When it comes to extremes in U.S. weather, there may be few years that can match the ferocity of 2011.
Snowstorms, tornadoes, flooding, exceptional drought, heat, and tropical cyclones. And that's only through the first nine months!
Let's march through a list of the amazing extremes in 2011, beginning with winter's record-setting snowstorms.
|
|
To share your comment, please continue to the final slide.
More Content
Winter's extremes
Just four days later, a massive snowstorm clobbered New England (see photos), setting the following records:
Then, a pre-Groundhog Day blizzard (see photos) hammered areas from the Southern Plains to the Midwest.
To share your comment, please continue to the final slide.
Spring Tornado Swarms
It began with a multi-bilion-dollar severe weather outbreak, mainly from damaging winds on April 4-5 (see photos).
Just under a week later, an unusual tornado outbreak for early April struck parts of the Upper Midwest (see photos). April 10 was a record April tornado outbreak in Wisconsin (15 tornadoes confirmed). Other destructive tornadoes touched down in Pulaski, Va. and Mapleton, Ia.
The following week, the siege continued. A three-day assault of 160 tornadoes swept through the South April 14-16, including the Jackson, Miss. and Raleigh, N.C. metro areas. April 16 was a record-setting tornado outbreak for North Carolina (at least 32 confirmed tornadoes).
With that all said, April 27, 2011 will now go down in infamous weather history (Photos | Before/After Imagery). At least 178 confirmed tornadoes...10 states....308 deaths. A record number of tornadoes for any individual outbreak. An EF4 tornado mauled Tuscaloosa, Ala. Here are some other amazing stats from that deadly day:
Unfortunately, a single tornado on May 22, 2011 became, arguably, the year's most notorious. An EF5 tornado bulldozed an up to one-mile wide path through Joplin, Mo. (see photos) claiming at least 157 lives. This was the single deadliest U.S. tornado since 1947. Up to 75% of the city was damaged (see before/after photos). Total losses were estimated at over $7 billion.
Tallying up all the 2011 tornadoes, so far...
NEXT > 2011's Extremes: Floods
To share your comment, please continue to the final slide.
Heavy rain in April from the Ozarks to the Ohio Valley sent first the Ohio River, than the Mississippi River Basin from southeast Missouri to Louisiana (before/after images) into major flood.
Record flooding was measured in at least 23 locations from southern Illinois to Mississippi, including Cairo, Ill., New Madrid, Mo., and Vicksburg, Miss from late April through mid-May (see photos) The sheer volume of flood water in the Mississippi River forced the demolition of the Birds Point Levee in southeast Missouri and the opening of the Morganza Spillway in Louisiana for the first time since 1973.
While this was happening, heavy April rain coupled with melting snowpack lead torecord flooding along Lake Champlain. (Read article from May 6)
As the flood from one great river receded, levels just begun to rise on another. Melting of a heavy winter snowpack in the northern Rockies, coupled with an historically wet May there lead to massive flooding in the Missouri River Basin from Montana to Missouri lingering into the summer months. (Read: How it happened)
All bridges crossing the Missouri River for more than 100 miles were closed at one time. Sections of I-29 and I-680 in Iowa and Missouri were flooded and damaged. Some farmland was flooded for months.
Record flooding from the Souris ("Mouse") River inundated parts of Minot, N.D. in late June. An estimated 11,000 were evacuated from the city. FEMA estimated 800 homes may have to be razed after being inundated by at least 6 feet of water. (See photos)
How many hurricane seasons can you name that left their most indelible mark on the Northeast?
First, Hurricane Irene rode up the East Coast, dumping inundating rain on areas saturated from a snowy winter, wet spring, and soaked summer.
All in all, January - August, 2011 was the record wettest such period on record (dating to 1895) in Connecticut, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, and Ohio. It was the second wettest such period in Vermont and North Dakota. (see map of highlights)
NEXT > 2011's Extremes: Drought
To share your comment, please continue to the final slide.
One Exceptional Drought
As of late September, a whopping 85% of Texas was classified in "exceptional drought", the most dire category in the weekly U.S. Drought Monitor. At the time, 250 Texas counties had burn bans.
The National Climatic Data Center's August "State of the Climate" report said that, according to one drought index, parts of Louisiana, New Mexico, Oklahoma and Texas are experiencing drought of greater intensity, but not yet duration, than those of the 1930s and 1950s!
Also in the report, an analysis of Texas statewide summer tree-ring records dating back to 1550 indicates the 2011 summer drought in Texas is matched only by the summer drought of 1789!
