...1680... A tornado roared through Cambridge, Massachusetts, ripping up trees. It was described by Reverend Increase Mather.

...1889... A cloudburst in West Virginia along the small creeks in Wirt County, Jackson County and Wood County claimed twenty lives. Rockport WV reported nineteen inches of rain in two hours and ten minutes that Thursday evening. Tygart Creek rose 22 feet in one hour, and villages were swept away on Tygart, Slate, Tucker, and Sandy Creeks.

...1926... At Newport, Rhode Island the wind gusted to 42 miles per hour, setting the record high wind gust for the date; it was later tied in 2012.

...1935... The barometric pressure rose to 30.38 inches of mercury at Newport, Rhode Island, setting the record high for the date.

...1942... A record deluge occurred at Smethport in northern Pennsylvania, with 30.7 inches in just six hours. The downpours and resultant flooding in Pennsylvania were devastating.

...1956... At Newport, Rhode Island the low temperature fell to 53 degrees, breaking the old record of 56 degrees set in 1945.

...1986... One of the most "photo-genic" tornadoes touched down in the northern suburbs of Minneapolis MN during the late afternoon. The very slow moving tornado actually appeared live on the evening news by way of an aerial video taken by the KARE-TV helicopter crew. The tornado, unlike most, was quite the prima donna, staying visible to tens of thousands of persons for thirty minutes. It was moderate in intensity, with winds of 11357 mph, and caused 650 thousand dollars damage.

...1987... Cool weather prevailed in the western U.S. Seven cities reported record low temperatures for the date, including Alamosa CO with a reading of 38 degrees. The low of 52 degrees at Bakersfield CA was a record for July. Up to eight inches of snow covered the Northern Sierra Nevada Range of California from a storm the previous day. During that storm, winds gusting to 52 mph at Slide Mountain NV produced a wind chill reading of 20 degrees below zero. Susanville CA reached 17 degrees that previous day, Canyon CA dipped to a July record of 36 degrees, and the high of 44 degrees at Klamath Falls OR smashed their previous record for July by ten degrees.

...1988... Sweltering heat continued in California, with record highs of 111 degrees at Redding and 112 degrees at Sacramento. Death Valley CA hit 127 degrees. Late afternoon and evening thunderstorms in the Central Plains Region produced baseball size hail at Kimball NE, wind gusts to 79 mph at Colby KS, and six inches of rain near Lexington NE.

...1989... Thunderstorms produced severe weather in Oklahoma, northern Texas and Arkansas during the afternoon, and into the night. Thunderstorms produced baseball size hail at Stamford TX, and wind gusts to 92 mph near Throckmorton TX. Record heat continued in the southwestern U.S. Phoenix AZ reported a record high of 115 degrees, and a 111 degree reading at Midland TX was second only to their all-time record high of 112 degrees established sixteen days earlier.

...1996... Thunderstorms produced tremendous rains in northeastern Illinois starting on the 17th and continuing into this day. Aurora recorded 16.91 inches of rain in 24 hours for the state's greatest 24 hour rainfall ever. Major flooding killed 2 people and did 80 million dollars in damages. this was the worst flood disaster ever for northeast Illinois.

...2006... .71 inches of rain fell in one hour at Newport, Rhode Island, breaking the previous record of .35 inches set in 1984.

...2012... The high temperature peaked at 92 degrees at Newport, Rhode Island, breaking the previous records of 91 degrees set in 1953, 1955, 1969, 1983 and 2002. The heat index rose to high temperature of 106 degrees, breaking the record of 102 degrees, set in 1983.