The 1993 Storm of the Century (also known as the 93 Superstorm, The No Name Storm, or the Great Blizzard of '93/1993) was a devastating cyclonic storm, or nor'easter, that formed over the Gulf of Mexico on March 12, 1993. The cold weather, heavy snowfall, high winds and storm surge that the storm brought affected a very large area; at its height, it stretched from Canada to Honduras. The cyclone moved through the Gulf of Mexico and then through the eastern United States before moving on to eastern Canada. It eventually dissipated in the North Atlantic Ocean on March 15.
Heavy snow was first reported in highland areas as far south as Alabama and northern Georgia, with Union County, Georgia reporting up to of snow. Birmingham, Alabama, reported a rare of snow. with hurricane-force wind gusts and record low barometric pressures. Between Louisiana and Cuba, the hurricane-force winds produced high storm surges across the Big Bend of Florida which, in combination with scattered tornadoes, killed dozens of people.
Record cold temperatures were seen across portions of the Southern United States and Eastern United States in the wake of this storm. In the United States, the storm was responsible for the loss of electric power to more than 10 million households. An estimated 40 percent of the country's population experienced the effects of the storm
Meteorological history
thumb|left|A satellite image of the Storm of the Century on March 13, 1993.
A volcanic winter is thought to have started with the 1991 eruption of Mount Pinatubo. The temperature in the stratosphere rose to several degrees higher than normal, due to the absorption of radiation by the aerosol. The stratospheric cloud from the eruption persisted in the atmosphere for three years. The eruption, while not directly responsible, may have played a part in the formation of the 1993 Storm of the Century.
During March 11 and 12, 1993, temperatures over much of the eastern United States began to drop as an arctic high pressure system built over the Midwestern United States and the Great Plains. Concurrently, an extratropical area of low pressure formed over Mexico along a stationary front draped west to east. By the afternoon of March 12, a defined airmass boundary was present along the deepening low. An initial burst of convective precipitation off the southern coast of Texas (facilitated by the transport of tropical moisture into the region) enabled initial intensification of the surface feature on March 12. Supported by a strong split-polar jet stream and a shortwave trough, the nascent system rapidly deepened. with all-time low pressure records set between Tallahassee and Washington, D.C. Snow began to spread over the eastern United States, and a large squall line moved from the Gulf of Mexico into Florida and Cuba. The storm system tracked up the East Coast during Saturday and into Canada by early Monday morning. In the storm's wake, unseasonably cold temperatures were recorded over the next two days in the Southeast.
Forecasting
The Storm of the Century marked a milestone in the weather forecasting of the United States. By March 8, 1993, several operational numerical weather prediction models and medium-range forecasters at the United States National Weather Service recognized the threat of a significant snowstorm. This marked the first time National Weather Service meteorologists were able to predict accurately a system's severity five days in advance. Official blizzard warnings were issued two days before the storm arrived, as shorter-range models began to confirm the predictions. Forecasters were finally confident enough of the computer-forecast models to support decisions by several northeastern states to declare a state of emergency even before the snow started to fall.
Impact
thumb|left|Partially dug out car at [[Fort Devens, Massachusetts, after the storm]]
The storm complex was large and widespread, affecting at least 26 US states and much of eastern Canada. It brought in cold air along with heavy precipitation and hurricane-force winds which, ultimately, caused a blizzard over the affected area; this also included thundersnow from Georgia to Pennsylvania and widespread whiteout conditions. Snow flurries were seen in the air as far south as Jacksonville, Florida, and some areas of central Florida received a trace of snow. The storm severely impacted both ground and air travel. Airports were closed all along the eastern seaboard, and flights were cancelled or diverted, thus stranding many passengers along the way. Every airport from Halifax, Nova Scotia, to Tampa, Florida was temporarily closed due to the storm. Highways were also closed or restricted all across the affected region, even in states generally well prepared for snow emergencies.
{| class="wikitable" style="width: 350px; font-size: 95%; float: right; clear: right;"
|+ Snowstorm Totals<br /><small>Totals are for the main system only.</small>
|-
! Place
! Total
|-
|Mount LeConte, TN
|
|-
|Syracuse, NY
|
|-
|Worcester, MA
|
|-
|Ottawa, ON
|
|-
|Birmingham, AL
|
|-
|Montreal, QC
|
|-
|Knoxville, TN
|
|-
|Trenton, NJ
|
|-
|Dulles, VA (25 miles W of Washington, D.C.)
|
|-
|Birmingham, AL
|
|-
|Boston, MA
|
|-
|New York, NY (LaGuardia)
|
|-
|Baltimore, MD (BWI)
|
|-
|Atlanta, GA (northern suburbs)
|
|-
|Huntsville, AL
|
|-
|Atlanta, GA (Hartsfield International Airport)
|
Electricity was not restored to many isolated rural areas for up to three weeks, with power outages occurring all over the east. Nearly 60,000 lightning strikes were recorded as the storm swept over the country for a total of 72 hours. As one of the most powerful, complex storms in recent history, this storm was described as the "Storm of the Century" by many of the areas affected.
