Today’s date (on this side of the date line) is causing superstitious people everywhere to be extra cautious.
Friday the 13th is not only a popular horror movie franchise, it is also a day infamous for its purported bad luck.
While we will withhold our own superstitious beliefs, we took a look in our extensive weather almanac for any unusual weather events to happen on a Friday the 13th:
January
* 1984, Huntington Beach, Calif.: A tornado damaged a mobile home park. Tornadoes are very unusual not just for this part of the country, but for the month of January in general.
February
* 1784, Gulf Coast: Ice floes blocked the Mississippi River at New Orleans, then passed into the Gulf of Mexico. The only other time this was known to happen was in February 1899.
* 1885, Alva, Utah: An avalanche killed 16 people and injured 13 others.
* 1987, Western U.S.: A storm produced heavy rain over central California. Chews Ridge reported nearly 11 inches of rain in 24 hours, and extensive flooding occurred in San Benito County. The Mount Rose ski resort in Nevada experienced whiteout conditions, with 60-mph winds and 36 inches of snow.
March
* 1936, Wilkes-Barre, Pa.: A heavy rainstorm broke up winter ice and resulted in serious flooding. This led to the construction of a dike system for the city. Unfortunately, the 35-foot walls were not high enough to withstand the floods of 1972′s Hurricane Agnes.
* 1964, Alaska: The 9.2-magnitude “Good Friday Earthquake” struck near the Prince William Sound. It remains the most powerful earthquake in North American history and the second-most powerful in the world. The quake led to structural damage and a tsunami, killing a total of 143 people.
* 1992, Turkey: An earthquake killed nearly 2,000 people and left 50,000 homeless.
April
* 1984, St. John’s, Canada: A storm deposited ice up to 25mm (1 inch) thick and left the city without
power for days.
* 1990, El Reno, Okla.: Golf ball-sized hail piled up 6 inches deep.
* 2007, Northeast Texas: Teacup-sized hail pounded Colleyville, while baseball-sized hail was reported in Forth Worth. Hail the size of tennis balls pounded Dallas, Saginaw and Reagan Wells.
June
* 2003, British Columbia, Canada: Three men were forced into icy waters southeast of Sandspit as their fishing boat sank. Their life rafts were then blown away by 45-mph winds. A passing cruise liner rescued the three.
* 1930, Provost, Alberta, Canada: A mixture of blowing dust and heavy rain produced a “rain of mud.” Buildings become caked with grime, and took on an eerie appearance.
* 1958, Bordentown, N.J.: A “Friday the 13th” tornado caused property damage.
July
* 1951, Kansas: The “Great Flood” killed 24 people, destroyed more than 2 million acres of farmland, and caused $760 million in damage.
* 1987, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada: An F4 tornado ripped through the city, killing 27 people and injuring at least 300.
August
* 1638, Eastern New England: Triple storms of 1638. John Winthrop wrote, “In the night was a very great tempest, or hurricane at S.W. which drove a ship on the ground at Charlestown, and broke down the windmill there and did much other harm…it raised the tide 14-15 foot above ordinary spring tides, upright.”
* 2004, Florida: Hurricane Charley made landfall as a Category 4 storm, with sustained winds of 145 mph at Charlotte Harbor. Punta Gorda had a 109-mph wind gust before the anemometer blew away. The storm destroyed 106 homes on Sanibel Island, and the harbor was full of debris. A roof was blown off a shelter with 1,200 people inside. An unofficial wind gust of 173 mph was reported.
November
* 1970, Bangladesh: A devastating cyclone kills 500,000 people.
1964 Good Friday earthquake in Alaska was on Friday, March 27th.