List of weather records

This is a list of weather records, a list of the most extreme occurrences of weather phenomena for various categories. Each of these is understood to be the record for recent history, as these records may have been exceeded before modern weather instrumentation was invented.

Heat

Highest temperature ever recorded

Other cold records

*Fastest temperature drop: 26 C° (47 F°) in just 15 minutes; Rapid City, South Dakota, 1911-01-10.

Precipitation

*Least per year (locale): 0.00 mm (0.00 in/year), none in recorded history; Antofagasta Region, Atacama Desert, Chile. [ [http://magma.nationalgeographic.com/ngm/0308/feature3/ Atacama Desert @ National Geographic Magazine ] ]

Rain

*Most in one minute: 3.8 cm (1.5 in); Barst, Guadeloupe, 1970-11-26.
*Highest average annual total: 13.3 meters (523.6 in); Lloro, Colombia. [http://www.space.com/scienceastronomy/101_earth_facts_030722-1.html SPACE.com - 101 Amazing Earth Facts ] ]

now

*Most in one-year period: 31.1 meters (1224 in); Mount Rainier, Washington State, United States, 1971-02-19 to 1972-02-18.
*Most in one season (July 1 through June 30): 29.0 meters, (1140 in); Mount Baker, Washington State, United States, 1998 through 1999. [http://www.usatoday.com/weather/news/1999/wsnorcrd.htm NOAA: Mt. Baker snowfall record sticks ] ]
*Largest snowflake ever observed: 38 centimeters (15 in) in diameter; Fort Keough, Montana, United States, 1887-01-28.

Wind speed

*Fastest ever recorded: 484±32 km/h (301±20 mph) 3-second gust; Observed by a DOW (Doppler On Wheels) radar unit in a tornado near Oklahoma City, Oklahoma on 1999-05-03. cite web| url = http://cswr.org/dow/DOW.htm| title = Doppler On Wheels| accessdate = 2007-02-18| author= [http://cswr.org/ Center for Severe Weather Research] | year = 2006]
*Fastest recorded with an anemometer: 372 km/h (231 mph) sustained 1-minute average; Mount Washington, New Hampshire, 1934-04-12. [http://www.space.com/scienceastronomy/101_earth_facts_030722-1.html SPACE.com - 101 Amazing Earth Facts ] ]
*Fastest daily average: 174 km/h (108 mph); Port Martin (Adélie Land), Antarctica.

Tornadoes

Deadliest in history

*On Earth: Approximately 1300 deaths; Manikganj District, Bangladesh on 1989-04-26. [http://www.tornadoproject.com/alltorns/bangladesh.htm Tornadoes in Bangladesh ] ]
*In North America: 695 deaths (Tri-State Tornado); Missouri, Illinois, Indiana, United States 1925-03-18.
*In Europe: 600 or more (Grand Harbour Tornado); Valetta, Malta, 23 September 1551 or 1556 (sources conflict) [http://www.torro.org.uk/TORRO/research/whirlextreme.php TORRO: Research: Tornado Extremes ] ]

Earliest known

*On earth: 1054-04-30; Rosdalla (near Kilbeggan), Ireland.

=Outbreaks=

*Deadliest: 747 were killed by the Tri-State Tornado and associated outbreak on 1925-03-18.
*Largest and most severe: 148 tornadoes occurred in 16 hours on 03 April to 04 April 1974. They affected 13 US states and Ontario, Canada, and included 24 F4's and 6 F5's, more F5's than have been reported in any other "year". There were also more significant tornadoes during that 24 hours than any other entire week on record.

Tropical cyclones

Most intense (by minimum surface air pressure)

*Most intense ever recorded: 870 mb (25.63 inHg); eye of Super Typhoon Tip over the Pacific Ocean, 1979-10-12.
*Most intense in the Western Hemisphere: 882 mb (26.05 inHg); eye of Hurricane Wilma, 2005-10-19. [http://www.nhc.noaa.gov/pdf/TCR-AL252005_Wilma.pdf Tropical Cyclone Report ] ]
*Most intense ever recorded on land: 892 mb (26.35 inHg); Craig Key, Florida, eye of the Labor Day Hurricane, 1935-09-02. While other landfalling tropical cyclones have almost certainly had lower pressures, data is spotty from areas other than the Atlantic Basin, especially before the invention of weather satellites. [http://extremeweatherguide.com/records.asp Extreme Weather: A Guide and Record Book ] ]

Other severe weather

Hail

*Heaviest: 1.0 kg (2.25 lb); Gopalganj District, Bangladesh, 1986-04-14.http://www.wrh.noaa.gov/sgx/research/Guide/weatherextremes.pdf]
*Largest ever officially measured: 17.8 cm (7.0 in) diameter, 47.6 cm (18.75 in) circumference; Aurora, Nebraska, 2003-06-22. [http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2003/08/0804_030804_largesthailstone.html Largest Hailstone in U.S. History Found ] ]

Lightning

*Longest lightning bolt: 190 km (118 miles) 2001-10-13.cite journal |last=Cerveny |first=Randall S. |coauthors=Jay Lawrimore, Roger Edwards, and Christopher Landsea |title=Extreme Weather Records. Compilation, Adjudication, and Publication. |journal=Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society |volume=88 |issue=6 |pages=853–860 |month=June | year=2007 |url=http://ams.allenpress.com/perlserv/?request=get-abstract&doi=10.1175%2FBAMS-88-6-853 |doi=10.1175/BAMS-88-6-853 ]
*Most strikes per year: More than 70 per km² in parts of Central Africa, especially the Democratic Republic of the Congo. [http://www.nasa.gov/vision/earth/lookingatearth/intense_storms.html NASA - NASA Satellite Identifies the World's Most Intense Thunderstorms ] ]

Other categories

*Worst airline disaster due to fog: 583 were killed in the Tenerife disaster; Tenerife, Canary Islands, Spain, 1977-03-27. [http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/planecrash/human.html NOVA | The Deadliest Plane Crash | Room For Error | PBS ] ]
*Highest air pressure ever recorded: 1085.6 mb (32.06 inHg); Tosontsengel, Khövsgöl Province, Mongolia, 2001-12-19. [http://www.ncdc.noaa.gov/oa/climate/extremes/2001/december/extremes1201.html NCDC: Climate-Watch, December 2001 ] ]
*Lowest (surface) air pressure ever recorded: 850 mbar; recorded in tornado at surface by probe near Manchester, South Dakota on 2003-06-24cite conference |first=Julian J. |last=Lee |coauthors=Timothy P. Samaras, Carl R. Young |title=Pressure Measurements at the ground in an F-4 tornado |booktitle=Preprints of the 22nd Conference on Severe Local Storms |publisher=American Meteorological Society |date=October 2004 |location=Hyannis, Massachusetts |url=http://ams.confex.com/ams/11aram22sls/techprogram/paper_81700.htm ] (The place is located convert|1540|ft|m|-1|abbr=on above sea level, normal air pressure is 960 mbar).

See also

*Canada Weather Extremes
*Extremes on Earth

References

External links

* [http://www.ncdc.noaa.gov/oa/climate/monitoring/extremes/ncec.html National Climate Extremes Committee]