On this date in 1874, a storm of “unprecedented severity” blasted D.C., according to an article in the New York Tribune. The tempest reportedly uprooted trees, blew down fences and shattered windows. “Sign-boards were flying in every direction, and piles of lumber were separated and boards and timbers thrown in every direction,” The Tribune wrote. “All light articles throughout the city were dislodged, and the wind tossed them about the streets in wild revelry.”
The storm was described by the Tribune as “a terrible tornado” which mostly affected the northern part of the District south to around Pennsylvania Avenue. “The scene was an awful one,” The Tribune wrote. “The roar of the wind was terrible, and the condition of the people’s minds was one of terror and apprehension.”
And on this date in 2004, D.C. received a calendar-day record 2.18 inches of rain. “A drenching, lightning-filled thunderstorm, the heaviest downpour in 23 years to hit Washington on July 4, halted the National Independence Day Parade in the District and disrupted other celebrations but retreated in time for the man-made fireworks to proceed as planned on the Mall,” The Washington Post reported on its front page.
Here are other notables from this day:
- Average high: 89
- Average low: 72
- Record high: 100 (1919)
- Record low: 52 (1933)
- Record rainfall: 2.18 inches (2004)
