What is the worst weather your city/state has ever seen?
Posted by throwawaytomyalt@reddit | AskAnAmerican | View on Reddit | 229 comments
I’m on the West Coast right now and I’m extremely thankful I don’t have to deal with anything worse than cold and windy weather. But I have family on the East Coast, and they got quite a bit of snow. The most they’ve seen in a while.
In the Midwest, it’s super cold right now. I could not imagine having to live through such harsh weather. Seems like there’s very few pockets of decent weather across the nation at the moment.
Material-Spell-4887@reddit
I remember the windstorm in the spring months of 2017. My mom and I had driven to Wegmans to get some things, and I stayed in the car while she shopped. Honestly, I felt like the car was going to blow over while I was in it, I was so scared! On the drive there and on the drive back, I remember seeing trees down in people's yards, and traffic lights not working, because of the power outages. Around 150,000 homes in my area lost power during this, some for days. Thankfully, my family's home was not one of those homes. One of my friends from school posted on Facebook when the power was finally restored to her home. I was 23 (twenty three) at the time, as my zodiac sign is cancer. I told her how I remembered losing power for almost a week during the spring ice storm of 2003 (I was 9 during that).
IgntedF-xy@reddit
Probably the flood in 2011
cheekmo_52@reddit
The worst weather event in my State would have to be the Tri-State tornado of 1925…it traveled from Missouri, through Illinois and into Indiana, nearly 220 miles. It killed 695 people, leveled whole towns and left thousands homeless.
The worst winter storm in my state, was a blizzard in 1967, that dumped 23 inches of snow in a day, and had winds strong enough to create 6 foot snow drifts.
The coldest recorded temperature in my area was -27 degrees Fahrenheit, with wind chills reaching -60.
Rogerdodger1946@reddit
Rural Central Illinois 1960, we lived on a major US route. It was closed for 5 days with deep blowing snow that the snow plows could not get through. This was complicated by air temps that plunged to -20F. A local farmer finally got an old dozer started and was able to break through.
wandpapierkritiker@reddit
Mi. soya here. the worst weather is winter. some winters are less worst than others. but yeah. were used to it.
brizia@reddit
Superstorm Sandy sucked. We got hit pretty hard in NJ, and then in the following weeks we had snow.
On_my_last_spoon@reddit
The freak Halloween snow storm after Sandy!
I lived in Brooklyn at the time. Everything was a mess for weeks.
LittleJohnStone@reddit
We didn't get impacted by Sandy, but sure felt that Halloween storm - holy sh!t that sucked
General-Hedgehog-955@reddit
We lost power for multiple days in Fairfield County.
LittleJohnStone@reddit
We lost it for a week in Manchester. I was grilling our dinner while watching the utility truck turn our power back on
kirstynloftus@reddit
My family was far enough from the coast that we thankfully had minimal impact from sandy, only lost power for a few hours, but family friends of ours in brick weren’t so lucky- their backyard and house was a disaster. They even found jellyfish in the pool!
kjb76@reddit
This is what I was going to say. I think it’s because I was a single mom with a 2 year old and it sounded like a freight train going at bullet train speed for several hours. And then the power outage. It was awful.
shelwood46@reddit
I was in Princeton; we had no power for 3 weeks. Glad we had a generator to run the furnace and a single fridge, and could go to the local volunteer fire house and use their shower and outlets (they had a big propane generator) and water. I am so stocked up on battery-operated stuff all these years later because I think I still have lingering trauma.
brizia@reddit
I was in Bridgewater at my parents and we didn’t have power or water for 10 days because they have a well. My dad had access to a job site, so we were filling up as many containers of water as we could just to flush the toilets.
GrowlingAtTheWorld@reddit
Hurricane Charley on Aug 13, 2004. At least the worst in my lifetime.
Puzzleheaded-Bee4698@reddit
I live in Minnesota. Temperatures of -20F and below are called "winter". Tornados; hot, humid summet weather is also expected. What concerns me is the long-term trend of drier, milder winters and hotter summers with more frequent droughts. I don't want a Nebraska climate.
Lisztchopinovsky@reddit
Um… I’d rather not talk about it
-dag-@reddit
We have a lot of ICE here. It's the worst weather in the whole damn country ever.
Oldy_VonMoldy@reddit
Word
sharkycharming@reddit
In June 2012, there was a derecho, and that was miserable. The storm itself was short, but brutally destructive. We were without electricity for three days (a very long time for the city), and we had to bail water out of the basement because the sump pump didn't have power. I was so grouchy.
And I realize how privileged I am, because although our weather is rarely nice, it's nearly always tolerable. We barely get any severe weather. This current polar vortex is miserable, but it'll be in the rearview mirror in a couple of weeks, tops.
Oldy_VonMoldy@reddit
I second the Derecho, in Baltimore it was the most damaging storm since hurricane Agnes in 1970? The worst thing about it was the power went out for thousands of people for many days, and the temperature after the storm actually got way hotter and stayed like that for what seemed like weeks. People had 100 degree heat, high humidity, and not even a fan to cool off with.
randomwords83@reddit
I’m in Columbus, Ohio and that same derecho fucked us up. It was so crazy and I couldn’t understand why they didn’t put out tornado warnings for it and the only answer everyone gave was that it was because it goes in a straight line instead of having rotation.
Electrical_Iron_1161@reddit
I remember standing at the front door watching it and seeing a couple trees fall I thought there was a tornado and then the aftermath was hell with 100°+ heat index and no power for like 5 days I'm 28 so I think that is the worst thunderstorm I've experienced and I don't know if it will be topped.
OrneTTeSax@reddit
I was camping for a weekend of Phish concerts during that. It was one of the hottest weekends I ever remember in the Midwest to begin with. Then that storm came out of nowhere. Ripped my EZ Up canopy out of the ground with 5 or 6 of us trying to hold it down. Completely bent it inside out. There was a huge pile of mangled canopies by the dumpster of the campground after.
It didn’t last long and the concert still happened that evening. It never cooled down, was like 95 at 2 am. Another bad storm then hit at like 3 or 4 am. Collapsed my tent on top of me. Ran to take shelter in the van. As I closed the sliding door I saw my tent rip out of the ground and go flying 50 feet in the air. Couldn’t find it the next morning. Lost a bunch of hash.
undreamedgore@reddit
While living where I currently live, and factoring in windchill, I've experienced was -60 F with windchill. Then that same year it was 100+.
