New York Weather Highlights: 1981

JANUARY 3 - Today's air was so dry and cold (hig/low of 21/13) that 1.5 inches of fluffy snow was produced from just 0.03" of liquid precipitation, an incredible 50:1 frozen-to-liquid ratio (10:1 is more typical for the East Coast). 7 - Woke up to five inches of fresh snow that fell overnight. This amounted to almost all of the month's 0.58" in total precip - the driest January on record (and the exact amount that fell in December!) 12 - Today's high/low of 15/+2 made this the coldest day of the winter, 24 degrees colder than average. Because of consistently very cold temperatures since the last week of December, ice formed on the the East and Hudson Rivers and extended all the way south to Manhattan. 13 - Today's high temperature was 22°, the fifth day in a row in which the high was 25° or colder. 18 - Today was the 20th day in a row with colder than average temperatures - and the 11th in a row with a high of 32° or colder. The average high/low during this period was 28/16, eleven degrees below normal. Since Dec. 14 two-thirds of the days since had high temperatures at freezing or lower. 26 - Today, with a high of 46°, was the first day since Dec. 13 to have a high above 45°.

FEBRUARY 11 - 0.59" of rain fell between 2-3PM. This was the first measurable to fall on this date in fifteen years. 18 - Today's balmy high of 68° was a record for the date, 26 degrees above the average. This was four weeks after the Hudson and East Rivers around Manhattan were largely ice covered. 20 - A rainstorm that began yesterday dropped 0.85" in the bucket last night and 1.77" today for a total of 2.62". This was the biggest rainstorm in seven months. 21 - Just two degrees separated today's high and low of 49/47. 22 - This was the seventh day in a row in which the mean temperature was at least 12 degrees above average. The high/low during these days was 58/45, seventeen degrees milder than normal. This streak came in the midst of 17 days of above-average temperatures (Feb. 14 - March 2). 27 - In the past twelve days the mean temperature was 14.5 degrees above the average (high/low of 55/43). 28 - After an extremely dry December and January, February was the wettest since 1939. (Interestingly, December and January each received the same meager amount of precipitation - 0.58"). Nearly four inches of rain fell in the past week-and-a-half, more than the previous thirteen weeks combined.

MARCH 5 - A heavy, wet snowfall of 8.6" was the biggest snow of the winter and a record amount for the date. the high was 38°, low was 31°.

APRIL 9 - Today was a delightful day for the Yankees home opener as the afternoon temperature topped out at 75°, seventeen degrees above average. 12 - Today was the 20th day in a row with above-average temperatures. The mean temperature during this nearly three-week period was 9.4 degrees above average. The average high/low was 66/47 and included highs of 77° on 3/29, 81° on 4/3 and 75° on 4/9. 19 - Although the temperature was 11 degrees cooler than yesterday, it was still a beautiful Easter Sunday as the high reached 68° (six above average) under partly cloudy skies. 21 - A late cold snap dropped the morning low to 33°, a year after a low of 32° was reported on April 17. Interestingly, the warmest temperature this month, 81°, came at the beginning of April. This morning's frosty low was the coldest reading since March 21.

MAY 11 - Rain fell for much of the day and amounted to 1.67". It was heaviest between 6-8PM when 0.70" fell. 23-25 - All three days of Memorial Day weekend were sunny and summery with highs of 78-86- 87.

JUNE 16 - Today's high soared to 93°, the first 90-degree day of the year. This was the latest date for the summer's first 90 since 1963, when it occurred on June 24. (The average date is May 31.) 27 - This morning's low of 58° was just the second low in the 50s this month, tying June 1937 and 1939 for fewest number of days. (Average number in June is ten.)

JULY 1 - 0.73" of rain poured down between 2-4PM. 4 - This was the rainiest 4th of July on record. Rain began at around 11AM and continued for much of the day, totaling 1.76". (Interestingly, no rain fell during prime fireworks time.) Rain fell on each of the first five days of the month and amounted to nearly three inches, practically the month's entire rainfall. 9 - This was the hottest day of the summer as the high reached 96° after a morning low of 80°. 13 - Today's high was 93°, the seventh day in a row with a high in the nineties. With highs ranging between 93-96 during this week-long period, the average high was 94°. 27 - Between midnight and 2AM 1.65" of rain fell, with 0.98" of it coming down in the first hour.

