From Blizzards To Heat Waves, The Weirdest Thanksgiving Weather Events In US History

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Thanksgiving is often known for having variable weather from year to year. Already being in a transitional season, it is not uncommon to see a combination of warmth, cold, rain or snow across the U.S., depending on where you live. But have you ever wondered about how crazy Thanksgiving weather can be?

Thankfully, you do not have to because I have assembled a list of my top five picks for the weirdest, wildest and most impactful weather events in modern Thanksgiving history. Let's get started with No. 5:

5. 2019 West Coast Thanksgiving Bomb Cyclone

This event occurred from Nov. 26-28, 2019, and brought hurricane-force wind gusts to central portions of the West Coast and Pacific Northwest.

The storm also exceeded the criteria for rapid intensification, better known as bombogenesis, strengthening from a 1002 mb low-pressure system to 975 mb in only 12 hours. For a storm to exhibit rapid intensification, it must drop 24 mb in 24 hours, and this storm easily exceeded this threshold.

In addition to bringing strong winds, this storm also brought flooding rainfall to Southern California and heavy mountain snow across the Sierra Nevada and Cascades.

In Arizona, the storm's impacts led to a deadly creek crossing incident in Gila County.

4. 2017 Southern California Thanksgiving Heat Wave

The 2017 Southern California heat wave was another rather unusual Thanksgiving Day for the West Coast. On Thanksgiving Day in 2017, Downtown Los Angeles hit a high temperature of 92 degrees. The Wednesday before Thanksgiving, Camarillo hit a high of 99 while Los Angeles International Airport hit 94.

The heat wave came courtesy of an unusual late November heat dome, or upper-level ridge. This heat dome trapped hot desert air and promoted offshore or Santa Ana winds across Southern California. Santa Ana winds cause the air to heat up as they descend the western slopes of the San Bernardino Mountains. In this case, the atmospheric setup resulted in daily temperature records being smashed across Southern California.

3. The Great Thanksgiving Weekend Blizzard Of 1983

While snow around Thanksgiving is not exactly unheard of, receiving 21.5 inches of snow the weekend after Thanksgiving is not normal — just ask someone who was in Denver the weekend following Thanksgiving 1983.

In late November 1983, an unusually strong low-pressure system ejected northeast off the Front Range of the Rocky Mountains. Fueled by warm, muggy air to its southeast and cold, Canadian air to its northwest, the low-pressure system wasted no time in funneling strong winds and moisture westward into the Colorado Front Range.

As a result, the moisture-laden air mass was forced up the eastern slopes of the Rockies, resulting in snowfall totals exceeding 20 inches in much of northeastern Colorado. Some higher elevations on the eastern slopes of the mountains saw over 2 feet of snow during the event.

As the low-pressure system progressed northeast from Colorado, it brought a corridor of heavy snow exceeding at least 1 foot all the way from Denver to Duluth, Minnesota.

2. Hurricane Iwa (1982)

If you thought getting a blizzard for Thanksgiving was bad, how about a hurricane?

After organizing, the cluster of storms tracked northeast, strengthening into a tropical storm, gaining the name Iwa. As Iwa approached the westernmost islands of Hawaii, it strengthened into a hurricane.

Iwa then went on to bring severe impacts to Kauai and Niihau. These impacts included wind gusts up to 100 mph and inundation from storm surge.

Despite not making a technical landfall on Kauai and Niihau, Iwa took several lives and caused $300 million of damage in 1982 (over $800 million today).

Following the close pass to Hawaii, residents on the islands of Oahu, Kauai and Niihau remained without power for several weeks, having to cook their Thanksgiving lunches on fireplaces and outdoor grills.

1. The Great Appalachian Storm Of 1950

Each weather event we have discussed up to this point has had impacts, ranging from an inconvenience to being rather severe. However, the Great Appalachian Storm of 1950 was not just impactful by Thanksgiving standards; it went down as one of the most severe winter storms in U.S. history, affecting the entire eastern half of the U.S.

The historic storm was preceded by an arctic cold front on Nov. 23 into the 24th. This cold front brought historic cold to the Appalachians, Cumberland Plateau and Ohio Valley.

Many locations across the mid-South, Ohio Valley and Appalachians dropped below 0 degrees, smashing all-time minimum temperature records for November in the process. Temperature readings from this event include 5 degrees in Birmingham, Alabama, 3 in Atlanta and 1 in Asheville, North Carolina.

Moreover, Chicago dropped to minus 2 degrees on the Nov. 24, matching its all-time record low for November. A day later, Louisville reached minus 1 and Lexington dropped to minus 3. Bowling Green plunged to minus 7. Louisville, Lexington, and Bowling Green set all-time record lows for the month of November.

The Arctic cold front pressed as far south as the Gulf Coast. Along the eastern periphery of the arctic cold, in the Carolinas, a low-pressure system developed by Nov. 25, tracking northwest into Ohio while rapidly intensifying.

As a result of the intense pressure and temperature gradients, extreme winds and blinding snow descended across the Appalachians and Great Lakes. Along the East Coast, New York City recorded a 94-mph wind gust and Newark recorded a 108-mph wind gust, while Mount Washington, New Hampshire (elevation 6,288 feet), recorded a 160-mph wind gust.

The snowfall from the storm was equally astonishing, with a large swath receiving over 2 feet from the central Appalachians in West Virginia to Erie, Pennsylvania, and Youngstown, Ohio. Coburn Creek, West Virginia, reported a jaw-dropping 62 inches of snow with the adjacent western foothills of the Appalachians receiving over 30 inches.

Tragically, the storm also resulted in at least 160 fatalities and went into the record book as one of the costliest storms in U.S. history at the time.

Hayden Marshall is a meteorologist intern and First-Year Master's Student at the Georgia Institute of Technology. He has been following weather content over the past three years as a Storm Spotter and weather enthusiast. He can be found on Instagram and Linkedin.