This month I've had -40F and 40 F. Which is an 80 degree swing.
el_butt@reddit
We had a dozen sand storms in El Paso last year. That was straight dog buns.
sluttypidge@reddit
They hit the Panhandle. My cousin was stuck on the side of the interstate for 6 hours about 3 hours away trying to get to my uncle's funeral.
sluttypidge@reddit
Notable recent one in my area of Texas the Texas Panhandle is the Smokehouse Creek Fires/Windy Deuce fire. The fires were caused due to windy conditions and downed power lines. It's a miracle only 2 people died but I heard of a lot of close calls. We lost a lot of cattle in the region.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Smokehouse_Creek_Fire
We had winds just absolutely gusting 55+ mph (88 km), not uncommon but the wind did not want to let up at all.
The last time we had a fire that bad was the East Amarillo Fort Complex Fire in 2006. I was like 10 years old for that one and our dad sent us kids and our mom to our grandmother in Oklahoma. You could smell and see the smoke on the horizon 130 miles (209 km) away.
My town was spared from burning thanks to a control burn we'd done like 3 months before the fire. Just two days ago we did anther control burn on that same spot.
spidermom4@reddit
Like 10 or 11 years ago we had a wind storm and I watched trees toppling like dominos. Other than that we had an ice storm a few years ago that coated everything in a thin layer of ice. Oh and I live in a town that had a random freak west coast tornado like 8 years ago or so. Took out a house or two.
seaofboobs9434@reddit
Its really not that bad. Its cold and windy but other then that its not bad does ca beat it yes every day cold in ca is warm in mid west
AssociationWaste1336@reddit
I wasn’t alive for it, but the Great Blizzard of 1978 in Cleveland. The call it the “Cleveland Superbomb”.
EloquentRacer92@reddit
The 2021 heat wave. Upwards of 110 degrees. This was before we had any sort of air conditioning, too.
Prestigious-Comb4280@reddit
Florida...Hurricane Ian 2022 (worst hurricane to hit my area since I lived here) Hit with 150mph winds and it was a full moon and hit at high tide. My house was built in 1974 and I was lucky for me and my dogs to survive. Many people died and they weren't counted in the death toll (that would be bad for business.) My house stopped at filling with 4 feet of water and I am still recovering for my house. I will never recover from the trauma. My house had never flooded before and I lived about a mile from the beach although there are canals that are attached to the beach. I just visited Minnesota where it was -19 degrees F...I don't have clothing for that. It was horrible in a different way.
What_A_Hohmann@reddit
Eastern Washington: 2021 heatwave. Temps peaked around 120° setting a new record.
Multiple different years smoke from wildfires settled in and the air quality was off the charts terrible. But I don't know if that qualifies as weather.
hobokobo1028@reddit
Hailstorms, tornadoes, and flooding are worse than any winter storms we get. At least as far as damage to towns/ power shutdowns go
bruisevwillis@reddit
Hurricane Matthew and Hurricane Helene in North Carolina. I had never seen anything like it. We also had an ice storm in 2002(?) that was pretty intense. That's what sticks out to me since I've been alive. My dear departed grandfather recalled a record-breaking hurricane in the 50s that made landfall in his town in the 50s. It destroyed this state. I believe it made landfall as a category 3, at least. I'll come back if I think of the name.
nakedonmygoat@reddit
I'm in Texas. For something impacting most of the state, I have to go with the ice storm in 2021 that brought down the state power grid. For something affecting only part of the state, but with wide-reaching historical consequences, it was the Galveston Hurricane of 1900, hands down.
Tedanty@reddit
I've lived a bit over a decade in Texas. This weekend was the worst I've seen, but it wasn't even bad at all. Couple inches of snow and a couple days of rain was all we got. I'm originally from so cal and I've seen worse than what we got here. I'm sure there were other years that were significantly worse but I haven't seen it.
nakedonmygoat@reddit
If you've lived over a decade in Texas, how is it you don't remember the grid failure in the 2021 ice storms? Or are you in one of the few areas that doesn't fall under ERCOT?
Tedanty@reddit
I was in like I believe the only or one of the only regions that weren't affected at all by that power failure from the cold.
Scary-Ad9646@reddit
Fire.
throwawaytomyalt@reddit (OP)
Fire scary. Ooga booga.
Scary-Ad9646@reddit
Found the renter.
HarlequinKOTF@reddit
Probably the winter of 1977/78
At least on record.
Discount_Plumber@reddit
Anyone who was old enough to remember it around here in west Michigan still talks about it every winter. The news usually puts up some pictures from then too.
too_too2@reddit
I wasn’t alive yet but there are some photos of my brother as a toddler, with 4-5’ snow banks on either side of him in his little snowsuit. Very cute and more snow than I’ve seen in GR my whole life.
Realistic-Regret-171@reddit
Yeah we were leaving Cadillac that Friday(?) morning in the sun and had to get back to central Illinois to feed the livestock. Before God and Everyone had 4wd pickups. Did it with an F150 shorty w a snowmobile in the back. It was an adventure.
babaweird@reddit
My parents had a farm in central illinois. They went on a rare vacation for two weeks leaving my brother in charge of the farm. The power was out for 10 days. He had a generator that could power one thing at a time, cattle feeder, chicken house or house. So he had to rotate each one for 10 days.
Feather757@reddit
Yes I just got done commenting about it lol. I was a kid but I remember staying at my grandparents because our power went out.
Ryebread095@reddit
The main thing with Florida is hurricanes, tropical storms, tropical depressions, and thunderstorms. These can break stuff with wind, lightning, and/or flooding. Sometimes they bring tornadoes with them.
winteriscoming9099@reddit
In my memory, there was a few. Hurricane Sandy and Irene were pretty bad, Isaias as well (the latter two knocked out power to 90% of my town). We’ve had some wild snowstorms - the winter of 2010-11 was particularly crazy, we had at least 4 storms give my area 18+ inches of snow each (and elementary school me had snow taller than me). 2013 had a blizzard that didn’t impact me as much but crippled the rest of the state.
I’ve been elsewhere for some wilder weather though. I witnessed a “particularly dangerous situation” tornado warning that produced an EF2 in Virginia Beach. I was in West Virginia for some floods that killed 23 people a county over. I’ve also been in NYC for some wild weather as well: the Hurricane Ida floods (Sept 2021), the day the skies turned orange (June 2023), and another day of floods (Sept 2023).
Jedi4Hire@reddit
Five years ago Iowa basically got hit by a hurricane. I'm not joking.
jx1854@reddit
Yup, worst weather event ive ever been through.
Nobodyknowsthisone12@reddit
Never in my life do I ever want to see my entire front lawn get lifted up by my tree again. Followed by no power for a week, in 90° weather.
Jedi4Hire@reddit
In a true Midwestern fashion, for years my dad would almost always set up a lawn chair in the garage and watch the storm blow in while my mom always fled to the basement.
