One time outlier weather events that were thought to be impossible for their area.... (climate, tornadoes)
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Anyone have an example of a one time outlier weather event that was thought to be impossible for the area?
Like breaking the previous all time record low or high for that location by a margin of 10 F or more? An arid climate getting more rain in a day than they typically get over 5 years total? A place that snowfall was once thought to be impossible getting a true multiple inch accumulation coat?
Most outliers I've seen have been a result of incorrect instrument reading, but I'm sure there are some that do actually occur. I've seen 5 degrees F higher than the old record (assuming a good 80 years worth of data), but never 10.
EG: The hottest temperatures ever recorded in BC during the month of September was 1988. During that time several places recorded 39C (102F). This shattered the old record for most of those places. One of them would be Williams Lake where the second hottest reading was only 34.5C (94F).
Another one that experiences was in November of 1990. We had a huge dump of snow that had never been seen before nor since. I was living on the "dry side of the mountains," but for some reason the moisture spilled over, and we got hammered with 3 feet of snow.
60cm of snow in parts of the Surrey Hills, and 15cm in Central London during the extreme snowfall event of February 2009.
Possibly also the tornado that hit London in December 2006. Not because tornadoes are rare, but because the general public do not believe they can happen in the UK, especially in a city.
Springfield, Missouri recording their record high for 11th November (80F) and record low (13F) on the same date in 1911. Both those records still stand, likewise in Oklahoma City (83/17).
Aboyne, Scotland recording a higher average Tmax in March 2012 (14.2C) than in June 2012 (14.1C).
The Central England Temperature for October 1974 (7.8C) being lower than December the same year (8.1C).
Up to two feet of snow in the usually snow-free English south coast counties in the last week of April 1908.
It might not sound spectacular, but until this year the latest-ever ice day in Hampstead was 7th March, in the epic winter of 1947. This year the daytime high on 24th March was only -1.5C, when normally anything below 5C would count as "really cold". I wouldn't have believed that was possible.
Yes there are a few here as well. Speaking alone for October there are two that come into my mind.
The first one which happened just very recently in October 2011 was the very unsual heat wave, we had on the beginning of the month. The first October broke the old official record here by a good 4 F, from 75°F or 24.0°C to 79°F or 25.9°C.
It was even hotter in the city of Bremen only 60 km/40 mi. south where a high of 28.6°C (84°F) was recorded, really unbelievable for early October.
Another event which brought us the lowest October Tmax ever, was the very early snowfall of the 24th October of 2003. Snowflakes in October are already quite unusual here close to the North Sea coast, but the snow did not only fall but settle leading to a snowcover of 3 cm (1.2 inch).
Not that much maybe, but this was the first time ever here since records began (1949) that snow has settled in October.
Due to the snow the temperature almost remained steady at 0 to -1°C until late afternoon when the snow stopped. Until midnight we made it to a high of +1.1°C (34°F), giving us the lowest Tmax ever recorded in October, the second lowest was 2.4°C (36°F) in 1950 when also snow fell but it didn't settle then.
Since the temperature remained above freezing during the night, most of the snow was melted by the next day.
60cm of snow in parts of the Surrey Hills, and 15cm in Central London during the extreme snowfall event of February 2009.
Possibly also the tornado that hit London in December 2006. Not because tornadoes are rare, but because the general public do not believe they can happen in the UK, especially in a city.
15cm in London in winter seems only extreme or "impossible" if you're about 7 years old or you have long-term memory issues....February 1991, January 1987, December 1981, December 1962, February 1947....all recorded comparable or greater amounts.
Even the tornado event isn't that amazing given that tornadoes are actually very common in the UK (according to some the highest frequency relative to its land area), although they are rarely big enough or seldom hit urban areas like in the US Midwest, so that when they do, the media gets all excited.
January 13th 1987, the Isles of Scilly recorded a temperature of -7.2C, colder than Edinburgh, Scotland where it dropped to -6.8C...
It isn't that unusual for Scotland to record milder temperatures than southern England in winter - particularly when the south is under a continental high pressure system which doesn't stretch to Scotland and northern England. So I wouldn't call this "impossible" either.
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