Stormgasm
Semi-relevant events that are semi-relevant to meteorology: February 19
1600 - The stratovolcano Huaynaputina in Perú explodes. This is the most violent eruption in recorded South American history.
1859 - Svante Arrhenius is born. Arrhenius was a chemists and physicist that came up with the idea of the greenhouse effect in 1896. His law states that “if the quantity of carbonic acid increases in geometric progression, the augmentation of temperature will increase nearly in arithmetic progression.” It is simplified to ∆F=α ln(C/C0).
1884 - The Enigma tornado outbreak. Over 60 tornadoes ravage the southern United States. It was one of the largest tornado outbreaks in US history. The strongest rating were several F4 tornadoes (based on records). An estimated 120 to 1000 people died.
The 1980 eruption of Mount St. Helens.
Semi-important events that are semi-relevant to meteorology: October 11
1138 - Aleppo, Syria is struck by a devastating earthquake. Many experts regard this as the third deadliest earthquake in history with reports indicating a death toll that exceeded 200,000.
1705 - Guillaume Amontons dies. He improved the barometer, thermometer, and the hygrometer. Additionally, his work with pressure and temperature in gases was used later in the development of Charles’ Law.
1889 - James Prescott Joule dies. His work in heat and mechanical work led to the theory of conservation of energy and ultimately the first law of thermodynamics. The SI unit joule is named after him. He also worked with Lord Kelvin on an absolute temperature scale.
Semi-important events that are semi-relevant to meteorology: September 19
1710 - The Danish astronomer Ole Rømer dies. In 1676, he made the first quantitative measurements of the speed of light. He estimated that light moved at 220,000 km/s, which is about 26% lower than the true value of 300,000 km/s.
1843 - Gaspard-Gustave Coriolis dies. He did research in energy transfer in rotating systems. Although he did not coin the name the Coriolis Effect nor did he do research in atmospheric sciences or any other earth science, his research would help to give rise to what we know as the Coriolis Effect.
1985 - A magnitude 8.3 earthquake hits Mexico City. Casualties range anywhere from 10,000 to 40,000 people dead.