When the derecho rolled in for the first time in at least 40 years my dad took one look outside and said "We need to go to the basement right now."
redditsuckshardnowtf@reddit
Took out the cooling towers at the nuke plant, caused it to shut down a few months early.
djddanman@reddit
We're used to tornados. They pass through and you just hope you're not in the path. The derecho was widespread destruction, with some areas like Cedar Rapids being without power for up to 2 weeks! I was lucky enough to just be without internet for 2 days.
weirdpoops6969lol@reddit
Yup, just posted this same thing!
CupBeEmpty@reddit
I was there the year after and everyone was still talking about the derecho.
Jedi4Hire@reddit
It's not every day that your landlocked Midwestern state gets fucked up the ass by a hurricane. Power was out for two weeks, roads were largely impassable for days and many people were left homeless while their insurance companies left them hanging out to dry.
CupBeEmpty@reddit
Oh yeah, and there was still unfixed damage everywhere even a year after. The stories were wild. Basically anytime bad weather would come through everyone would eventually get on to their derecho stories.
charlieq46@reddit
I go to western Iowa every summer for the 4th of July, and driving past the flooded fields was one of the eeriest experiences. It felt like I was on a bridge driving over a lake. Some equipment was still in the fields, halfway covered by water.
115machine@reddit
Blizzard of 93 was rough on East Tennessee. I wasn’t alive to see it but my parents said there were snow drifts 6ft deep
Sleepygirl57@reddit
Blizzard of ‘78. It was glorious!!!
Oc1510@reddit
Couple years ago we got around 700 inches of snow over the winter, basically started around Christmas then just kept going for months. My bedroom door wouldn’t close right because of the weight of the snow on my roof
GeneralLedger@reddit
From what I've been told the winter of 1978 in Cleveland was brutal.https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Blizzard_of_1978
In my life time I can remember a bad storm in like 1998 and then this winter and the previous. Its definitely gotten really cold a bunch but when it comes to snowfall those times stay with me
javiergoddam@reddit
Southwest Michigan Green storm of 1980 is my family's personal worst weather. I'm not sure about Ever but Detroiters know.
What's happening now in the midwest (I'm in Chicago) is fairly routine every few years imo, I was shocked that people cleared out whole shelves of supplies for just a three day forecast.
Horangi1987@reddit
I grew up in Minneapolis. Maybe not the worst ever of all time, but people of a certain age from the Twin Cities will probably cite The Great Halloween Blizzard as the most significant weather event of the last 40 years.
SEmpls@reddit
I was born in MN the year of the Halloween Blizzard and grew up hearing about it.
Zealousideal_Cod5214@reddit
Came here to mention that. Anybody over a certain age will always talk about the Halloween blizzard of 91. Even some of us that are younger will because we've heard the story about a million times lol
Nerdyraccoon1776@reddit
Last year a few countys near mine got a snow dusting
CRO553R@reddit
Blizzard of 2003 (Denver)
The average snow is 15 inches of snow per 1 inch of water. The snow from this storm averaged a 6/1 ratio, meaning it was 250% heavier snow. Some areas got 6ft of snow, roofs (both residential and commercial) collapsed up and down the front range (I-25 Fort Collins to Colorado Springs) and brought everyday life to a screaching halt.
I had 4ft of snow where I lived. My neighbors and I (apartment building) built a 10ft snowman with the snow we cleared off the sidewalks. Best snowball quality snow ever.
Ok_Helicopter2305@reddit
Last year 80% of my town burned down, so that's probably the worst
gasplugsetting3@reddit
I got hit by a tornado two years ago. Im sure there's been bad blizzard thats killed fifty people at some point in our history.
Otherwise-External12@reddit
I live in the Minneapolis area and I've witnessed -30 F temps, and on other occasions we've had over 24" of snow overnight. Fortunately neither of these events can happen at the same time.
Each of these brings their own types of problems. In extreme cold cars won't start, water pipes can freeze and in general things just don't work the same. Driving in snow storms is a nightmare, poor visibility and worrying about sliding off the road and being stranded.
Oh and let's not forget about tornadoes.
SpreadsheetSiren@reddit
Philadelphia region. I’d say it’s a tie between Sandy and the ‘96 blizzard.
BlueSoloCup89@reddit
State: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1900_Galveston_hurricane
City: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1953_Waco_tornado_outbreak
Cameront9@reddit
Folks have mentioned Galveston already but the Waco tornado devastated the city. It tore up downtown irreparably and set the city back decades. Before that it was possibly on track to be where Dallas is today.
OvationOnJam@reddit
Just so folks understand how bad the 1900 hurricane was, galveston used to THE up and coming city of the south. Literally its own Ellis island and a major historical hub with a ton of its own culture. Iirc it was literally the US's most significant cotton ports and directly competed with New Orleans in size and scope... till the hurricane hit. It was so devastating there wouldn't be a natural disaster to top if for nearly 100 years. It nearly wiped Galveston off the map, and did enough damage the city never fully recovered. Folks and money moved away from Galveston inland to the more protected Houston, which is what has made Houston the major trade hub of the gulf that it is today. Its why if you've ever visited Galveston it has this weird almost dated feel to it. Just think, in an alternate timeline Galveston could have been the 4th largest city in the US instead of houston.
HeatwaveInProgress@reddit
Isaac's Storm by Erik Larson is a great book about this disaster.
TopperMadeline@reddit
The former is the deadliest natural disaster the country has ever seen.
MyLastFuckingNerve@reddit
Not necessarily my city, but i had to walk over 2 miles in -30 ambient temps with wind gusts up to 60mph at work once. My eyelashes froze immediately and i just had to keep one hand on my train while i walked so i didn’t get disoriented and lost in the white out conditions. We were out in the open prairie in the middle of fucking nowhere north dakota and we didn’t clear a crossing so i had to walk back, cut off some cars to clear the crossing, and walk back up to the headend of the train. I REALLY wanted to walk down the mainline because there was less snow and better walking conditions between the rails, but amtrack was picking us up and i would have gotten hit had they showed up while i was walking because i couldn’t see or hear shit. It fucking sucked.
throwawaytomyalt@reddit (OP)
I would’ve just stayed home. Not worth the health risk.
MyLastFuckingNerve@reddit
Can’t stay home all winter 🤷♀️ nature of the job
MaelstromFL@reddit
Andrew...
Pensacouple@reddit
Me too, lived in Kendall.
MaelstromFL@reddit
Lived in Tampa at the time, but I was the Lt of a truck platoon that delivered water after the storm. I saw destruction in Desert Storm, I have never seen anything like that, before or since!