A hockey game hosted by the Philadelphia Flyers against the Los Angeles Kings was postponed due to a large window breaking from wind gusts just before the end of the first period.
Gulf of Mexico
The United States Coast Guard dealt with "absolutely incredible, unbelievable" conditions within the Gulf of Mexico. The freighter Fantastico sank off Ft. Myers, Florida, and seven of her crew died when a Coast Guard helicopter was forced back to base due to low fuel levels after rescuing three of her crew. The freighter Miss Beholden ran aground on a coral reef from Key West, Florida. Several other smaller vessels sank in the rough seas. In all, the Coast Guard rescued 235 people from over 100 boats across the Gulf of Mexico during the tempest.
Florida
thumb|The Derecho moves into the Florida coast during the overnight hours of March 13, 1993
thumb|upright=1.4|[[NOAA estimate of storm surges along Florida's Gulf Coast, March 13, 1993.]]
Besides producing record-low barometric pressure across a swath of the Southeast and Mid-Atlantic states, and contributing to one of the nation's biggest snowstorms, the low produced a potent squall line ahead of its cold front. The squall line produced a serial derecho as it moved into Florida and Cuba shortly after midnight on March 13. Straight-line winds gusted above at many locations in Florida as the squall line moved through. A substantial tree fall was seen statewide from this system. The supercells in the derecho produced eleven tornadoes. The first tornado was an F2 that touched down in Chiefland at 04:38 UTC on March 13, damaging several mobile homes and downing trees and power lines. Three people were killed and seven people sustained injures. Around the same time, an F1 tornado was spawned near Crystal River. After moving eastward into the town, the twister damaged 15 homes, several of them severely. A total of three people were injured. The next tornado was a waterspout that moved ashore over Treasure Island around 05:00 UTC. Rated F0, the tornado deroofed one home, damaged several others, and impacted a few boats.
Around 05:04 UTC, an F0 tornado was reported in New Port Richey, damaging several homes and injuring 11 people. About 16 minutes later, an F2 tornado formed to the southwest of Ocala. Many trees fell and several storage buildings and a warehouse suffered extensive damage, while one hangar was destroyed and two others received major damage at the Ocala International Airport. At 05:20 UTC, approximately the same time as the Ocala tornado, another twister – rated F1 – touched down near LaCrosse. Several trees and power lines were downed and a few homes were destroyed, one from a propane explosion. One person was killed and four others received injuries. About 10 minutes later, another F2 twister was spawned near Howey-in-the-Hills. It moved through Mount Dora, destroying 13 homes, substantially damaging 80 homes, and inflicting minor damage on 266 homes. One person, a 5-month-old baby, was killed, while two others were injured.
Storm surges in those areas reached up to , More people died from drowning in this storm than during Hurricanes Hugo and Andrew combined. Overall, the storm's surge, winds, and tornadoes damaged or destroyed 18,000 homes. A total of 47 people died in Florida due to this storm. The squall line finally moved out of Cuba near sunrise, leaving 10 deaths and US$1 billion in damage on the island.
North Atlantic
The cargo ship Gold Bond Conveyor en route from Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada to Tampa, Florida foundered in the Atlantic Ocean SE of Sable Island, Nova Scotia with the loss of all 33 crew. It is thought that water entered the hold where gypsum ore was being stored and caused the rock to shift and harden. This instability compounded with winds of and waves led to her sinking. The Liberian-flagged ship was owned by Skaarup Shipping Corp., of Greenwich, Connecticut, and under charter to National Gypsum Co., a U.S. company. The ship had previously survived the Perfect Storm of 1991 two years earlier.
Confirmed tornadoes
March 12 event
{| class="wikitable sortable" style="width:100%;"
|+ List of confirmed tornadoes – Friday, March 12, 1993
! scope="col" style="width:2%; text-align:center;"|F#
! scope="col" text-align:center;" class="unsortable"|Location
! scope="col" text-align:center;" class="unsortable"|County / Parish
! scope="col" text-align:center;"|State
! scope="col" align="center"|Start
! scope="col" text-align:center;"|Time
! scope="col" text-align:center;"|Path length
! scope="col" text-align:center;"|Width
! scope="col" text-align:center;"|Damage
|-
! scope="row" rowspan="2" style="background-color:#; border-bottom: 1px solid black"| F2
|NW of Chiefland
|Levy
|FL
|
|04:38–?
