Portal:Weather/On this day list/February
February 1
[edit]1986: Cyclone Winifred made landfall in northern Queensland, killing 3 people.
February 2
[edit]1918: A tornado killed two people in Brighton, Victoria, Australia.
February 3
[edit]1966: The ESSA-1 weather satellite was launched.
February 4
[edit]2010: Cyclone Oli struck parts of French Polynesia, including Tahiti. One person was killed on the island of Tubuai.
February 5: National Weatherperson's Day
[edit]2002: Cyclone Chris, one of the strongest tropical cyclones to strike Western Australia on record, reached peak intensity just hours before landfall.
February 6
[edit]2009: The NOAA-19 weather satellite, which suffered serious damage during construction due to being accidentally dropped, was launched into a polar orbit from Vandenberg Air Force Base, California. Despite the early mishap and repairs, the satellite exceeded its expected mission lifetime of 2-5 years, and was still functioning as of early 2020.
February 7
[edit]2017: A strong tornado caused severe damage in New Orleans.
February 8
[edit]2012: Cyclone Jasmine reached peak intensity off the coast of New Caledonia, with 1-minute maximum sustained winds of 115 knots (215 km/h; 130 mph).
February 9
[edit]2010: A series of avalanches struck the southern approach to the Salang Tunnel in Afghanistan, killing 172 people.
February 10
[edit]1994: Cyclone Hollanda struck the island nation of Mauritius in the Indian Ocean, causing major damage and killing two people.
February 11
[edit]1895: The lowest temperature in the United Kingdom, -27.2°C (-16.7°F), was measured at Braemar, Grampian, Scotland.
February 12
[edit]2006: New York City experienced its largest snowfall on record, 26.4 inches (67.1 cm).
February 13
[edit]1899: In the wake of a major blizzard that affected much of the eastern United States, hundreds of cities across the country, including Dallas, New Orleans, and Atlanta, set record low temperatures that still stand today. Several U.S. state records were set as well, in Nebraska, Ohio, Texas, and most notably Florida, where Tallahassee sank to −2 °F (−19 °C); the only time on record the state has seen temperatures below zero Fahrenheit.
February 14
[edit]2007: The Valentine's Day Storm hit its peak over the eastern half of North America. Up to 48 inches (120 cm) of snow fell in Vermont and 37 people were killed. The storm system also spawned a small tornado outbreak, killing one person near New Orleans.
February 15
[edit]1967: The TIROS-9 weather satellite ended its mission. The satellite was the first of the TIROS program to be in a near-polar orbit, allowing cloud cover pictures and radiometric temperature observations to cover the entire surface of the earth over the course of several orbits.
February 16
[edit]2005: Cyclone Olaf struck areas of American Samoa, causing severe damage.
February 17
[edit]1959: Vanguard 2, the first weather satellite, was launched, carrying a device to measure daytime cloud cover.
February 18
[edit]2003: The "White Juan" blizzard caused record snowfall over the eastern provinces of Canada.
February 19
[edit]2012: An avalanche at Stevens Pass, Washington caught and buried a group of people, including some of the best free skiers and snowboarders in the country, killing three.
February 20
[edit]2010: Flooding and landslides in Madeira, Portugal killed dozens.
February 21
[edit]1971: A tornado outbreak killed 121 people in Louisiana and Mississippi.
February 22
[edit]2007: Cyclone Favio made landfall in Inhambane Province, Mozambique, causing major damage in the town of Vilankulo where 80% of homes were destroyed.
February 23
[edit]1998: The deadliest tornado outbreak in Florida history killed 42 people in the northern half of the peninsula just after midnight local time.
February 24
[edit]2015: A series of avalanches began in Panjshir Province, Afghanistan that would last for 5 days, killing at least 310 people.
February 25
[edit]1955: The Hunter Valley flood began with a major levee failure near Maitland, New South Wales, Australia.
February 26
[edit]1987: The GOES 7 weather satellite was launched. Part of the Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite program, GOES 7 would provide weather forecasting data to the United States until its retirement and transfer to the PEACESAT program in 1999.
February 27
[edit]2013: Cyclone Rusty, which brought gale-force winds to Port Hedland, Western Australia for a record 39 hours straight, made landfall near Pardoo Station.
February 28
[edit]2010: A European windstorm named Cyclone Xynthia battered Europe for the second day, causing widespread wind damage across the continent. Eventually more than €1.3 billion in damage would be attributed to the storm, and at least 51 people killed.
February 29
[edit]2004: Cyclone Monty reached its peak intensity off the Pilbara coast of Western Australia, with estimated wind gusts as high as 215 kilometres per hour (134 mph).