Vachic09@reddit
The worst on record my homestate has seen was Hurricane Camille.
Pensacouple@reddit
I was visiting my sister in S Mississippi during Camille. Not on the coast, but still bad.
Commercial_Picture28@reddit
Hurricane Andrew, Hurricane Wilma, Hurricane Irma, Hurricane Dorian and every summer from May-August is 100% humidity and 100⁰F at all times.
Pensacouple@reddit
I went through all of those, except Dorian.
AluminumCansAndYarn@reddit
In August of 1990, a F5 tornado ripped through Plainfield, IL, Crest Hill, and Joliet. It remains to this day, the only F5 tornado to happen in the month of August. It also was notable because of the way the tornado moved. I think the way it spun was backwards and it moved going south and east and most tornados move going north and east.
I remember hearing stories when I was little about the amount of rain at the grade school I went to when we would do tornado drills.
krissychan99@reddit
i’m from missoula and while i’m not sure if it’s the worst weather we have ever gotten, we had a super nasty windstorm roll through during july of ‘24. it was so bad that there was over 4 million dollars worth of damage. our local national weather service station said it looked like it may have been a derecho, but i don’t think it was ever officially classified as one. the damage looked like a tornado rolled through, and we don’t get those here. it was a terrifying thing to live through.
AbiWil1996@reddit
Hurricane Hugo was a really bad notable one for most people here. In my lifetime though- 1000 year flood here in SC 2015. EVERYTHING was flooded. Roads were destroyed. It took over 5 years for a road & bridge near our house to be fixed.
GeneralBlumpkin@reddit
That was crazy!! I was at fort Jackson when that happened and yeah same we had to ration food because all the roads got swept away. Flooding all over base and outside of the base. We filled lots of sandbags
ThrowawayMod1989@reddit
In 1879 my town was hit by what was deemed The Great Beaufort Hurricane. A direct hit from a category 3.
For the state at large I would imagine Hurricane Helene has now taken the title from previous hurricanes such as Hazel (Cat 4, 1954) or Floyd (Cat 2, 1999)
Birdywoman4@reddit
Massive tornadoes that devastated the area and it happed 3 times. Not to mention so many less powerful but still destructive ones.
ZaphodG@reddit
1938 Hurricane. It hit Long Island NY and the Southern New England coast with 150 mph winds. Between storm surge and record rainfall, it caused enormous flooding.
taniamorse85@reddit
I live a little over an hour east of L.A. Two or 3 years ago, it snowed in my city. It was no more than about an inch, but it did stick around for a couple days.
When I was a kid, my family lived in Alabama for a while. Our first winter there, we experienced this blizzard.
kati8303@reddit
NOLA so in my lifetime Katrina
GotchUrarse@reddit
I visited NOLA about year later. Could not believe how bad it was, and this is from someone who lives in FL.
MyFace_UrAss_LetsGo@reddit
Same
GotchUrarse@reddit
I've lived thru probably 20+ hurricanes. From Cat 1's to Cat 4's. The only ones that where scary where the couple of cat 4's.
farmerthrowaway1923@reddit
My hometown Houston would probably be Hurricane Harvey. Current town either Ike or Snowmageddon. All of Texas hands down the 1900 hurricane that about made Galveston a past tense. I had a manager who said his grandmother was swept off her roof and only her neighbor hanging out his window grabbing her saved her from being swept out to sea. You see gentle shores in the sunshine but the ocean has no mercy when it’s angry and it is chaos and terrifying when it’s angry.
rharper38@reddit
Floods in Ellicott City, MD, 1962 Nor'easter, LA Plata tornado that hit U of M. Multiple hurricanes, 2010 blizzard week. That funky storm a couple years ago that tore down power lines and trapped people in the street.
4Q69freak@reddit
Blizzard of ‘78 in Illinois
scottwax@reddit
People still talk about the ice storm in 1978 in Dallas. But recently the deep freeze in 2021 that affected most of Texas.
There have also been hurricanes and tornado outbreaks, including a nasty one in December 2015 in the Dallas area.
chaekinman@reddit
Helene
ickyvic613@reddit
Texas/Houston native. Hurricane Harvey in 2017 was catastrophic for Houston and other coastal towns/cities as well. I remember so many people thinking nothing was going to happen, then the storm stalling for days.
And Winter Storm Uri in 2021 was pretty bad. Though that had more to do with ERCOT and failing infrastructure. (Though I don't agree with how bonkers people went with prepping for this year's winter storm, Fern, I have a minuscule amount of grace because that 2021 storm really threw us for a loop. No power. No water. It was pretty intense.)
The-GarlicBread@reddit
Maine, the ice storm of '98. We lost power for 2 weeks, others for much longer. My dad coordinated delivery of food and water throughout town to people who didn't have access to any. Also delivered fuel for kerosene heaters, pet food, etc. Power lines were down everywhere. We were one of the first in our town to get power back and so many people came over to shower and watch the news.
Weightmonster@reddit
Blizzard of 96
mpitt0730@reddit
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fargo_tornado?wprov=sfla1
Probably that for both.
Feather757@reddit
I don't remember much because I was 7, but Michigan's Great Blizzard of 1978 We lost power and had to stay with my grandparents for a few days maybe?
Electrical_Iron_1161@reddit
In Central Ohio probably the blizzard of 78 which today is the anniversary of the storm. Some honorable mentions hurricane Ike remnants we didn't have school for like 3-4 days due to power outages, blizzard of 08 and the 2012 derecho/heatwave I'm sure there are more but those are some that I could think of
DreamingTree808@reddit
Early 2000s Easter hail storm did a ton of damage too
His_GoddessLove@reddit
Blizzards, or hurricanes, straight line winds did quite the number on us years ago
mcfaite@reddit
New York City - Hurricane Sandy (2012) and the Blizzard of 1888.
Dio_Yuji@reddit
Ever? Maybe the flood of 2016. 30 inches of rain in two days. Flooded huge chunks of the city and suburbs. That or Hurricane Gustav in 2008
LHCThor@reddit
128° it was a very hot day.
No_Street8874@reddit
Despite no mountains, my state has had -60f and 115f real temps, and a single town had a swing from 78f to 7f in one day.
MadViking-66@reddit
In my lifetime, the blizzard of 1978. Before that the hurricane of 1938.
jsar16@reddit
Blizzards, tornadoes, and floods. Other than that it’s pretty good
kmoonster@reddit
There is no such thing as bad weather, only bad dress / equipment*
* some possible exceptions for extremes like a tornado or antarctica, and whiteouts on mountains (eg. while climbing Rainier)
The rest is a calculation of cost/benefit for things like hail, days of closure due to snow, odds of wildfire, etc
splorp_evilbastard@reddit
I lived through the Blizzard of '78 in Ohio. I also was in Ohio when it hit the -21°F (-29.44°C) in '94.
