Historical Weather Data
A Chronological Listing of Early Weather Events by James A. Marusek, describes historical weather events covering the years 1 A.D. to 1900 A.D. Currently this book is over 1,400 pages long and new material continues to be incorporated into this work daily. This chronology collects weather events from all over the world. It opens a door into the past.
Why is a chronological listing of weather events of value? If one wishes to peer into the future, then a firm grasp of the past events is a key to that gateway. This is intrinsically true for the scientific underpinnings of weather and climate.
From earliest times, man stood in awe and wonderment as weather unfolded before his eyes. His records like pebbles were collected into chronologies that provide a glimpse of bygone weather.
Sometimes rare events were described as surreal images. In China, tornadoes and waterspouts were often seen as battles between dragons. The tail of the dragon [tornado funnel] was visible, while the dragons fought hidden in the clouds. Then in an instant with a great roar, the dragon would swoop down with its mighty claws and splinter trees or pull them out by the roots, destroy building and scoop up men and cattle into the sky where they were never seen from again.
Early American Indians were more afraid of “pogonip” than rattlesnakes. “Pogonip” translates to “white death”. It is a mist of frozen vapors, microscopic particles of ice, called diamond dust. These particles are so fine that when breathed in, they can perforate the lungs and cause death within a day.
History records hailstones so large that they killed men, horses and cattle. Sometimes storms deposited hailstones to a depth of 10-feet. Extremely rare events describe large slabs of ice falling from the sky, such as in France in 823.
Dust and rain storms collide to create mudstorms that rain down thick mud.
There are historical accounts of “Snow Rollers”, snowballs rolled by strong winds like a jellyroll to form large cylinder of snow, generally in flat fields. A few years back, I was amazed to see a field of snow rollers in Bloomfield, Indiana.
There were winters so severe that wild animals and birds could be approached and picked up by hand. When packs of wolves were driven into the villages and cities in search for food, even human prey. Weather caused famines so severe that the consequences, I don’t even want to speak about. The scale of some of these natural events are breathtaking and the disasters they wrought inconceivable.
I have collected and combined the information from many chronologies into a grand chronology titled A Chronological Listing of Early Weather Events. It covers the years 1 A.D. to 1900 A.D. The book is now in its 7th edition and over 1400 pages long and still it only scratches the surface. But be forewarned, this 18 MB file may take a little time to download.
Notable events include:
* The “Great Storm” that had the intensity of a major Category 2 hurricane which struck England in November 1703.
* The mega-tsunami that struck Taiwan and the 1783 comet impact hypothesis.
* The severity of winter in the Upper Midwest of the United States during the last Little Ice Age. Refer to the winters of 1680/1681 and 1747/1748.
* Massive firestorm that raced through Wisconsin, Illinois and Michigan and into Ontario, Canada in 1871.
* The severe winter of 1683/1684 when the English Channel froze.
* The drought in Egypt due to a lack of the annual inundation of the Nile River that resulted in a Great Famine of 1199-1202.
* The global droughts and famines of 1783-1785, 1876-1879, and 1895.
* The three forms of microscopic diamond dust ice crystal (hexagon plates, hexagon columns and the deadly long prisms). The latter type occurs in diamond dust icefalls called by the American Indian name “pogonip” which translates to “white death”.
* The tornado outbreaks that struck the United States in 1884 and 1896.
* The Galveston Island hurricane of September 1900.
* The great storms that struck the Spanish fleet in the Caribbean and the Atlantic Ocean during the summer of 1591.
* The severe winters of 642, 763/764, and 775 when the Black Sea froze.
* The effects of the Tambora volcanic eruption of 10 April 1815, which cause “a year without summer” in 1816.
* The great Atlantic hurricane of 9-16 October 1780.
* The Great September hurricanes of 1752, 1782 and 1804.
* The Great Storm that struck Wales during the winter of 1171/1172.
* The “day of darkness” in New England that occurred on 19 May 1780.
* The great flood of 48 A.D and the great storm of 67 A.D. that struck England.
* A typical winter in Boston, Massachusetts towards the end of the last Little Ice Age. (Refer to the winter of 1771/1772.)
* The thunderstorm that struck Greenland in 1755.
* The avalanche of snow in Italy in 1755.
* The Atlantic hurricanes of 1553, 1559, 1590, 1591, 1600, 1601, 1605, 1622, 1644, 1666, 1680, 1689, 1694, 1715, 1719, 1722, 1747, 1751, 1752, 1766, 1767, 1768, 1772, 1775, 1776, 1780, 1781, 1782, 1784, 1785, 1791, 1800, 1804, 1813, 1815, 1817, 1825, 1831, 1870, 1873, 1893, 1899, and 1900.
