Weather on This Date - December 4

This is a view of the Sun on the Winter Solstice at Fairbanks Alaska. That's as high as the sun gets on that date.

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Starting today, I will be reducing the content for the Weather on This Date and keep it more focused on historical weather.  I let it get out of control. :-)
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December 4, 1786 
The first of two great early December storms began. The storm produced 18 inches of snow at Morristown NJ, and twenty inches of snow at New Haven CT. It also resulted in high tides at Nantucket which did great damage. (David Ludlum) 

December 4, 1972 
Winds gusting to 70 mph sent the temperature at Livingston, MT, plunging from 52 degrees to 18 degrees in just twenty minutes. (The Weather Channel) 

December 4, 1982 
The temperature in New York City's Central Park reached 72 degrees to establish a record high for December. The month as a whole was also the warmest of record. (The Weather Channel) 

December 4, 1983
An F-0 tornado briefly touched down near Bartow (Jefferson County). Two mobile homes were damaged injuring two people in the homes. Elsewhere in Jefferson County, high winds from the thunderstorms downed a church steeple and a barn, and damaged the roof of a house. (NWS Atlanta)

December 4, 1987 
A cold front crossing the Pacific Coast Region brought high winds and heavy rain to California. Thunderstorm winds gusted to 55 mph at Newport Beach CA, and Mount Wilson CA was drenched with 2.17 inches of rain in six hours. Gale force winds prevailed along the Northern Pacific Coast, and winds in the Tehachapis Mountains of southern California gusted to 60 mph. (Storm Data) (The National Weather Summary) 

December 4, 1988 
Gale force winds continued to usher cold arctic air into the northeastern U.S. Winds gusted to 65 mph at Windsor Locks CT. Up to a foot of snow blanketed the higher elevations of Vermont. (The National Weather Summary) (Storm Data) 

December 4, 1989 
Seventeen cities in the eastern U.S., including nine in Florida, reported record low temperatures for the date. Lakeland FL reported a record low of 31 degrees, and Watertown NY was the cold spot in the nation with a low of 20 degrees below zero. (The National Weather Summary) (Storm Data) 

December 4, 2002 
An early season winter storm brought an expansive shield of snow and ice through much of the eastern U.S., from the lower Ohio Valley, southern Appalachians and into the Northeast. Snow accumulations of 4-8 inches were common along the northern edge of the precipitation shield, while a significant accrual of glaze occurred in the Carolina's. The storm caused at least 17 fatalities, mostly from traffic accidents (CNN). In the Carolina's, electric utilities provider Duke Power characterized the ice storm as the worst in the company's history, with 1.2 million customers or nearly half its entire customer base without power on the morning of the 5th. This surpassed electrical outages inflicted by Hurricane Hugo as it swept through the central Carolina's in September 1989. 
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December 4, 2005
Severe thunderstorms brought large hail and high winds to much of north and central Georgia. Hail of 1 to 1 1/4 inch in diameter was quite common. One tornado, an F-0, touched down in Henry County near Stockbridge. The path of the tornado was 1 mile long and traveled through the Willow Spring Subdivision causing $150,000 in damages to homes. (NWS Atlanta)

Data courtesy of WeatherForYou

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Snow Cover Comparison to Last Year

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