October 26 Weather History

...1859... New York City had their earliest substantial snow of record as four inches blanketed the city.

...1919... The temperature at Bismarck ND plunged to ten degrees below zero, the earliest subzero reading of record for the city, and a record for the month of October.

...1926... Barrow AK received a record fifteen inches of snow, and also established a 24 hour precipitation record of 1.00 inch which lasted until the 21st of July in 1987.

...1962... An early season snowstorm hit New England with the most snow over interior sections. Worcester, Massachusetts recorded 4.7 inches, Portland, Maine had 3.6, and Greenville, Maine was the jackpot with 13.9 inches. All of these amounts were new records for the greatest amount of snow for so early in the season. Newport, Rhode Island received 0.3 inches of snow, the only measurable snow for the date.

...1980... A wind gust of 54 miles per hour was recorded at Newport, Rhode Island, setting the record for the date.

...1983... A heat wave was in progress over the Northern Rockies, with record highs of 81 degrees at Sheridan WY and Billings MT

...1987... Five cities in south central Texas reported record high temperatures for the date, including Corpus Christi and Del Rio with readings of 93 degrees. Laredo TX was the hot spot in the nation with a high of 98 degrees. Thunderstorms moving over the Lower Mississippi Valley deluged Lake Charles LA with 2.70 inches of rain in one hour resulting in severe local flooding.

...1988... Thunderstorms moving out of northern Texas spawned five tornadoes in Louisiana during the morning hours. The thunderstorms also produced wind gusts to 75 mph at Jennings LA, and the driver of a vehicle was killed by a falling tree near Coushatta LA. Snow squalls in the Lower Great Lakes Region produced heavy snow in western New York State, with 12 inches reported at Colden.

...1989... Unseasonably warm weather continued in the north central U.S. Afternoon highs of 78 degrees at Alpena MI, 75 degrees at Duluth MN, 79 degrees at Fargo ND, 77 degrees at International Falls MN, 76 degrees at Marquette MI, 75 degrees at Sault Ste Marie MI, and 80 degrees at Saint Cloud MN, were all the warmest of record for so late in the season. Morning lows of 63 degrees at Concordia KS and Omaha NE were the warmest of record for the date.

...1990... A rapidly deepening coastal storm just east of Cape Hatteras, North Carolina produced wind gusts in excess of 90 mph along coastal sections. A dredge barge broke loose from its moorings in the Oregon Inlet and struck the Bonner Bridge, the sole link highway between Hatteras Island and the mainland. A 369 foot segment of the bridge collapsed, leaving thousands stranded on the island. A day earlier, the storm produced 11 inches of snow on Mt. Mitchell (elevation 6684 feet) in western North Carolina.

...1993... The temperature at Eureka, California soared to 87 degrees to set a new all-time record high for the city. The previous record was 86 degrees set on September 20, 1983.

...1996... The town of Lead in the Black Hills of South Dakota was buried under 38.9 inches of snow in 24 hours -- the state's greatest 24 hour snowfall on record.

...1998... Hurricane Mitch bottomed out at 905 millibars (26.72 inches) about 40 miles southeast of Swan Island in the western Caribbean, which made it the strongest October Atlantic hurricane on record and the fourth strongest overall (at the time). Mitch's sustained winds at the time were 180 mph. Mitch was a category 5 hurricane for 33 hours, the longest ever for an Atlantic hurricane. Mitch slowly moved southward, weakened, and made landfall on the north coast of Honduras over the next few days. A tremendous amount of rain fell in the mountains of Honduras. Rainfall estimates ran as high at 75 inches. Catastrophic flooding wiped out 50 years of progress in only 4 days.9086 people were killed in Honduras and adjacent Nicaragua. Total damage in Central America was 5.5 billion dollars.

...2002... Newport, Rhode Island was deluged with 3.16 inches of rain for the day, of which 1.58 inches fell in one hour, both setting records for the date.

...2006... A strong upper level low pressure system spawned low-topped thunderstorms over southwestern Kansas, which produced 28 tornadoes in a two hour period. The tornadoes were weak and did little damage.

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