* Typhoons/Cyclones that struck
— China in 1166, 1474, 1748, 1822, 1862, 1874, and 1881.
— Vietnam 1881.
— Bangladesh in 1584, 1699, 1737, 1767, 1787, 1822, 1831, 1876, 1886, and 1897.
— India in 1737, 1749, 1782, 1789, 1833, 1839, 1854, 1864, 1867, 1875, 1876, 1882, and 1886.
— Australia in 1795, and 1899.
— Japan in 1828.
* The great lightning storm that struck southern France in 753.
* Powerful storms that struck the coasts of France, Spain and England in 1751.
* Powerful storm that struck the western coast of England in 1757.
* The great winter in Germany in 760/761, 1019/1020.
* The Canadian winter of 1741/1742.
* The severe European winters of 566/567, 821/822, 859/860, 874/875, 993/994, 1076/1077, 1114/1115, 1132/1133, 1149/1150, 1216, 1233/1234, 1305/1306, 1323/1324, 1363/1364, 1407/1408, 1433/1434, 1459/1460, 1490/1491, 1564/1565, 1594/1595, 1607/1608, 1620/1621, 1621/1622, 1657/1658, 1669/1670, 1680/1681, 1683/1684, 1691/1692, 1708/1709, 1739/1740, 1748/1749, 1753/1754, 1762/1763, 1766/1767, 1775/1776, 1781/1782, 1783/1784, 1784/1785, 1788/1789, 1794/1795, 1798/1799, 1812/1813, 1819/1820, 1829/1830, and 1844/1845.
* The Chinese winters of 1445/1446, 1510, 1574, 1627/1628, 1655, 1691, 1749, 1751/1752, and 1863/1864.
* The severe North American winters of 1696, 1697, 1716/1717, 1740/1741, 1742/1743, 1747/1748, 1761/1762, 1764/1765, 1765/1766, 1771/1772, 1779/1780, 1783/1784, 1786/1787, 1798/1799, 1799/1800, 1804/1805, 1806/1807, 1814/1815, 1816/1817, 1820/1821, 1830/1831, 1834/1835, 1835/1836, 1856/1857, 1863/1864, 1883/1884, 1884/1885, and 1898/1899.
* The winters when the Nile River froze: 829/830, 1011, and 1691/1692.
* The great winters of 1783/1784 and 1784/1785 in the Northern Hemisphere, followed by great spring floods as the snow melted.
* Mild Russian winters of 1303/1304, 1753/1754, 1758/1759, 1818/1819, and 1821/1822.
* This chronology is overflowing with times of Great Famines. Famines caused by excessive rainfall, droughts, hailstorms, severe winters, and summers robbed of the suns heat. Here is but a few examples:
— China in 463-464, 1033, 1328, 1333-1337, 1354, 1458, 1476, 1522, 1787, 1810-1811, 1846, 1849, and 1875-1878.
— Japan in 626, 1230, and 1782-1788.
— Korea in 1784.
— India in 942, 1022, 1052, 1327, 1345, 1396, 1556, 1596, 1630-1631, 1661, 1769-1770, 1780-1784, 1790-1792, 1802-1807, 1810, 1812-1813, 1823, 1832-1835, 1865-1866, 1868-1870, 1873-1874, 1876-1878, and 1896-1900.
— Bangladesh in 1780-1784, and 1873-1874.
— Pakistan in 1780-1784.
— North Africa in 484 and 1784-1785.
— Egypt in 966/967, 1064-1071, 1199-1202, and 1784-1785.
— Iran in 1870-1872.
— Western Europe in 1033.
— England in 310, 680, 700, 1004-1016, 1234, 1239, 1257-1259, and 1314-1316.
— Ireland in 963-964, 1116, and 1845-1851.
— France in 869, and 1030-1032.
— Scotland in 936-939, 954, and 1695-1699.
— Italy in 410, 450, 538, 776, 1230, and 1347.
— Belgium in 1587.
— Germany in 1310-1319, 1347, and 1772.
— Poland and Bohemia in 1281, 1312, 1315, 1737, and 1770.
— Hungary in 1505, 1782, and 1808.
— Finland and Estonia in 1695-1697, and 1867-1868.
— Russia in 1024, 1128, 1212, 1215, 1230, 1445, 1600-1602, 1701, and 1891-1892.
— Turkey in 1873-1876.
— Mexico in 1454, and 1785-1786.
— Cape de Verde Island and the Island of Sumatra in 1775.
* The tornado that struck Charleston, South Carolina in 1761.
* The ice hill at Shanghai, China during the winter of 1769/1770.
* The dense fog in the Netherlands during the winter of 1790/1791.
* The great hailstorm of 13 July 1788.
* Many great hailstorms such as the ones that struck
— France in 823, 1360, 1510, 1562, 1760, 1768, 1774, 1844 and 1865.
— Italy in 1353, 1510, and 1834.
— England in 130, 450, 459, 1479, 1697, 1765, 1784 and 1862.
— Scotland in 1790.
— China in 1724 and 1745.
— Belgium in 1771.
— Portugal in 1749.
— Spain in 1829.
— Mongolia in 1843.
— Australia in 1796 and 1824.
— The United States in 1878, 1882, 1894, and 1896.
— Turkey in 367.
— Hungary in 1808.
— India in 1769, 1879 and 1888.
— Germany in 1104, and 1767.
* Many great floods such as the ones that struck
— France in 580, 1543, 1755, and 1875.
— Italy in 590, 1165, 1530, and 1627.
— Spain in 1617, 1787, and 1878.
— England in 1736, and 1763.
— Scotland in 1829.
— China in 11 A.D., 516, 792, 1117, 1310, 1330, 1332, 1342, 1391, 1459, 1467, 1507, 1541, 1549, 1573, 1590, 1609, 1797, 1833, 1845, 1854, 1875, 1887, and 1888.
— India in 1787-1788, and 1814.
— Egypt in 393.
— Belgium in 1108, 1113, and 1134.
— Norway in 1216.
— Denmark in 1630, and 1646.
— The Netherlands in 1219, 1228, 1287, 1374, 1396, 1421, 1521, 1530, 1568, 1570, and 1646.
— Germany in 1300, 1362, and 1515.
— Poland in 1534, and 1813.
— Austria in 1830.
— Slovakia and Bulgaria in 1813.
— Hungary in 1875.
— Russia in 1777, and 1824.
— European in 1342, 1595, 1816, and 1817.
— Mississippi River in the United States in 1543, 1785, 1813, 1844, 1874, 1882, 1890, 1892, and 1897.
* The heat wave in
— China in 1743.
— France in 1793.
— Italy in 1841.
— Europe in 1817.
— Australia in 1895/1896.
— United States in 1896.
* A sandstorm that struck Syria in 1813.
* The tornado that struck Washington D.C. in 1814.
* The drought that produced great fires in the peat beds of Europe in 1834.
* The great brushfires in Australia known as Black Thursday in 1851. [Refer to Australian Drought of 1847-1860.]
* Violent cloudburst and flashfloods in the American West described in 1874.
* The great spring floods in North America in 1881 - 1884.
* The blizzards that struck the U.S. during the winter of 1887/1888.
* The severe droughts and forest fires in America in 1887, and 1889.
* The great 3-day flood that struck the U.S. beginning 30 May 1889.
* The electrostatic windstorms in the U.S. of December 1894, and January 1895.
* Mudstorms of April 1895 & 30 April 1899; the black snowfall of 3 April 1889; and the black snow duststorm of 11/12 January 1895.
* “Ignis Fatuus” (jack-o’-lantern or will-o’-the-wisp) of 1693/1694, March 1729, and 16 April 1897.
* “Snow Rollers” of December 1895, and January 1898. * “Flaming Ocean” on 13 February 1785.
* “Chain Lightning” (or bead lightning) on 18 August 1876 and in February 1894.
* The legends of great dragons. Refer to 1189, 1214, 1221, 18 October 1224, 1452, 1512, 1519, 1605, 1608, 1609, 1660, 1667, 1735, 1739, 1749, 1773, and 1787.
* “Pillar of Smoke” on 30 July 1662 and 5 May 1752.
* The symbiotic relationship between reindeer and man. Refer to April 1737.
* An ancient Roman castle buried under the Rhine River. Refer to 16 January 1750.
* The ebony forest buried in Wales. Refer to 1171.
* The ebony forest buried in the marshes of England. Refer to the summer of 1666.
* The treasures from the Gothic Invasion buried in France. Refer to 1557.
* The Temple of Hercules buried in Spain. Refer to 26 March 1731.
* Unusual hailstorms of 25 May 1686, 14 March 1813, 26 March 1882, and 11 May 1894.
* The forest that suddenly disappeared in Poland. Refer to 31 May 1783.
* Meteors of 1526, 21 December 1876, and 19 March 1887
* The people of France feared the millennial year 1000 A.D. marked the end of the world, so they stopped working; abandoned farming. And guess what followed!