March 20 Weather History

...1924... A late winter storm in Oklahoma produced nearly a foot of snow at Oklahoma City and at Tulsa.

...1944... At Newport, Rhode Island 6.2 inches of snow fell, breaking the record of 3.8 inches set in 1920.

...1945... The temperature peaked at 67 degrees at Newport, Rhode Island (later tied in 2010), breaking the record of 61 degrees set in 1929.

...1948... 31 inches of snow fell in 24 hours at Juneau for the heaviest 24 hour snowfall ever at Alaska's capitol. -An F3 tornado tracked through Tinker Air Force Base in Oklahoma city and destroyed 52 aircraft. More than 10 million dollars damage was done making this the costliest tornado on record up to the time in Oklahoma.

...1956... The snow depth of 21 inches was recorded at Newport, Rhode Island, breaking the record of 8 inches set back in 1916.

...1958... A wind gust of 64 miles per hour was recorded at Newport, Rhode Island, breaking the record of 47 miles per hour set back in 1907.  A coastal storm dumped heavy, wet snow in southeastern Pennsylvania and Maryland. 38 inches fell at Morgantown in 24 hours with 50 inches in 3 days which is a Pennsylvania state record. Mt. Airy, Maryland was buried under 33 inches while Allentown, Pennsylvania checked in with 20 inches.

...1975... At Newport, Rhode Island the barometric pressure fell to 28.73 inches, breaking the record of 28.89 inches set in 1971.

...1984... A severe three day winter storm came to an end over the Central Plains. The storm produced up to twenty inches of snow in Colorado, Nebraska and Kansas, and left a thick coat of ice from eastern Kansas across northwestern Missouri into Iowa.

...1987... A storm produced blizzard conditions in Wyoming and eastern Nebraska, and severe thunderstorms in central Nebraska. Snowfall totals ranged up to 12 inches at Glenrock WY and Chadron NE. Thunderstorms in central Nebraska produced wind gusts to 69 mph at Valentine, and wind gusts to 76 mph at Bartley.

...1988... Squalls in the Great Lakes Region left up to eight inches of new snow on the ground in time for the official start of spring. Unseasonably warm weather prevailed in the western U.S. Seven cities reported new record high temperatures for the date, including Tucson AZ with a reading of 89 degrees.

...1989... Snow and high winds created blizzard conditions in western Kansas to usher in the official start of the spring season. Thunderstorms produced severe weather from east Texas to Alabama and northwest Florida, with nearly fifty reports of large hail and damaging winds during the afternoon and evening hours.

...1990... The northeastern U.S. was in the midst of a snowstorm as spring officially began at 4:19 PM. Snowfall totals in the Green Mountains of Vermont ranged up to thirty inches, and up to 15 inches of snow was reported in the Catskills and Adirondacks of eastern New York State. Totals in eastern Pennsylvania ranged up to 12 inches at Armenia Mountain. The storm resulted in one death, and forty-nine injuries.

...1991... The low relative humidity record was set on this day at Newport, Rhode Island when it dipped to 16%, breaking the record of 22% set back in 1959.

...2003... An early morning tornado (F3) killed 6 people and injured 200 on a 25 mile track through Mitchell and Worth Counties in Georgia.

...2005... An F1 tornado hits South San Francisco. Trees are uprooted. At least twenty homes and twenty businesses are damaged, including the city's new fire station.

...2006... A four day snowstorm dumped record snows across Nebraska. Storm totals included 30 inches at Greely, 26 inches at Ord, 21.6 inches at Grand Island, and 21.2 inches at Hastings. Both Grand Island and Hastings had their greatest 24 hour snowfalls ever with 17.8 and 17.4 inches, respectively.

...2008... 10.6 inches of snow on this day brought the seasonal snowfall at Caribou, Maine to 182.5 inches to set a new record for the city's snowiest winter season.

...2011... Santa Barbara, California was drenched with 5.23 inches of rain for its wettest day on record.

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