As of mid-August, it was estimated drought-related losses in Texas alone would top $5 billion!
An economist with the Texas AgriLife Extension Service estimated wildfires had torched almost 6,000 miles of fence and almost 3 million acres of pasture land in the Lone Star State.
Dating to 1895, January-August 2011 was the record driest such period in Texas, Louisiana, and New Mexico. It was the second driest such period in Oklahoma. (see map)
On a related note....
To share your comment, please continue to the final slide.
Record-shattering heat
Read article: Record-shattering summer of 2011
Incredibly, Texas (Hottest), Oklahoma (2nd hottest), and Louisiana (4th hottest) each registered one of the top 5 hottest summers (June-August) of record for any state...all in the summer of 2011 (see graph). Summer 2011 in Oklahoma was hotter than two Dust Bowl summers (1934 and 1936), as well as the summer of 1980. Texas' hot summer 2011 easily beat out 1980, 1934, 1953 and 1954.
It's not simply a Southern Plains story, either.
Over
"Give each caddy an equal share. Come back and see which ones had given away only a few, and which have given away an abundance. And see if any of them were still stocked with the original amount ... And for those who have given a few, add back to them so that they are full. ... and for those that have not given any away, take from them what they have and give it to the caddies that had given away an abundance .. Therefore from those that have given away, more will be added. But those who have not given away, all will be taken."
13 “Therefore stay alert, because you do not know the day or the hour. 14 For it is like a man going on a journey, who summoned his slaves and entrusted his property to them. 15 To one he gave five talents, to another two, and to another one, each according to his ability. Then he went on his journey. 16 The one who had received five talents went off right away and put his money to work270 and gained five more. 17 In the same way, the one who had two gained two more. 18 But the one who had received one talent went out and dug a hole in the ground and hid his master’s money in it. 19 After a long time, the master of those slaves came and settled his accounts with them. 20 The one who had received the five talents came and brought five more, saying, ‘Sir, you entrusted me with five talents. See, I have gained five more.’ 21 His master answered, ‘Well done, good and faithful slave! You have been faithful in a few things. I will put you in charge of many things. Enter into the joy of your master.’ 22 The one with the two talents also came and said, ‘Sir, you entrusted two talents to me. See, I have gained two more.’ 23 His master answered, ‘Well done, good and faithful slave! You have been faithful with a few things. I will put you in charge of many things. Enter into the joy of your master.’ 24 Then the one who had received the one talent came and said, ‘Sir, I knew that you were a hard man, harvesting where you did not sow, and gathering where you did not scatter seed, 25 so I was afraid, and I went and hid your talent in the ground. See, you have what is yours.’ 26 But his master answered, ‘Evil and lazy slave! So you knew that I harvest where I didn’t sow and gather where I didn’t scatter? 27 Then you should have deposited my money with the bankers, and on my return I would have received my money back with interest! 28 Therefore take the talent from him and give it to the one who has ten. 29 For the one who has will be given more, and he will have more than enough. But the one who does not have, even what he has will be taken from him. 30 And throw that worthless slave into the outer darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth’” (Matthew 25:13-30).
_______________________
1. 6.9 earthquake Sikkim, India- September 18, 2011
2. 6.0 earthquake Honshu, Japan- September 16, 2011
3. 6.7 earthquake East Coast Honshu, Japan- September 16, 2011
4. 7.3 earthquake Fiji- September 15, 2011
5. 6.2 earthquake East Coast Honshu, Japan- September 15, 2011
6. 6.0 earthquake North Island, New Zealand- September 15, 2011
7. 6.1 earthquake Aleutian Islands, Alaska- September 14, 2011
8. 6.2 earthquake Papua New Guinea- September 12, 2011
9. 6.0 earthquake Vanuatu- September 11, 2011
10. 6.4 earthquake Vancouver Island- September 9, 2011
11. 6.6 earthquake Northern Sumatra- September 5, 2011
12. 6.3 earthquake Tonga- September 5, 2011
13. 6.1 earthquake Vanuatu- September 4, 2011
14. 7.0 earthquake Vanuatu- September 4, 2011
15. 6.2 earthquake South Sandwich Islands- September 3, 2011
16. 6.8 earthquake Fox Islands- September 2, 2011
17. 6.7 earthquake Santiago Del Estero, Argentina- September 2, 2011
Blessed are those, who seek to honor His Holy Days,
They shall be blessed in their efforts...
Lo, The Lord will look upon them and smile.