|
|
|
|- class="expand-child"
| colspan="9" style=" border-bottom: 1px solid black;|3 deaths – A tornado damaged or destroyed frame homes and trailers, crushing to death three people, including an aged individual. The tornado also felled trees and power lines. 10 injuries occurred.
|-
! scope="row" rowspan="2" style="background-color:#; border-bottom: 1px solid black"| F1
|E of Crystal River
|Citrus
|FL
|
|04:38–?
|
|
|
|- class="expand-child"
| colspan="9" style=" border-bottom: 1px solid black;|This tornado damaged 15 homes, some severely. Three injuries occurred.
|}
March 13 event
{| class="wikitable sortable" style="width:100%;"
|+ List of confirmed tornadoes – Saturday, March 13, 1993
! scope="col" style="width:2%; text-align:center;"|F#
! scope="col" text-align:center;" class="unsortable"|Location
! scope="col" text-align:center;" class="unsortable"|County / Parish
! scope="col" text-align:center;"|State
! scope="col" align="center"|Start
! scope="col" text-align:center;"|Time
! scope="col" text-align:center;"|Path length
! scope="col" text-align:center;"|Width
! scope="col" text-align:center;"|Damage
|-
! scope="row" rowspan="2" style="background-color:#; border-bottom: 1px solid black"| F0
|Treasure Island
|Pinellas
|FL
|
|05:00–?
|
|
|
|- class="expand-child"
| colspan="9" style=" border-bottom: 1px solid black;|A waterspout moved onshore, damaging several homes and some boats. One of the homes was unroofed.
|-
! scope="row" rowspan="2" style="background-color:#; border-bottom: 1px solid black"| F0
|New Port Richey
|Pasco
|FL
|
|05:04–?
|
|
|
|- class="expand-child"
| colspan="9" style=" border-bottom: 1px solid black;|A tornado damaged homes, slightly injuring 11 people.
|-
! scope="row" rowspan="2" style="background-color:#; border-bottom: 1px solid black"| F2
|Ocala
|Marion
|FL
|
|05:20–05:37
|
|
|
|- class="expand-child"
| colspan="9" style=" border-bottom: 1px solid black;|Forming over woods, this tornado hit the Ocala Airport, destroying or damaging three hangars there. It splintered trees before hitting an industrial park, damaging a warehouse and other buildings.
|-
! scope="row" rowspan="2" style="background-color:#; border-bottom: 1px solid black"| F1
|N of LaCrosse
|Alachua
|FL
|
|05:20–?
|
|
|
|- class="expand-child"
| colspan="9" style=" border-bottom: 1px solid black;|1 death – This tornado destroyed some frame homes, while downing power lines and trees. The death occurred in a trailer, along with four injuries.
|-
! scope="row" rowspan="2" style="background-color:#; border-bottom: 1px solid black"| F2
|NW of Howey-in-the-Hills to Mount Dora to E of Forest City<!-- Per Storm Data -->
|Lake
|FL
|
|05:30–?
|
|
|
|- class="expand-child"
| colspan="9" style=" border-bottom: 1px solid black;|1 death – This narrow, swift tornado destroyed or damaged 359 homes, killing a person in a trailer. 60 injuries occurred.
|-
! scope="row" rowspan="2" style="background-color:#; border-bottom: 1px solid black"| F0
|Tampa
|Hillsborough
|FL
|
|05:30–?
|
|
|
|- class="expand-child"
| colspan="9" style=" border-bottom: 1px solid black;|A waterspout hit a yacht club at Davis Islands, lofting a sailboat , casting a dozen others against a seawall, and pushing five boats off their cradles.
|-
! scope="row" rowspan="2" style="background-color:#; border-bottom: 1px solid black"| F0
|S of Bartow to S of Lakeland<!-- Per Storm Data -->
|Polk
|FL
|
|06:00–06:10
|
|
|
|- class="expand-child"
| colspan="9" style=" border-bottom: 1px solid black;|This tornado broke off trees and dislodged doors.
|-
! scope="row" rowspan="2" style="background-color:#; border-bottom: 1px solid black"| F0
|Jacksonville (2nd tornado)
|Duval
|FL
|
|06:10–?
|
|
|
|- class="expand-child"
| colspan="9" style=" border-bottom: 1px solid black;|Developing near Jacksonville Airport, this tornado splintered trees. It then hit the airport, damaging service vehicles and jetways, while moving a Boeing 737 .
|}
See also
- Braer Storm
- List of derecho events
- Great Flood of 1993
- Hurricane Sandy (2012) – Caused similar snowfall totals over the Northeast almost 20 years later.
- Early 2014 North American cold wave
- Snowmageddon
- January 2016 North American blizzard
- February 13–17, 2021 North American winter storm – The costliest winter storm on record, also killed 200+ people
- The Day After Tomorrow – Uses archive footage of the 1993 storm