My experience was worse in Austin, TX for winter storm Uri in 2021. My house lost power for 4 days, with my bedroom reaching the low 40°s F (4.44°C). The city is not set up to handle ice and snow in the levels it reached. We were luckier than a lot of others, who lost power for weeks.
Joliet-Jake@reddit
Tornados and hurricanes.
sharpshooter999@reddit
We get tornados and blizzards, though blizzards are just a day or two off for most of us
Ok_Orchid1004@reddit
It got down below 65°F once. Oh and I saw it hit 89°F before. That’s it.
newacc_igotbanned@reddit
A tornado warning
BillPlastic3759@reddit
42 inches of snow
2 100 year floods 5 years apart.
nomorelandfills@reddit
My lifetime, the %$&*W$(&%( winter of I think 1996. We usually have snow/melt cycles, nothing lasts long. But that winter, it snowed and snowed and froze and froze and suddenly, we were living in &*$(%&$*(% New England. I cried when it finally began melting in April.
chtrace@reddit
In living memory, Hurricane Harvey stalled over Houston and dropped over 50 inches of rain on the city over 3-4 days. Basically drowned the whole city. I had never seen flooding like that before in my whole life.
Atlas7993@reddit
Iowa:
Derecho of 2020 - 160 mph winds carved a windswept scar across the state that was seen from space. By the time the center of it hit Cedar Rapids they had hurricane force winds. $11 billion in damages and people didn't have power for weeks. Not a lot of people really know about it outside the Midwest, though, because the news was fixed Covid the wildfires in California. They talked about a wind storm that hit Chicago but not the land hurricane that devistated Iowa. We spent about a week trying to convince our insurance company it even happened.
The Great Blizzard (1078) - 80 mph winds that produced 30 ft snow drifts.
Armistice Day Blizzard (1940) - killed 154 people across the state.
ChapBobL@reddit
New England: The Blizzard of 78 and the Perfect Storm of 1991
funktion666@reddit
In the Midwest, it’s usually the floods and then the tornados that are more destructive and fatal. And then the high winds too cause much more dangerous - trees being uprooted and smashing into houses and cars. The diameter of the trunk uprooted during a Jericho a few years ago was more than 6ft.
The cold is whatever, we’re kind of used to it. Kind of because it still sucks every year when it comes up lol.
So depends on what you mean by worst. The most dangerous? Most fatal? Most annoying?
Ok-Entertainment5045@reddit
We can handle a lot of snow and cold. Freezing rain and ice make everything miserable. Tons of down trees and power lines.
NukeDaBurbz@reddit
Infrastructure is everything. Chicago is built to withstand the cold and so it barely affects daily life. Just dress in layers and enjoy the winter vibes.
niccig@reddit
The worst I've ever personally experienced was the 2003 ice storm in KY, but that was mostly bc I had just moved from TX and didn't even know an ice storm was a thing that could exist. Tons of people lost power though.
Second place goes to tornadoes that I (fortunately) only saw from a reasonable distance.
frosted_Melancholy@reddit
Hurricane Katrina was pretty bad, but my first thought usually goes to either Hurricane Ida or Hurricane Laura.
Snarky75@reddit
Hurricanes are horrible and the worst things I have ever been through. We went without electric for a week and it was so hot!! We also had a toddler that we had to take care of. Then with nothing to do what do you know we got pregnant!! So it also cost us money for years to come.
Decent-Caramel-2129@reddit
Hurricanes in Florida (personal worst was Charlie in 2004. Currently in Michigan, it was the ice storm last year.
_aaronroni_@reddit
I wasn't around for it but back in the 70s it got so cold the Ohio River froze over. They were driving cars across the river at Cincinnati
coronarybee@reddit
As a Michigander who has also lived in MN. Tbh it’s just a way of life here. You get used to it.
Recent_Permit2653@reddit
I think the 2021 snowmageddon is up there. I’m also from California though, so any of these storms is THE WORST.
Apprehensive-Ant2141@reddit
Hurricane Katrina
SigmaAgonist@reddit
Statewide by death toll probably a cluster of tornadoes in 1974. For basically any other metrics locally it is probably the great blizzard of 78. We went from rain and fog to 2 feet of snow and 80 mile an hour winds in a day. It was the second in a series of three major blizzards. I think the top recorded wind speed on land was about 90 mph and about 110 over the lake. Snow drifts got up into the 15-20 foot range.
Ill_Manufacturer7706@reddit
Probably a tornado in the early 2000s took out our county seat im sure older people can recall worse.
EastTXJosh@reddit
I’ve lived in Texas my entire life and have personally experienced a F3 tornado, 82 straight days of triple digit temperatures, Winter Storm URI in 2021, with nearly a foot of snow, sub zero temps, and no power because of the ERCOT grid, so take your pick.
Specialist-Solid-987@reddit
Well, in Wyoming it's a normal occurrence for semi-trailers to get knocked over by wind in the winter. Last month, we had a bad wind storm and a train with some double-stacked containers got knocked over.
https://cowboystatedaily.com/2025/12/19/freight-cars-topple-off-tracks-after-wyomings-fierce-windstorm/
Mind you, this winter has been pretty mild by most standards. In 1949 there was a blizzard so bad that hay had to be airlifted to groups of cattle stuck out on the range. Snow drifts 20 feet high were so wind-compacted they could only be broken up with dynamite. Whole herds of sheep and cattle suffocated because the snow piled up so deep right over them. People got lost moving between their barns and houses during the storm and froze to death feet from safety.
https://www.wyohistory.org/encyclopedia/notorious-blizzard-1949
my_clever-name@reddit
Northern Indiana. Take your pick:
90F and higher with 90% humidity, no rain for months
Tornados
The 1978 snowstorm that shut down everything for about a week. We had about 130 inches of snow that winter.
The 65+ inches of snow we've had this season.
I love living here.
