Portal:Weather/On this day list/October
October 1[edit]
1976: Hurricane Liza, the third-deadliest Pacific hurricane on record, killed more than 600 people in northwestern Mexico.
October 2[edit]
1966: The ESSA-3 weather satellite was launched.
October 3[edit]
1992: Hurricane Virgil reached peak intensity off the southwestern coast of Mexico, with maximum sustained winds of 130 miles per hour (210 km/h). The storm would weaken before making landfall the next day, causing no deaths and only minor damage.
October 4[edit]
1872: Servicio Meteorológico Nacional, the weather forecasting and data organization for Argentina, was founded under the name Oficina Meteorológica Argentina.
October 5[edit]
1851: The Yankee Gale came to an end after sinking 74 ships in three days, drowning 150 crew members.
October 6[edit]
2008: Tropical Storm Marco formed in the Bay of Campeche, Marco had tropical-storm-force winds extending only 11.5 miles (18.5 km) from the center of the storm, making it the smallest tropical cyclone on record.
October 7[edit]
2003: Hurricane Olaf made landfall near Manzanillo, Colima, Mexico as a tropical storm with maximum sustained winds of 60 miles per hour (97 km/h). No damage was reported.
October 8[edit]
2017: Hurricane Nate made landfall near Biloxi, Mississippi, causing relatively minor damage.
October 9[edit]
1804: A hurricane brought strong winds, heavy rain and, unusually, heavy snow to parts of the eastern United States.
October 10[edit]
2018: Hurricane Michael, the strongest tropical cyclone to strike the United States since Hurricane Camille in 1969, made landfall in Mexico Beach, Florida, destroying most of the town.
October 11[edit]
1846: A major hurricane made landfall near Havana, Cuba, killing hundreds of people.
October 12[edit]
1997: Tropical Storm Olaf, an unusual storm which moved in several different directions over the course of two weeks, made its second and final landfall near Manzanillo, Colima, Mexico.
October 13[edit]
1978: The TIROS-N weather satellite was launched from Vandenberg Air Force Base, California.
October 14[edit]
1982: Typhoon Nancy made landfall on Luzon, Philippines, killing more than 100 people.
October 15[edit]
1969: Hurricane Inga dissipated well southeast of Bermuda, 25 days after it formed. This made it the third-longest-lived tropical cyclone on record for the North Atlantic.
October 16[edit]
2016: Typhoon Sarika made landfall in Baler, Aurora, Philippines, with 1-minute sustained winds of 215 km/h (130 mph) and a minimum barometric pressure of 935 millibars (27.6 inHg).
October 17[edit]
1091: One of the earliest recorded tornadoes killed two people in London.
October 18[edit]
1906: A major hurricane struck southern Florida, killing more than 200 people.
October 19[edit]
1924: The earliest known category 5 hurricane struck the Pinar del Río Province of Cuba, killing around 90 people.
October 20[edit]
1997: Typhoon Ivan made landfall in northern Luzon, Philippines, killing 14 people.
October 21[edit]
1638: A severe storm known as The Great Thunderstorm produced an occurrence of what may have been ball lightning in a church in Widecombe in the Moor, Dartmoor, England, killing four people.
October 22[edit]
2010: Cyclone Giri made landfall northwest of Kyaukpyu, Myanmar, killing 157 people.
October 23[edit]
1920: Ted Fujita, arguably the most influential severe weather researcher of all time, was born in Fukuoka Prefecture, Japan.
October 24[edit]
2006: Cyclone Xavier, an unusually intense early-season South Pacific tropical cyclone, reached peak intensity near Vanuatu.
October 25[edit]
1921: A major hurricane made landfall near Tarpon Springs, Florida. As of 2018 this was the last major hurricane to hit the Tampa Bay area.
October 26[edit]
1978: Typhoon Rita made landfall over Luzon, Philippines, killing more than 300 people and leaving 200,000 homeless.
October 27[edit]
1920: Seymour Hess, an extraterrestrial meteorologist who issued the first ever weather report for Mars, was born in Brooklyn, New York.
October 28[edit]
2020: Hurricane Zeta made landfall near Cocodrie, Louisiana with maximum sustained winds of 115 miles per hour (190 km/h), making it the latest-in-the-calendar-year major hurricane to hit the United States on record.
October 29[edit]
1998: Hurricane Mitch, after drifting off the coast for nearly a week, finally made landfall in Honduras. It would cause historic flooding over the next few days, killing as many as 18,000 people.
October 30[edit]
2010: Hurricane Tomas passed through the Windward Islands, killing 14 people. This was the latest on record that a hurricane has affected the area.
October 31[edit]
1994: American Eagle Flight 4184 encountered freezing rain while approaching O'Hare International Airport in Chicago, Illinois. The plane crashed after undergoing heavy icing, killing all 68 people aboard.