The Christmas 1994 nor'easter was an intense cyclone along the East Coast of the United States and Atlantic Canada. It developed from an area of low pressure in the southeast Gulf of Mexico near the Florida Keys, and moved across the state of Florida. As it entered the warm waters of the Gulf Stream in the Atlantic Ocean, it began to rapidly intensify, exhibiting traits of a tropical system, including the formation of an eye. It attained a pressure of 970 millibars on December 23 and 24, and after moving northward, it came ashore near New York City on Christmas Eve. Due to the uncertain nature of the storm, the National Hurricane Center (NHC) did not classify it as a tropical cyclone. Heavy rain from the developing storm contributed to significant flooding in South Carolina. Much of the rest of the East Coast was affected by high winds, coastal flooding, and beach erosion. New York State and New England bore the brunt of the storm; damage was extensive on Long Island, and in Connecticut, 130,000 households lost electric power during the storm. Widespread damage and power outages also occurred throughout Rhode Island and Massachusetts, where the storm generated 30-foot (9.1 m) waves along the coast.
Read the rest of this article: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christmas_1994_nor%27easter
_______________________________ Today's selected anniversaries:
800:
In Rome's St. Peter's Basilica, Frankish King Charlemagne was crowned Imperator Augustus by Pope Leo III as a rival of the Byzantine Emperor in Constantinople. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charlemagne
1100:
Baldwin of Boulogne was crowned as the first King of Jerusalem in the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baldwin_I_of_Jerusalem
1776:
American Revolutionary War: George Washington and his army crossed the Delaware River to launch a surprise attack on Hessian mercenaries at the Battle of Trenton. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Washington%27s_crossing_of_the_Delaware_River
1927:
The Vietnamese Nationalist Party, a revolutionary socialist political party that sought independence from French colonial rule in Vietnam, was formed in Hanoi. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Viet_Nam_Quoc_Dan_Dang
1941:
World War II: The Japanese occupation of Hong Kong began after Mark Aitchison Young, the Governor of Hong Kong, surrendered the territory to Japan after 18 days of fierce fighting. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japanese_occupation_of_Hong_Kong
2003:
The Beagle 2 space probe, part of the European Space Agency's Mars Express mission, disappeared shortly before its scheduled landing on Mars. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beagle_2
_____________________________ Wiktionary's word of the day:
chiliasm (n): Belief in an earthly thousand-year period of peace and prosperity, sometimes equated with the return of Jesus for that period http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/chiliasm
___________________________ Wikiquote quote of the day:
The only real blind person at Christmas-time is he who has not Christmas in his heart. --Helen Keller http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Helen_Keller