Elemental_Breakdown@reddit
In Texarkana Texas it once rained fish,does that count?
anneofgraygardens@reddit
Too hard to say. Locally, we don't have extreme weather really at all. It doesn't snow here. It doesn't usually get that hot here. Most people don't even have air conditioning. I guess in the winter of 1997/1998, there was a very strong el niño and it rained a lot for months and months, leading to some localized flooding.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1997%E2%80%9398_El_Ni%C3%B1o_event
https://www.sfgate.com/weather/slideshow/1997-1998-El-Nino-114726.php
Statewide, also hard to say?? California is big and has both deserts with extreme heat, and mountains where it can snow any month out of the year. The first thing that comes to mind is the Donner Party, but I'm sure there are less famous but more deadly weather-related events.
adhdnme@reddit
Well, we got an EF4 tornado that went right through my house about 4 years ago.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tornado_outbreak_of_December_10%E2%80%9311,_2021
Also, about 17 years ago we got pelted with an ice storm that knocked our power out for 16 days.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/January_2009_North_American_ice_storm
Neither one was particularly fun, but the tornado was an experience all to its own. Me, my wife, and our two small children were ejected 70ft into our backyard, some of us sustaining severe injuries, but we made it through alive, so that was nice.
Meattyloaf@reddit
The answer to this in most of KY is Ice Storm of 2009. Took out damn near ever electrical line in the state. The others will answer with a tornado event.
cryptoengineer@reddit
Ever? My state (MA) was under 2 miles of ice 17,000 years ago. That's hard to clear. The worst I've personally seen was an ice storm in 2008 when we lost power for 8 days.
This weekend, we got 20 inches of light, fluffy snow. Sunday we were snowbound, but two hours of work today cleared everything up.
SqueakyJackson@reddit
Washington State gets occasional catastrophic ice and wind storms. Both sides of the mountains.
blipsman@reddit
We had highs of -2 on Friday and 10” of snow yesterday, so it’s been a few few days in Chicago. But at least we don’t get hurricanes or major earthquakes
gyabou@reddit
In New England, any mention of bad snow will immediately summon up the specter of the Blizzard of ‘78. This was a blizzard that was not predicted to be as bad as it ended up being, and it struck Boston right around the time people were leaving work. Many people got stuck in their cars on highways and were stranded there overnight. People were snowed in their houses with no power for days. Some areas got as much as 40 inches of snow.
In my lifetime, the worst winter I experienced was Jan-Feb 2015, where we had blizzards and nor’easters every week for about 6 weeks.
In non-snow weather, growing up in Rhode Island everyone always talked about the Hurricane of 1938. It was kind of like superstorm Sandy and it killed a lot of people and markedly changed the coastline of Rhode Island, wiping out a lot of coastal neighborhoods.
Bear_necessities96@reddit
Mostly hurricanes, winds like 60mph and lots of rain.
Hot weather 101°Fc with like 80% humidity is awful , suffocating I definitely don’t wish to anybody.
Cold weather 15°F windy in Boston is bad you got to cover all your body even face, hands get frozen almost instantly, somehow bearable for me than 101° weather (as long is not raining or snowing)
Writing_Nearby@reddit
I’m in Missouri, so we get a little of everything (except hurricanes). We don’t get blizzards every year, but we have had them. We had the third highest amount of tornadoes of any state last year, and even when we don’t have tornadoes, thunderstorms can cause significant damage, especially if there are straight line winds or hail. In the summer it’s frequently above 90 degrees, and it’s not unheard of to get above 100. With the humidity, it usually feels way hotter than it actually is, and your sweat doesn’t evaporate properly when it’s too humid. In the winter we got snow, ice, and subzero temps pretty regularly. A bunch of stuff shut down this weekend because of the snow, and a lot of schools and other public services are closed today as well, though the local post office is open.
The12th_secret_spice@reddit
Not a traditional “worst” but Colorado has had little snow and been way too warm. Lots of people are concerned about drought and fire season.
I think it was 65-70 on Christmas Day. Also sucks for skiing, which is a huge industry in the state.
ayebrade69@reddit
The meat shower of 1876
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kentucky_meat_shower
MyFace_UrAss_LetsGo@reddit
In my lifetime, definitely Hurricane Katrina. I will never forget that day and the year that followed.
sneezhousing@reddit
The news still talk about blizzard in the 70's the snow was so Hugh cars were almost completely covered cars. People had to just abandon their cars I the high way the snow came in so fast and so much. Many people died. It's before I was born like two or three years. I also not from Ohio. However every big snow storm we have since I've lived here ,over 20 years, they compare it to that and show pictures of people walking on the freeway and snow up to the door handles. Some people died trapped in their cars
CraftFamiliar5243@reddit
I'm from Chicago. I've seen extreme heat kill dozens, tornadoes, blizzards. It would be hard to rank them as there have been quite a few events that killed many.
queenchubkins@reddit
Probably the F5 hurricane that ripped through Flint, Michigan in 1953, killing over a hundred people and injuring another 800+. It is the 10th deadliest tornado in US history.
itcheyness@reddit
This one hit the entirety of the Great Lakes, sank 19 ships and killed 250 people across the region.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Lakes_Storm_of_1913?wprov=sfla1
cat_prophecy@reddit
We get tornadoes so maybe that?
The worst single event was probably either the Halloween blizzard of '91 where we got 3 feet of snow or the "Snowmageddon" where we got 17 inches in about five hours along with 50+ mph winds.
Weird_Squirrel_8382@reddit
I have not hated anything as much as I hated my first experience going outside in below zero temperatures. It was in 2014. I remember because I wanted to mention it in my divorce paperwork but it was cheaper to just have a dissolution instead of going to court and pointing frostbitten fingers.
79215185-1feb-44c6@reddit
Hard to choose between the Blizzrad of 78 and Snowtober.
jafnharri@reddit
Different regions of New York get different weather. Buffalo and the Oswego region have had some pretty gnarly blizzards in which people have actually died. I personally remember ice storms that knocked our power out for a week or more happening twice. Once in the early 90’s and again in the early 2000’s. Lots of trees down blocking roadways… and then of course the ice melts and causes flooding everywhere.
SkiingAway@reddit
If you're somewhere adapted for it, it's not like there's any huge difficulty to the winter weather the Midwest + New England gets. Your house is insulated, your heating system can keep up, you likely either have a plow/plow service or a big snowblower, you own appropriate clothing, the trees are used to it and don't snap when a foot of snow falls on them, etc.
It snowed over a foot overnight. While the roads aren't clear to bare asphalt (because it's still snowing), you can currently drive around with very little difficulty assuming you have decent tires. Most businesses are open, power is on, things function pretty normally.
Anyway, for the title: Mount Washington NH makes a strong claim to having the world's worst weather. So it's more of a place than an event.
231mph winds were recorded there - still the world record for something not the result of a tropical cyclone or tornado.
It hit -47F with a -109F wind chill a couple years back.
