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Groundhog Day Storm
Mon Feb 02, 2004
Listen in RealAudio 
We are all pretty used to the groundhog poking his nose out on February 2nd and predicting the
duration of winter. But in 1952, the groundhog awakened to a big surprise: the year's first
Atlantic tropical storm. Hi, I'm Bryan Yeaton for The Weather Notebook.
In average years, the Atlantic tropical storm season runs from June through November, with the
occasional odd storm, such as last year's Tropical Storms Ana and Odette, dropping outside the
bell curve.
Most of the aberrant tropical storms still usually fall within a month either way of Hurricane
Season. But during late January 1952, a tropical system developed in the northwestern
Caribbean, off Honduras' North Coast. On the evening of February 1st, Tropical Storm 1 tracked
at 35 mph toward southern Florida.
The storm center passed over Key West around 8 pm on the 2nd, and crossed over to Cape Sable
two hours later. En route to Miami, the storm sported sustained winds of 59 mph with gusts to
68. It quickly dumped 2-4 inches of rain on Dade County's vegetable crops, causing
considerable damage. Just after midnight, it crossed west of downtown Miami then over Boca
Raton, before heading into the Atlantic in the wee hours of February 3rd. This is the only
documented February tropical storm landfall in the continental United States.
The weakening storm continued up the Atlantic Coast becoming extratropical near Cape Hatteras.
What would become known as the Groundhog Day Storm, crossed Cape Cod and into Maine, the
evening of the 4th before dissipating over New Brunswick the next day.
Thanks to our contributing writer, meteorologist Keith Heidorn. Our show is produced at the
Mount Washington Observatory, at www.mountwashington.org. Funding for The Weather Notebook
comes from the National Science Foundation, and Subaru of America.
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