AUGUST 6 - For the third year in a row both Aug. 5 and Aug. 6 had highs in the 90s. 10 - Today's high of 92° was the last 90-degree day of the year. Despite the relatively early date for this occurrence (average date of the last 90-degree temperature is 8/25), the total number of 90-degree days this year, sixteen, was close to average.

SEPTEMBER 7 - Between July 28 and today, a period of six weeks, just 0.77" of rain fell. This was the longest streak of days with less than an inch of rainfall since one of 44 days in Sept/Oct 1973. (In 2013 there would be a stretch of sixty days during the fall.) Today was also the fourth consecutive day with a low of 66° (average is 63°). 8 - 1.01" of rain fell between 7-9PM (and 1.55" overall). 14 - Today's high/low of 89/71 was 11 degrees above average.

OCTOBER 14 - This was the fourth day in a row with a chilly morning low of 43° - eight degrees colder than average.

NOVEMBER 26 - Between Nov. 20 and today each day's low temperature was colder than the day before, dropping from 50° on Nov. 19 (ten above average) to 29° today (nine below average). Today's reading was also the coldest of the month.

DECEMBER 14 - The winter's first one-inch snowfall arrived in the late afternoon, but after 1.4" accumulated the snow changed to a steady rain as the temperature rose to 37° by midnight. In total 1.02" of precipitation fell. 19 - Today was the first day this season completely below freezing, with a high/low of 28/21.

The low temperature on January 1, 1981 was -14 degrees Fahrenheit.

The Naval Observatory in Washington D.C. recorded -16.5 degrees Fahrenheit on this date.

Thus, one air mass set the all-time cold temperature record for two months.

The temperature reading was made at the Weather Bureau office at 24th and M streets, NW.

Subzero temperatures have occurred 28 times from 1870 to 1933.

For 47 years between the year 1935 and 1982 Washington had no subzero temperatures. in January 1982 two of the coldest nights were:

January 11, when the low was 2 degrees Fahrenheit and the high was 9 degrees Fahrenheit.

January 12, when the low was 2 degrees Fahrenheit and the high was 11 degrees Fahrenheit.

On January 17, 1982 the lowest temperature of the winter was reached at -5 degrees Fahrenheit.

This was the first sub-zero temperature reading since January 1935 and the coldest temperature since February of 1934.

January 21, 1982 the low temperature was - 4 degrees Fahrenheit and at noon it stood at only 7 degrees Fahrenheit.

1981 • Hard freezing temperatures arrived in Florida on January 12-14. • This freeze was comparable to the freeze of 1977. • Severe freeze heavily damaged fruit crops across Florida. Over 25,000 Florida farms were impacted and sustained losses. • Damaged fruit crops across Florida was estimated at 1.6 Billion

Tornadoes accompanied by heavy thunderstorms with baseball-size hail

May 8, 1981

Tornadoes accompanied by heavy thunderstorms with baseball-size hail moved across north central Texas late Friday, ripping up roofs, uprooting trees and flooding streets.

There were no immediate reports of injuries despite confirmation that several twisters touched down in the storm system that stretched from the southern Plains into Oklahoma and Texas.

Similar storms brought welcome relief to drought-plagued parts of Montana.

Tornado warnings were issued for the Dallas-Fort Worth area and several nearby counties as the storms continued their slow movement across Texas.

'No injuries have been reported yet, only some roof and damage and some trees -- blown down or uprooted -- in parts of town,' said a spokesman for the Tarrant County Civil Defense office in Fort Worth.

A twister reportedly damaged the roofs on homes west of Lake Weatherford and in Lake Worth. Tornadoes also touched down in Aledo, Whitt and near Mineral Wells but no injuries were reported.

Throughout the evening, law enforcement officials in several north Texas communities received reports of twisters and high winds as the storm system moved through their areas. Baseball-size hail was reported in the Benbrook section of Fort Worth and in Arlington. Marble-size hail was reported in Mineral Wells and several other areas. Street flooding was also reported in Arlington. Both rain-soaked Tarrant and Dallas counties were under flash flood warnings as a result of the latest storm system.