Something is falling out of the sky on ~216 days a year, and on ~123 of them, that something is frozen
JayofTea@reddit
1947 Woodward, Oklahoma Tornado took 181 lives, but that partially may have been because of the lack of proper warning technology and protocol before tornadoes hit, and this one struck at 8pm
So I’ll choose a more recent answer that involves more life saving technology:
1999 Bridge Creek-Moore tornado, took 36 lives, destroyed over 8,000 homes, cost $1 billion in damage, and was such a powerful tornado that storm shelters became more critical and normalized in the area
Source
towlie_howdie_ho@reddit
2011 Joplin Tornado
Killed 161 people and injured 1000+ others. Caused at least $2.8 billion in damage making it the costliest tornado in the world.
Guinness record: https://www.guinnessworldrecords.com/world-records/777555-costliest-tornado
weirdpoops6969lol@reddit
Cedar Rapids Iowa: 2020 Derecho
It's essentially an inland hurricane that hits with almost no warning. Although since 2020 meteorologists have done better about warning for potential Derecho conditions.
chiquicati@reddit
If you’re native to the PNW, you’ll always remember the winter of 1996-1997. Ice storms, feet of snow, then some rain, then a hard freeze. Lights out for days or weeks, carports collapsing on people’s cars, I-5 demolition derby. It was nuts.
ELMUNECODETACOMA@reddit
Also the 1990 ice storm which started early afternoon, completely obliterated the commute with snowed-in freeways clogged with abandoned cars, and had dropped at least a foot of snow on downtown Seattle and Bellevue.
Yes, that's not horrible for the NE or Great Lakes, but Seattle isn't ready for that kind of thing in the best of times, it was mid-40s the midnight before, and the 3-day forecast _sucked_ before the Puget Sound convergence zone was fully understood.
Ol_Man_J@reddit
2023 down here in Portland, the snow forecast went from "an inch" to "a foot" in such a short span, right at rush hour. People were abandoning cars on the interstate to walk home, the busses slid off the road, etc. It was hard to even prepare for that kind of dumping of snow... and of course it all turned to ice and locked the city down for 3 days.
yozaner1324@reddit
Portland hit 116 in 2021 once, which is about 10 higher than our previous record. For context, we usually have summer weather in the 80s with some spikes into the 90s and occasionally crossing 100. To make it worse, it was over 100 on three consecutive days, each one breaking the previous all time temperature record.
river-running@reddit
Hurricane Isabel (2003) was the most expensive and Hurricane Camille (1969) was the deadliest.
danzerpanzer@reddit
It is not typical, but one winter, probably 2019, the current temperature in my Illinois town was below -20F, colder than the temperature at the same time in Deadhorse, a small community on the north coast of Alaska. In the 1970s and 1980s it got even colder a few times, down unofficially to -30F or so.
wvtarheel@reddit
The 1993 blizzard was pretty wild. power was out for a very long time in rural west virginia.
We've had multiple flooding events in West Virginia that never seem to make the national news. Anytime it floods like that somewhere more populated (like Asheville NC) it's far bigger national news.
Traditional_Entry183@reddit
As a native West Virginian, the 93 blizzard is my answer too. We were stuck in my house for over a week, and they eventually brought big construction equipment to clear the road because it was buried in four feet of snow.
KikiCorwin@reddit
The Ohio area across the river was hit damn hard too. We were snowed in for about a month with maybe 2 days of school a week, then a few more weeks of flooding.
Traditional_Entry183@reddit
Yeah, you can see Ohio from my parents front porch. Anything my hometown gets, they do too.
wvtarheel@reddit
Yeah it's definitely the more memorable to me. Though the floods in 16 killed more people so I revised my comment
DebutsPal@reddit
I'm in Maryland, the only thing I remember from the 93 blizard is my parents cross country skiing to the grocery store with backpacks.
wvtarheel@reddit
I'm sure western maryland got 4 feet just like WV. If you were in central or eastern maryland I'm sure it was a little less
DebutsPal@reddit
probably closer to three where I was? I really don't remember the snow beyond "so much snow" (I was pretty young) also should be noted that my parents were probably tired of being cooped up in the house and looking for an excuse to cross country ski. It is possible they didn't even need groceries!
SillyDonut7@reddit
Chicago: the 1995 Chicago heat wave. The deadliest event in city history, causing over 700 to 1,000 deaths. Temperatures reached 106° with heat indices up to 126°.
This is also the deadliest in the state. A close second was the tristate tornado in 1925. The deadliest tornado in U.S. history, it cut a 219-mile path, with Illinois suffering 613 of its 695 total deaths.
JimbaJones@reddit
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1993_Storm_of_the_Century
NorraVavare@reddit
The quake that flattened Charleston, which was long enough ago that other regions dont have damage records or hurricane Hugo. On the plus side I didnt live here then and moved before Sandy destroyed where I came from.
bloopidupe@reddit
I went to school in New England and their ice storms are something I had never heard of before
HeatwaveInProgress@reddit
City, and boy I have a few, due to the city being extremely prone to bad weather:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hurricane_Harvey
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hurricane_Alicia
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tropical_Storm_Allison
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2024_Houston_derecho
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2021_Texas_power_crisis
State:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1900_Galveston_hurricane
WhatABeautifulMess@reddit
Probably the tornado that made Ocean City.
LiberalTomBradyLover@reddit
So, it seems like in the Lehigh Valley in PA where I live, we get a big snow every ten years. Ten years ago, was the biggest snow we have ever gotten at 31.7 inches, but back in 60s, 70s, and 80s there were some really bad snowstorms that hurt the region quite a bit. Hurricane Diane in the 50s and Hurricane Sandy almost 15 years ago are probably the worst hurricanes that have affected my area. I remember seeing all of the trees collapsed on houses and all of the flooding by the creeks and rivers for Sandy and my parents told stories about what Diane did. Overall, though, the biggest problems here in regard to weather are definitely the snowstorms we have gotten throughout history.
Drew707@reddit
One of the weirder storms I remember was back in like 2007.
When traveling northbound on US-101, immediately after crossing the Golden Gate Bridge, you enter the (now named) Robin Williams Tunnel which spits you out on the other side of the Waldo Grade where you descend into Sausalito. The freeway on the north side of the tunnel is a fairly steep grade with multiple switchbacks, and people tend to speed. Definitely low on my list of favorite stretches of roads.
In 2007-ish, there was a day where San Francisco was sunny and clear and people were flying through the tunnel northbound, but Sausalito was experiencing a freak snowstorm which made the road unexpectedly slick and caused a fatal pileup.
Icy roads turn deadly / Two passengers killed as 28 vehicles lose control on slush-covered Waldo Grade
beenoc@reddit
Depends on the part of the state, and what they're prepared for. The same weather in different parts of the state can have very different effects, based on what is expected and planned for.
