Weather History For March 30
1805
New York's City's Battery Park was strewn with 24 inch snow rollers, from a ferocious storm between the March 26th and March 28th. Snow rollers are natural snowballs that are formed when winds blow over a snow covered surface.
(Ref. Wilson Wx. History)
1823
A great Northeast storm with hurricane force winds raged from Pennsylvania to Maine. The storm was most severe over New Jersey with high tides, uprooted trees, and heavy snow inland with24 inches of snow recorded in Providence, RI and 18 inches at Boston, MA.
(David Ludlum)
(Ref. Wilson Wx. Additional Information)
1848
The day Niagara Falls went dry ---"Local residents awoke on the morning of the 30th, something felt wrong...indeed, something sounded wrong. There was...silence. No roaring water filled the ambient background as it had every morning in anyone's memory."
(Ref. An Ice Dam Stops Flow to the Niagara Falls Dam)
1887
The minimum temperature for the date is 21 °F in Washington, DC.
(Ref. Washington Weather Records - KDCA)
1899
A storm that buried Ruby, CO under 141 inches of snow came to an end. Ruby was an old abandoned mining town on the Elk Mountain Range in the Crested Butte area.
(The Weather Channel)
1890
On this date through March 31st, 20.4 inches of snow fell at St. Louis, MO. This is the greatest 24-hour snowfall total on record for this location.
(Ref. Wilson Wx. History)
1938
A tornado outbreak of 8 separate tornadoes around St. Louis, MO was responsible for 14 deaths and 121 injuries. The damage from these tornadoes ranged from F2 to F3. A large brick farmhouse east of Edwardsville, IL, was destroyed by a strong tornado. A farmhouse on the same site had been destroyed by another strong tornado on May 18, 1883, with a fatality.
(Ref. Wilson Wx. History)
1964
There was a late snow of five inches on 30th and 31st along with a north wind of 26 mph.
(Bob Ryan's 2000 Almanac)
1970
The day before, Easter was not very pleasant across northern New Jersey as up to 20 inches of snow and temperatures plunged from spring-like readings near 60° on March 26th to 2° on this date. Single digit and below zero readings occurred across parts of northern Pennsylvania.
(Ref. Wilson Wx. History)
1977
Hartford CT hit 87 degrees to establish a record for the month of March. Binghamton, NY hit 95° while Baltimore-Washington International Airport reached 87°.
(The Weather Channel)
(Ref. Wilson Wx. History)
1982
An F1 tornado touched down in Armenia Township, Juneau County, WI where it destroyed a house and three nearby mobile homes. The tornado then moved northeast on a 22-mile intermittent path, just southeast of Nekoosa before lifting southwest of Stevens Point, WI.High winds and wet snow struck most of South Dakota. Widespread winds gusted to 50 to 80 mph and up to 10 inches of snow accompanied the winds in the northwest. Power lines and at least 1,500 poles were snapped in the northwest after being coated with at least an inch of ice.Residents in north Garretson in Minnehaha County were evacuated when the high winds caused four connected locomotives to roll into and tip over a tank car, spilling phosphoric acid.Further south, a high wind event plagued eastern Nebraska and all of Iowa. Norfolk, NE reported a wind gust to 71 mph, with 60 to 80 mph winds common across most of Iowa. The strong winds blew roofs and siding off buildings and knocked down traffic signals, lamp posts and stop signs.
(Ref. Wilson Wx. History)
1987
A storm spread heavy snow across the Ohio Valley and Lower Great Lakes Region. Cleveland, OH received sixteen inches of snow in 24 hours that was their second highest total of record. Winds gusting to 50 mph created 8 to 12 foot waves on Lake Huron. The storm also ushered unseasonably cold air into the south central and southeastern U.S., with nearly one hundred record lows reported in three days.
