Today in New York Weather History: August 19
1893 (Saturday)
A hurricane approached New York during the evening. A wind gust of 85 mph was clocked and 3.81" of rain fell (1.34" today, and 2.34" on the 20th).
1939 (Saturday)
The biggest rainfall of the year was produced by the remnants of the season's second hurricane, which made two landfalls in Florida, on the east coast, and along the state's Panhandle. The 2.31" that was measured fell between noon and midnight. It fell heaviest after 8 PM, when more than half of the rain fell.
1955 (Friday)
Less than a week after the flooding rains from hurricane Connie, another tropical system, Diane, flooded the region, but compared to Connie, with its 39 hours of rain, Diane moved relatively quickly. The first band of heavy rain moved in late last night and by 9 AM today the rain was over. Although less than two inches fell, significant flooding resulted since the ground was over-saturated from the seven inches of rain from Connie. Sustained winds got no higher than 30 mph (but a 54 mph gust was clocked at LaGuardia Airport).
1991 (Monday)
Hurricane Bob struck the eastern end of Long Island, and then southeastern New England and Cape Cod. The impact on New York City was heavy rain, mostly between 3 AM-noon, that amounted to 2.53".
1999 (Thursday)
Today was the 36th day in a row with a high of 80° or warmer, the longest such streak since 1966, and one day longer than an 80-degree streak experienced last summer.
2002 (Monday)
This was the third day in a row in which the high hit 94° (yesterday and today were record highs). It was also the seventeenth 90-degree day since July 29, a three-week period that had heat waves of eight days and nine days. The average high during these two heat waves was 94°, ten degrees hotter than average.
2009 (Wednesday)
Today was the fourth day in a row of 90-degree weather, and the last 90-degree day of the year. In total, only seven days were in the 90s this year - the fourth year in a row that was well below the average of eighteen. (Last year had twelve, 2007 had ten and 2006 had eight).
2010 (Thursday)
Today was the thirtieth 90-degree day this year, the seventh year in the past thirty with this many hot days. And there would be seven more 90+ readings in the next three weeks.
2011 (Friday)
A severe thunderstorm rumbled through between 8:15-9:15 PM, dumping 1.24" of rain. At its most intense, 0.43" fell in a 5-minute period between 8:30-8:35. This was the third time this month that more than an inch of rain fell in less than an hour. Today's rain pushed August's total over ten inches, just the 11th month with this much precipitation since 1980.
2018 (Sunday)
With a high/low of 72°/67°, today was the coolest day in eight weeks (since 6/23). This was also the first day this month in which the low temperature was below 70°, joining August 1988 as the only two Augusts with lows of 70° or warmer for the first eighteen days of the month. And although just 0.02" of rain fell today, during mid-morning, it was enough to move July-August up to the fifth wettest July-August on record (15.18").