I’m conducting research for a future newsletter story and part of that research includes looking at past severe weather events. As it turns out, the National Climatic Data Center and NOAA Satellite & Information Center have a searchable database of weather events online at this link: http://www4.ncdc.noaa.gov/cgi-win/wwcgi.dll?wwEvent~Storms
The database goes back to 1950 and includes information for the entire United States. When you go to that link, choose the state you want to see using the drop down menu and click “Continue.” You’ll definitely want to choose a state because there is too much data for the system to return every state all at once. (You’ll get an error message.)
Once you’re on the page for your specific state, you can narrow your search further by selecting a specific county and/or weather event.
The dates included can be coupled with local newspaper reports in order to give you a better picture of how the weather affected your area.