(The National Weather Summary) (Storm Data)
1988
A winter-like storm developed in the Central Rockies. Snowfall totals in Utah ranged up to 15 inches at the Brian Head Ski Resort, and winds in Arizona gusted to 59 mph at Show Low.In Colorado, Denver and Boulder reported 6 to 12 inches of snow with 12 to 18 inches reported in the foothills west of Denver. Flight delays of 2 to 3 hours were common at Stapleton International Airport.
(The National Weather Summary) (Storm Data)
1989
Thunderstorms developing along and ahead of a slow moving cold front produced large hail and damaging winds at more than fifty locations across the southeast quarter of the nation, and spawned a tornado which injured eleven persons at North Hampton NC.
(The National Weather Summary) (Storm Data)
1990
Low pressure produced heavy snow in central Maine and northern New Hampshire, with up to eight inches reported in Maine. A slow moving Pacific storm system produced 18 to 36 inches of snow in the southwestern mountains of Colorado in three days. Heavier snowfall totals included 31 inches at Wolf Creek Pass and 27 inches at the Monarch Ski Area.
(The National Weather Summary) (Storm Data)
1991
Seventeen tornadoes occurred during the month in Oklahoma, setting an all time record. Oklahoma averages about four tornadoes during the month of March.
(Ref. Wilson Wx. History)
1993
This apparently was not “soft” hail; good thing nobody’s head was in the way. Hail to the size of baseballs fell from Braxton to D’lo, MS. A number of mobile homes were “punctured” by the hail.
(Ref. Weather Guide Calendar with Phenomenal Weather Events 2012 Accord Pub. 2011, USA)
1997
Early morning tornadoes across southeastern Tennessee injured 26 people. Two people were killed hours earlier in Kentucky by tornadoes.
(Ref. Wilson Wx. History)
Easter Sunday across the Northeast was highlighted by spring-like weather with temperatures well into the 60s in many areas with sunny skies. The beautiful conditions did not presage the change that was ahead. In fact many people must have thought that the forecasts of heavy snow for March 31st and April 1st was an April Fools' Day joke. (See March 31st in this history for more)
1998
The maximum temperature for the date is 87 °F in Washington, DC.
(Ref. Washington Weather Records - KDCA)
(Ref. Wilson Weather for Many Additional Temperatures)
2003
Mar. 30th: A late season snowfall left 1 to 3 inches of accumulation west of a line from Charlottesville to Baltimore City. Above 1500 feet where nearly all of the falling snow was able to accumulate, 4 to 8 inches of snow was reported, with isolated locations above 3000 feet reporting up to 12 inches.
Central Atlantic States on the 30th and 31st:
The heaviest snowfall falls in the eastern West Virginia mountains, with 16.5 inches at Davis. Blacksburg, Virginia, reported 11 inches. A foot or more fell at Boone and West Jefferson in North Carolina.
(Ref. WxDoctor)
2005
In Colorado, near blizzard conditions occurred east and southeast of Denver during the overnight as winds sustained winds up to 35 mph with gusts to 50 mph produced blowing snow and dropped visibilities at times to near zero. Considerable drifting of 2 to 4 feet was also reported. Snowfall totals included: 8 inches near Castle Rock, 7 inches near Sedalia and 6 inches near Parker but Denver only reported 0.3 inches with gusty winds.Further north, the same storm system triggered numerous small thunderstorms, including a few brief tornadoes from east of Mason City, IA through Mitchell County, Iowa to near the Minnesota-Iowa state line. This area was near the center of low pressure and nearby cold/warm fronts that served as a 'triple point' to focus severe weather development. Known tornado touchdowns (local time) included: 6 miles west of Osage, IA at 2:04 pm, NW side of Stacyville, IA at 2:13 pm, and on the state line south of Adams, MN (Mower/Mitchell County) at 2:18 pm. All damage was rated F0. Wind damage also occurred in southeast Minnesota, east and northeast of Rochester, MN from wind speeds of 60-70 mph.Poseyville in extreme southwestern Indiana had a wind gust of 69 mph.
(Ref. Wilson Wx. History)
