U.S. 2012 Weather in Review

As we turn the page from 2012 to 2013, I thought it would be a good time to look back at the top ten weather events of 2012, as voted by the readers of AlabamaWX and the listeners at WeatherBrains.com.

Going from 10th to 1st:

10. A powerful derecho, which is a widespread damaging winds event, caused destruction from Illinois to Virginia on June 29^th,  Power was knocked out to over three million homes and businesses.  A total of eighteen people were killed.

9. Heat, drought and fire dominated the headlines in 2012.  The country started off with its warmest January – March on record, with the national average temperature some 6F above normal.  Twenty five states east of the Rockies were warmer than normal during this period.  The summer was the third warmest on record, just 2/10ths of a degree cooler than the record setting Dust Bowl year of 1936.  Over eight million acres were burned by wildfires in June, July and August,, over twice the normal average for that period.

8. A line of severe storms moved through the lower Mississippi Valley on the night of the January 22^nd and the early morning hours of January 23^rd, producing 25 tornadoes in six states.  Two people died in Jefferson County, Alabama, less than a year after the second deadliest tornado outbreak in the state’s history killed 251 on April 27, 2011.

7.  A swarm of tornadoes affected the Dallas/Fort Worth Metroplex during the early afternoon of April 3^rd.  News helicopters captured amazing video of the tornado lofting truck trailers into the air like toys.  Twenty tornadoes impacted the region that day, and amazingly, no one was seriously injured or killed.

6. Category one Hurricane Isaac moved into southeastern Louisiana on the evening of August 28^th.  The storm dumped over 20 inches of rain on New Orleans and caused serious storm surge flooding in Louisiana and Mississippi, but the Crescent City was spared tidal inundation.  Seven people died in the U.S.

5. For the seventh consecutive year, the U.S. was spared a hit by a major hurricane.  The last category three or higher hurricane to hit the country was Wilma in 2005.  It was an active hurricane season, with nineteen named storms, ten hurricanes and one major hurricane (Michael).

4. Forty four tornadoes across seven states during the overnight of the 28^th and the morning of the 29^th in the Leap Day 2012 tornado outbreak.  One tornado hit Branson, Missouri.  Fifteen people died in the outbreak.

3. At least twenty four tornadoes touched down across Alabama, Mississippi and Louisiana on Christmas Day.  There had never been a tornado in Alabama on Christmas Day (since accurate records began to be maintained in 1950).  There was one EF3 tornado in Mississippi and a strong tornado struck areas northwest and north of Mobile.

2. The largest tornado outbreak of the year saw sixty eight tornadoes across eleven states from Illinois, Indiana and Ohio across Kentucky and south into Alabama.  A total of forty people were killed.

1. The storm that emergency managers in New York City feared finally happened as Hurricane Sandy made landfall on the New Jersey coast on October 29^th.  The category one hurricane, which wasn’t officially tropical by the classic definition, had storm surge impacts of a category three hurricane.  The New Jersey coast was heavily damaged,  and there was severe flooding in the New York City metro area.  Damage is estimated at over $65 billion, making it the second costliest hurricane in U.S. history.

Category: Headlines, Met 101/Weather History