only known tornadoes in Pennsylvania in December.
2–1896: An early season snow and ice storm brought 11 inches of snow to Charlotte, North Carolina, and 6 inches in Atlanta, Georgia.
2–1950: A rare tornado event occurred when a storm system produces three tornadoes in Illinois, and one in Arkansas. The three tornadoes in Illinois are relatively rare in December with a total of only three days with tornadoes from 1835 to 1950. The other years are 1876 and 1949.
2–1959: Between November 19 and December 2, an estimated 20 inches of rain fell near the town of Frejus on the French Riviera. This rain caused the Malpasset Dam to collapse which sent a 130-foot high wall of water into the towns of Malpasset and Bozon. The wall of water 10 feet high reached Frejus, flooding the western half of the city.
2–1967: An F3 tornado traveled 82.3 miles across Mississippi.
3–1838: Cleveland Abbe, an American meteorologist, and advocate of time zones was born on this day. He was trained as an astronomer and was appointed the director of the Cincinnati Observatory in 1868. He eventually turned to meteorology and inaugurated a public weather service that served as a model for today’s National Weather Service.
3–1978: A tornado outbreak hit Arkansas during the overnight hours. Ten tornadoes touched down in a 5 hour period.
3–1983: The Iron Bowl between Alabama and Auburn began under sunny skies. With under three minutes to play in the third quarter, storm clouds rolled in. Heavy rain and wind bring horrible conditions to the field. The NWS office in Birmingham, Alabama measured 9.22 inches of rain from this storm.
3–1991: Bert T. Combs, former governor of Kentucky, was swept to his death during a flash flood in Powell County.
4–1916: Two tornadic storms traveled through western Kentucky on this day.
4–1916: 9XM, the predecessor to today’s Wisconsin Public Radio, broadcast its first weather forecast. It was the first regular broadcast by the station and was information with broad use by the state’s residents, especially farmers, many of whom received the forecast by mail.
4–1956: An F2 tornado tracked 11.1 miles through parts of Boone and Audrain Counties in Missouri. Most of the damage was near Centralia.
4–5th, 2002: A winter storm produced damaging ice accumulations from freezing rain and several inches of snow and sleet to various parts of the western Carolinas.
4–2002: A total solar eclipse was experienced by millions of people from Africa to Australia, and from space.
4–2017: A waterspout forms as the USS Gerald R. Ford travels in the Atlantic Ocean. Navy photo by Petty Officer 2nd Class Martin Widenhouse.
5–9, 1952: The month of December started off with chilly temperatures in London. This cold resulted in Londoners to burn more coal to heat up their homes. Then on December 5, a high pressure settled over the Thames River causing a dense layer of smog to develop. The smog became so thick and dense by December 7 that virtually no sunlight was seen in London. Most conservative estimates place the death toll at 4,000, with some estimating the smog killed as many as 8,000 individuals.
5–1953: An F5 tornado tore through Vicksburg, Mississippi on this day, killing 38 people and injuring 270 other.
5–1975: Four strong tornadoes struck eastern Oklahoma during the afternoon. An F3 tornado hit the northeast side of Tulsa, injuring 38 people.
5–2017: An EF-2 hit northwest Missouri.
6–1917: The SS Mont-Blanc, a French cargo ship with high explosives collided with the Norwegian vessel SS Imo in the Narrows, a strait connecting the upper Halifax Harbour to Bedford Basin. The resulting fire aboard the French ship caused a massive explosion which devastated the Richmond district of Halifax. Approximately 2,000 people were killed by the blast. A blizzard hampered the relief efforts.
6–1966: The Applications Technology Satellite (ATS-1) was launched into space becoming the first Earth-observing satellite ever placed in geostationary orbit.
6–1983: An F3 tornado crossed through Dallas County, Alabama on this day. the tornado touched down near Alabama Highway 22 just west of Selma. The fatality occurred when the brick and concrete block wall of an apartment caved in on the couch where the victim was sleeping. Seven students at Selma University were injured when the roof and parts of the second floor of their dorm were destroyed.
13–2007: A quick moving winter storm dropped 6 to 12 inches of snow in Massachusetts.
13–2015:
14–2017:
15–1839: The first of triple storms hit Massachusetts Bay. The storm produced whole gales, and more than 20 inches of snow in interior New England. There was great loss of life at Gloucester, MA.
16–1811: An estimated Magnitude 7.5 earthquake struck the Mississippi Valley near the town of New Madrid in Missouri at 2:15 am local time. People were awakened by the shaking in New York City, Washington D.C., and Charleston, South Carolina.
18 —
18–19, 1986:
20–21, 1929
21–26, 1983:
22–24, 1989:
22–26, 1989:
22–2004:
24–1968:
25–2002:
