Pennsylvania: May 31st curse

[Lightning]

It is May 31st, and historically this date has not been kind as far as mother nature goes to the state of Pennsylvania.

121 years ago today, a massive dam, called the South Fork, collapsed 14 miles north of the city of Johnstown, sending with it an enormous wall of water which wiped out the city with 2,200 fatalities.

25 years ago today, the state's worst tornado outbreak occurred, with an F5 twister leveling the towns of Wheatland and Hermatige, after leveling, Niles, in neighboring Ohio.

By no means are these the only two times that severe weather has occurred in the the Keystone State on this date. 1998 was another year. Could someone list all the years that a significant severe weather event occurred anywhere in Pennsylvania? Even today, serious flooding is taking place near the city of Lancaster.

[TWCToday]

I saw those mentioned on the news. Crazy events!

[P71nnacle]

We've had severe weather in 1999, 2003, 2006, 2007, 2009, and 2010 on May 31st (some sort of warning; 1999 and 2003 had tornado warnings, the rest had severe thunderstorm warnings or flash flood warnings on that date).

[mames]

Just wanted to post and say that I'm from the Flood City, Johnstown.  May 31st hasn't been the only flood day in Johnstown.  March 17th, 1936's flood was due to extremely rapid snow melt.  July 19th-21st, 1977's was due to a terrible thunderstorm. 

[RJARRRPCGP]

It is May 31st, and historically this date has not been kind as far as mother nature goes to the state of Pennsylvania.

By no means are these the only two times that severe weather has occurred in the the Keystone State on this date. 1998 was another year.

lol, you're not alone. Thunderstorm on May 31, 1998, too, in New Hampshire, at Crotched Mountain. (Greenfield, NH)  (03047)

And on May 31, 2001, I saw a lightning bolt when walking towards the group homes on the Crotched Mountain campus. Then on May 31, 2002, a T'storm occurred again! (Both in New Hampshire, at Crotched Mountain, in Greenfield)

[Localonthe8s]

It is May 31st, and historically this date has not been kind as far as mother nature goes to the state of Pennsylvania.

By no means are these the only two times that severe weather has occurred in the the Keystone State on this date. 1998 was another year.

lol, you're not alone. Thunderstorm on May 31, 1998, too, in New Hampshire, at Crotched Mountain. (Greenfield, NH)  (03047)

And on May 31, 2001, I saw a lightning bolt when walking towards the group homes on the Crotched Mountain campus. Then on May 31, 2002, a T'storm occurred again! (Both in New Hampshire, at Crotched Mountain, in Greenfield)

For Southern Jersey, it is June 2nd. Every June 2nd from 2003-2009 there has been a severe thunderstorm that rolled through the area and I actually had this remembered.. This year, it was June 3rd breaking that record.

[Mike M]

Bensalem, PA lucked out on 5/31/98... an F2 tornado passed by us just a few minutes into June 1st that year, which brought minor damage to my area.

[RJARRRPCGP]

Greenfield, New Hampshire lucked out on May 31, 1998.

A tornado occurred in Antrim, which is in Hillsborough county and near Greenfield!

And it was F2 like July 3, 1997, according to the NOAA. O_O

Turns out Greenfield just had a T'storm that was mostly typical.

[Mike]

On May 31st, 1998 a confirmed F3 tornado touched down in Berks County during a severe thunderstorm in the evening. The F2 tornado mentioned earlier also was reported in NE Phila. (June 1st). There was an F0 reported in Willow Grove, not sure if it was the same one. At the time, the severe storms were reported by PECO to be the second worst in terms of power outages and there was an estimated 7000 lightning strikes occurring within one hour.

The days surrounding May 31st seem to be severe prone as well. On May 29th, 1995 there was an F0 tornado near Norristown, golf ball size hail in the Royersford/Pottstown area north of Phila and baseball size hail in northern Chester County according to storm reports.

[Eric]

On May 31st, 1998 a confirmed F3 tornado touched down in Berks County during a severe thunderstorm in the evening. The F2 tornado mentioned earlier also was reported in NE Phila. (June 1st). There was an F0 reported in Willow Grove, not sure if it was the same one. At the time, the severe storms were reported by PECO to be the second worst in terms of power outages and there was an estimated 7000 lightning strikes occurring within one hour.

I remember that... I was there!