On the coast and Piedmont, probably Hazel (1954), Fran (1996), Floyd (1999), or Florence (2018.) In the western part of the state, Helene in 2024. Outside of hurricanes, the 2002 ice storm was pretty bad.
Overall if you had to pick one, based on damage and deaths, Helene is the deadliest storm to hit NC since the 1850s and the most expensive natural disaster in the history of the state - it just was almost all localized in the western third of the state. It was barely more than a bad thunderstorm in central NC.
Medium-Major-6124@reddit
we’ve had some bad tornadoes, the mayflower/vilonia comes to mind. in my lifetime, the worst weather might be the 2009 ice storm. we lost power for about 2 weeks, and lost several trees due to ice accumulation
LifeApprehensive2818@reddit
MA has a few contenders I can remember, certainly more I forget or haven't learned
Notable recent ones include: - Ice storm of '08: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/December_2008_Northeastern_United_States_ice_storm - Snowmageddon 2015 (Link is to just one storm of several that gave us around 10' of snow in a month): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/January_2015_North_American_blizzard
DeFiClark@reddit
In historical record, probably the Hurricane of 1938
In my lifetime the 1996 blizzard by the end of the week we had over 60” of snow on the ground. Paid a couple guys to shovel my roof before the house collapsed.
The 1,000 year storm in 2023 was pretty bad too. Washed out the highway across the river from me.
Meilingcrusader@reddit
In my lifetime, the Mothers Day Floods
Chea63@reddit
Being from NY, Id say the worst weather is from the direct or indirect impacts of hurricanes/tropical storms.
2 most memorable for me are, catastrophic flooding from the remnants of Hurrican Ida in 2021, and Hurricane Sandy in 2012.
Winter weather can be significant but not the "worst" to me because, you can avoid alot of dangers by just not driving. Also there can be a fun aspect to snowfall etc. There no fun spin to flash flooding or storm surge.
CupBeEmpty@reddit
I wasn’t alive but the blizzard of ‘78 is still talked about in hushed tones from those that experienced it.
In my life Nemo and Juno were really bad.
Automatic-Plate-8966@reddit
Drought. And extreme winter storms in the mountains. Oh and Pogo Nip which is freezing fog.
inbigtreble30@reddit
Freezing fog sounds terrifying. I'm quite practiced driving in snow/ice, but a thin layer of black ice with low visibility sounds like a death trap.
Automatic-Plate-8966@reddit
Yea it’s pretty dangerous especially in the morning. It’s not a common thing but it’s high desert so we get random weather events all the time. The lake that’s close to me has its own weather system and it’s so weird/random/unique that the local tribe has many tales and myths about it to explain the weather.
Novel_Willingness721@reddit
Having lived in both New York and Colorado, I’ve experienced more bad weather than I can enumerate, but some highlights are:
CountChoculasGhost@reddit
State and (maybe) city might both be the 1967 tornado outbreak: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tornado_outbreak_of_April_21,_1967
Not that I was there for it, but sounds like it is still one of the worst tornado outbreaks in the Chicago area.
Also worth noting, a lot of the damage from the Chicago Fire was caused by high winds and dry conditions, so while not necessarily “bad weather” that may partially count.
TsundereLoliDragon@reddit
The 1994 ice storm was pretty bad. Hurricane Sandy too, but NJ took most of that.
KikiCorwin@reddit
Either the Blizzard of '92, the windstorm - pretty much a hurricane - about 10 years ago, or the Memorial Day tornados about 5 years ago.
justsomeshortguy27@reddit
Probably Hurricane Katrina for Louisiana, but in the area of Texas I grew up in, tornado season is always bad. At least one town gets torn up every year. The area of Texas I’m in now, snow and ice seems to be an issue at least once a year. I’m sure snowmageddon was bad here when it happened a few years ago.
BoukenGreen@reddit
April 27th tornado outbreak in Alabama
Porcupine-in-a-tree@reddit
I grew up in Western New York and experienced several storms that brought 5ft+ of snow, the highest I recall was 7ft. The worst in my memory though was the Oct 13th ice storm. It took us two days just to get to my grandparents house in the suburbs of Buffalo and we had to park on Main Street and walk for blocks to get into their neighborhood with downed tree and power lines everywhere.
ifallallthetime@reddit
Every summer we get the worst weather
G00dSh0tJans0n@reddit
Growing up in rural North Carolina we once lost power for a week due to a hurricane and once lost power for a week due to a snow storm.
inbigtreble30@reddit
My area?
Otherwise it's peachy.
bibliophile222@reddit
Vermont's weather nemesis is flooding. Vermont has literally had floods on the exact same day (July 11th) for the lastthree years in a row. Hurricane Irene in 2011 was particularly devastating, as whole towns were cut off from civilization due to roads being washed out. The Great Flood in 1927 was probably the worst, though. Montpelier is flood-prone, but none of the recent floods have reached as high as that one. There's a plaque with a high water marker at the state house.
Specific-Peanut-8867@reddit
it is winter and while it is cold as hell we all have short memories though the older I get the more I want to move south
but yeah, it snows in winter and sometimes we get dumped on. We just forget after a few mild winters
Honeybee71@reddit
Hurricane Hugo
ImColdAndWet@reddit
On record probably the 1962 Columbus Day Storm
chiquicati@reddit
I’m too young to remember but people still talk about it!
ImColdAndWet@reddit
I'm not that old though so the worst record that I have lived through here was an ice storm after a heavy rain two years ago that knocked down a bunch of douglas firs in my neighborhood which destroyed the roofs of about 15 houses in my neighborhood.
Judasbot@reddit
February 15th, 2003, Lexington KY.
Terrible ice storm that left me and 150,000 other households without power for 8 days. I had a gas stove and lit the oven on broil and spent the entire time in front of the open oven.
Chob_XO@reddit
This one is up there for Kansas.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Schoolhouse_Blizzard
But we also get tornados.
jaylotw@reddit
Anywhere from EF5 and F5 tornadoes, heat waves to -20, floods and snowstorms and blizzards...
SowingSeeds18@reddit
The time a dam burst from a heavy storm + negligent structural issues and took out the entire city (this was well before my time)
TehLoneWanderer101@reddit
Depends what you mean by worst. It can get up to 115F here and that makes it bad for the foliage which in turn makes worse conditions for fire season. The winds certainly don't help.
DesertWanderlust@reddit
Had a hard freeze in Tucson several times. Last was about 2009. Our pipes froze so that was kinda awful. We've also started getting tornadoes. There was one last summer that blew the roof off of my apartment's covered parking.
Naive-Direction1351@reddit
Have blizzards, hurricanes torandos and heatwaves... pick your poison