The Storm of the Century March 12 – March 15, 1993 By: Kimberly Cooke

The “Storm of the Century”  Occurred from March 12-15, 1993  One of the most intense nor’easters to ever strike the Eastern United States  Affected 26 states  Affected 50 percent of the US population  On the Saffir-Simpson hurricane scale it would have been a category 3

Statistics  At one point, the storm covered 1/3 of the United States  Peak wind speeds of 144 mph (New Hampshire)  27 tornados touched down  270 deaths were attributed to the storm over land with 48 more missing at sea  2-3 inches per hour snowfall rates were common  Total of $3 - $6 billion in damages

Storm Track

March 12, 1993  A newly formed cyclone moves into the Gulf of Mexico and intensifies rapidly  Turned northeastward and the center of low pressure makes landfall

March 13, 1993  Made landfall in northwest Florida  6 inches of snow fell on the Florida Panhandle  3-4 meter storm surge  15 tornadoes touched down  Widespread moderate to heavy snows extended from Alabama to New York

March 14, 1993  More than a foot of snow fell from Alabama to Maine  70 record lows were reported in the storm’s aftermath  74 record lows were reported the next morning

Snowfall Totals

Records Set by the Storm WIND GUSTS Mount Washington, NH 144 mph Franklin County, FL 110 mph Dry Tortugas, FL 109 mph Flattop Mountain, NC 101 mph PRESSURE White Plains, NY mb Philadelphia, PA mb New York, (JFK) mb Dover, DE mb

Records Set by the Storm SNOWFALL TOTALS Mt. Mitchell, NC 50 in. Grantsville, MD 47 in. Snowshoe, WV 44 in. Syracuse, NY 43 in. LOW TEMPERATURES Burlington, VT 12° F Mount LeConte, TN 10° F Asheville, NC 2° F Birmingham, AL 2° F

Overall  The storm affected nearly 100 million people  Virtually paralyzed the eastern third of the United States  25 percent of the United States’ airplane flights were canceled in a two day time period