2010 Weather: White(out After) Christmas Closes Nasty Year

Dramatic weather events occur every year, but the weather in 2010 was especially dramatic. The year started with widespread cold and ended with a massive Eastern blizzard, with all-time record-breaking heat, devastating flooding and an active hurricane season in between.

Here are the top 10 U.S. weather events of a very memorable weather year.

10: Major April Tornado Outbreak

A powerful spring storm system spawned tornadoes from the foothills of the Rockies to the Deep South from April 22 through April 24. The three-day event produced 88 confirmed tornadoes, including the destructive Yazoo City, Miss., tornado that killed 10 people.

The Storm Prediction Center received nearly 600 reports of tornadoes, wind damage and large hail in the three days.

9. One of the Most Active Hurricane Seasons on Record

The Atlantic hurricane season, with 19 named storms and 12 hurricanes, including five major hurricanes, was the third most active since records have been kept, but the season had little direct impact on the U.S.

Hurricane Alex, in late June, interrupted oil spill cleanup operations in the northern Gulf of Mexico, even though the storm moved through the southern Gulf of Mexico before slamming into northeastern Mexico.

The East Coast experienced a near miss when the powerful Hurricane Earl passed close by in early September, and the remnants of the weak Tropical Storm Nicole combined with a stalled front to produce drought-ending rain along the Eastern Seaboard later in the month.


(NASA image of Hurricane Earl)

8. Record-Breaking January Cold

An outbreak of Arctic air brought intense and widespread cold from the Northern Plains to Florida during the first half of January. Hundreds of records were broken, and it was the coldest 12-day span in parts of Southern Florida in at least 60 years.

The winter, as a whole, was much colder than average in the Deep South, with many locations reporting a top 10 coldest winter.

7. Deadly Arkansas Flooding

Flash flooding caused by rainfall rates of 2 to 3 inches of rain per hour killed 20 campers at the Albert Pike Recreation Center in Arkansas during the early-morning hours of June 11. The overnight rain had been preceded by heavy rain the previous day, pushing rivers and streams to record levels.

6. Los Angeles All-Time Record Heat

After a cooler than normal summer, an intense early-fall heat wave baked Southern California in September. On the 27th, the temperature soared to 113 degrees in downtown Los Angeles, an all-time record. More than a dozen locations in the basin had a high temperature of at least 110 degrees that day.

5. Strongest U.S. Non-Tropical Storm

A powerhouse storm set the record for the lowest atmospheric pressure (28.21 inches) for a non-tropical storm in U.S. history, on Oct. 26.


(NOAA image of record-breaking October storm)

The storm produced a vast array of severe weather as it moved from the Northern Plains into Canada, including a Dakotas blizzard, Midwest and Deep South tornadoes and damaging wind in the Midwest.

4. Hottest Summer on Record in South and East

A stubborn weather pattern resulted in intense and persistent heat in the South and East during the summer. Summer 2010 was the hottest on record for 11 states, from Mississippi to Rhode Island, including most of the major cities along the Eastern Seaboard.

For the continental U.S. as a whole, June through August was the 16th hottest summer in 35 of 48 states.

3: Powerful California Storms/East Coast Blizzard

The last storm in a week-long December deluge inundated Central and Southern California, brought Christmas snow to the Deep South and produced the post-Christmas whiteout along the East Coast.

Long Beach, Los Angeles and Santa Barbara were among the locations with a record wet December, and Mammoth Mountain, high in the Sierra, had more than 11.5 feet of snow during one seven-day span.

The blizzard blasted the major cities along the Eastern Seaboard, from the Washington, D.C. area, to Boston. Washington, somehow, was bypassed. Airports were closed, holiday travelers were stranded and even a National Football League game in Philadelphia was canceled.

2. Record-Smashing Snowfall in Mid-Atlantic

A record-smashing snowfall occurred in the mid-Atlantic region during the winter. The snow in 2010 was highlighted by back-to-back monster snowstorms in February, on Feb. 5 and Feb. 9. These two storms were followed by a full-fledged blizzard for the Northeast on Feb. 25.

Philadelphia, Baltimore and Washington were among the cities that finished with their snowiest winters on record.

1. Thousand-Year Flood in Tennessee

Massive flooding that stretched from northern Arkansas to central Tennessee on May 1 and 2 has been rated a thousand-year flood (a flood given 0.1 percent chance of occurring) by the National Weather Service.

In Nashville alone, which received roughly 40 percent of its average annual rainfall during the two-day span, damages are estimated to have approached $2 billion.