Several storms have moved through the area in the past few days. A thunderstorm had moved through Dallas before dawn Friday was thought to have weakened a 30-foot branch on an old oak tree that fell into a group of spectators at the Byron Nelson Classic, killing one man. A flash flood watch was issued for Oklahoma, covering all of the state except the Panhandle, while thunderstorms spread window-shattering hail, heavy rain and high winds over southern parts of the state and northern Texas.

Golf ball-size hail was reported at Durant, Okla., and Paris, Texas. A tornado watch was issued for portions of northeastern Texas and western Louisiana.

The National Weather Service reported up to 3 feet of snow has fallen over the central Montana mountains during the past few days and 1 to 2 inches of rain fell over eastern portions of the state, where drought conditions prevail.

Scattered rain showers also were reported in western Oregon and extreme northern California, as well as in the central and northern Rockies, the middle and upper Mississippi Valley and eastern North Carolina.

Sunny skies were reported over the Southwest and from the eastern Great Lakes into the mid and north Atlantic coast.

1981 Hurricane/Tropical Data for Atlantic

Individual Storm Summary

Winds in knots, pressure in millibars, category is based on Saffir-Simpson scale.

# Name Date Wind Pres Cat 1 Tropical Storm ARLENE 6- 9 MAY 50 999 - 2 Tropical Storm BRET 29 JUN- 1 JUL 60 996 - 3 Tropical Storm CINDY 2- 5 AUG 50 1002 - 4 Hurricane DENNIS 7-22 AUG 70 995 1 5 Hurricane EMILY 31 AUG-12 SEP 80 966 1 6 Hurricane FLOYD 3-12 SEP 100 975 3 7 Hurricane GERT 7-15 SEP 90 988 2 8 Hurricane HARVEY 11-20 SEP 115 946 4 9 Hurricane IRENE 21 SEP- 3 OCT 105 959 3 10 Tropical Storm JOSE 29 OCT- 2 NOV 45 998 - 11 Hurricane KATRINA 3- 7 NOV 75 980 1 12 Subtropical Storm 3 12-17 NOV 60 978 -

Saffir-Simpson Scale

The chart color codes intensity (category based on Saffir-Simpson scale):

Type Category Pressure (mb) Winds Winds Line Color (knots) (mph) Depression TD ----- < 34 < 39 Green Tropical Storm TS ----- 34-63 39-73 Yellow Hurricane 1 > 980 64-82 74-95 Red Hurricane 2 965-980 83-95 96-110 Light Red Hurricane 3 945-965 96-112 111-130 Magenta Hurricane 4 920-945 113-135 131-155 Light Magenta Hurricane 5 < 920 >135 >155 White

NOTE: Pressures are in millibars and winds are in knots where one knot is equal to 1.15 mph

Individual Storm Details

Subtropical Storm 3 (12-17 NOV) Storm - Max Winds: 60 Min Pres: 978

Tracking information

Hurricane KATRINA (03-07 NOV) Storm - Max Winds: 75 Min Pres: 980 Category: 1

Tracking information

Tropical Storm JOSE (29 OCT-02 NOV) Storm - Max Winds: 45 Min Pres: 998

Tracking information

Hurricane IRENE (21 SEP-03 OCT) Storm - Max Winds: 105 Min Pres: 959 Category: 3

Tracking information

Hurricane HARVEY (11-20 SEP) Storm - Max Winds: 115 Min Pres: 946 Category: 4

Tracking information

Hurricane GERT (07-15 SEP) Storm - Max Winds: 90 Min Pres: 988 Category: 2

Tracking information

Hurricane FLOYD (03-12 SEP) Storm - Max Winds: 100 Min Pres: 975 Category: 3

Tracking information

Hurricane EMILY (31 AUG-12 SEP) Storm - Max Winds: 80 Min Pres: 966 Category: 1

Tracking information

Hurricane DENNIS (07-22 AUG) Storm - Max Winds: 70 Min Pres: 995 Category: 1

Tracking information

Tropical Storm CINDY (02-05 AUG) Storm - Max Winds: 50 Min Pres: 1002

Tracking information

Tropical Storm BRET (29 JUN-01 JUL) Storm - Max Winds: 60 Min Pres: 996

Tracking information

Tropical Storm ARLENE (06-09 MAY) Storm - Max Winds: 50 Min Pres: 999

Tracking information