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[CoreySamson]

I'm interested as to what might have been the worst weather year in recent memory. I've seen several videos ranking the top 10, but I'm interested to hear our thoughts. Two questions:

1. What do you think the worst weather year of all time was?

I say 2011. Here's why:
- Tohoku earthquake/tsunami
- April 2011 Super Outbreak
- May Joplin EF5 tornado
- Summer 2011 drought in southern US
- Tropical Storm Washi, killed 2546 people
- Hurricane Irene
- 2011 Mississippi River and Missouri River floods
- Halloween nor'easter
- 2011 St. Louis tornado

2. What was your worst weather year locally?

I think our worst was probably 2017 due to Hurricane Harvey. Second might be 2015, as that year we got a nasty hailstorm, plus Tropical Storm Bill in June and a small tornado in October. This year's also contending for that 2nd place spot with the February Coldpocalypse and a nasty thunderstorm last week.

[Max Rockatansky]

Probably last year given the Creek Fire was right in my back yard along with numerous other fires in Northern California.  Some days the air quality index was well over 300 and got up to 600 at one point.  I came back from a half marathon with ash particles during one of the worst days.

[SectorZ]

Locally, I'll go with a few, limiting this back 30 years

1991: Hurricane Bob, "The Perfect Storm" Halloween Storm (later given Hurricane status)
1998: Late May severe weather, strong flooding summer
2005: Strong cold outbreak killed a lot of winter hardy objects, Severe October flooding, strong early December blizzard
2011: Springfield-Sturbridge EF4 tornado 6/1, Tropical Storm Irene, October Snowstorm with 25+" snow in central Mass.
2015: 75+" inches of snow in six weeks January/February
2016: Strong summer drought, combined with bad gypsy moth outbreak (which has a long tail and is more affecting stuff now five years later)

Make of any of those what you feel is the worst

[SkyPesos]

For hurricanes, 2020 was the most active year, followed by 2005 and 2004. Though I'll put 2005 above 2020 for worst hurricane year for the number of names retired.
For tornadoes, 2011 was an active year, with the Joplin tornado, and the St Louis airport tornado that was pretty close to where I lived back then.

[thspfc]

In recent memory, 2019.

[Roadgeekteen]

Wasn't 2014-15 the year in Boston with tons of snowstorms (although that kind of is every year)?

[webny99]

Wasn't 2014-15 the year in Boston with tons of snowstorms (although that kind of is every year)?

I believe so, yes. 2013-14, the year I visited, was also more than average. Boston doesn't usually get "tons of snowstorms" by Great Lakes standards, so those two years were notable.

[CapeCodder]

For me:

1991: Hurricane Bob (my first hurricane, at age 2.5) The No-name Storm (flooded downtown Nantucket with up to six feet of water.)

1996: Blizzard of '96. I moved to STL in June

1997: Big severe weather year. May 16th-17th outbreak. Memorial Day Weekend outbreak.

1998: April 13th. First tornado. Memorial Day Weekend, was out on the Mississippi River with friends of the family. The previous Thursday we had a pretty impressive bow echo move through. The sky was pitch black with very vivid lightning. Saturday, the day we were out on the river, there was a tornado that struck the areas of subdivisions south of MO 94.

2003: June 10th bow echo. This event may or may not have washed away evidence in a child's murder. Was intensely hot that day.

There are many more, but these stick out.

[D-Dey65]

In the Spring of 1974 there was a major thunderstorm that scared the living shit out of me, and I was 8 years old. I thought I was over my childhood fears of thunder until that moment. Looking back on it, I realized it was the remnant of the 1974 Super-Outbreak in the midwest and the south.


The winter of 1976-77 was a really bad winter. That was the year of the infamous Blizzard of 77 in Buffalo and I even heard about news reports of snow in Miami. That was the first time I ever became afraid of the snow. On the plus side, I was less afraid of the two Blizzards of 1978 that occurred the following year,


I actually remember the 2011 Spring Tornado outbreak. I drove up to NYC on I-95 before they hit Dunn, North Carolina, and on the way back I got caught in a traffic jam there because everybody was looking at all the damage. I even saw a billboard for the strip joint at Exit 70 wrapped around a church. I thought about taking a picture of that, but I decided against it, because I thought of it an old joke, which somebody else will probably post anyway. I still regret not doing so.

[Bruce]

For the Seattle area, it has to be 2021.

Record hot temperatures that left hundreds dead in the Northwest, some wildfires that left us gasping for air, and then record cold. All within a few months of each other.

[Ted$8roadFan]

Wasn't 2014-15 the year in Boston with tons of snowstorms (although that kind of is every year)?

I believe so, yes. 2013-14, the year I visited, was also more than average. Boston doesn't usually get "tons of snowstorms" by Great Lakes standards, so those two years were notable.

February 2015 was the month from snow hell, with 72 inches of snow that month. We’re used to snow, but not that much in such a short time period.

[Ted$8roadFan]

2012: Superstorm Sandy.