Volunteers unearth history buried by weather's long-term effects

 By Adriana Navarro, AccuWeather staff writer

Updated Oct. 6, 2021 10:39 AM EDT

Legends are buried at Lebanon Cemetery, and one group of volunteers is fighting to keep their names above the ground.

Veterans from America's wars, operators of the Underground Railroad and suffragettes all have found their final resting place at the cemetery in York County, Pennsylvania.

"We have folks here from all walks of life, and the common denominator is the color of their skin," Samantha Dorm, a volunteer at Friends of Lebanon Cemetery (FOLC), told AccuWeather National Reporter Sarah Gisriel. Founded in 2020, FOLC consists of volunteers who are dedicated to helping with the upkeep of the cemetery that holds the graves of 3,500 Black Americans as well as researching, identifying and documenting those who are buried there.

Among those remembered is James L. Smallwood, who had opened the first school for African American children in York, Pennsylvania, by 1871, according to the Falvey Memorial Library of Villanova University. Smallwood graduated from Villanova, which is just outside Philadelphia, in the class of 1864. A historic marker for the schoolhouse notes it as "part of a movement to create schools for the education of Black students by Black teachers, and is representative of the national struggle for equal education, regardless of race."

Samantha Dorm, a volunteer at Friends of Lebanon Cemetery tells AccuWeather National Reporter Sarah Gisriel about the group's efforts to take care of the cemetery. (AccuWeather / Sarah Gisriel)

Smallwood's grave is one of the many that FOLC cleans and tends to in order to preserve and protect them from becoming faceless names and dates. Many historic Black cemeteries such as Lebanon Cemetery face a disproportionate risk of being lost as both the climate crisis and city development intensify, The Guardian reported.

"If you consider the vulnerable populations that are greatly impacted by [climate] disasters, you can safely assume that their cultural resources are [also at] risk of being destroyed, displaced, damaged," Jennifer Blanks, a cemetery preservationist who catalogs historic Black cemeteries and burial sites, told The Guardian.

Ida was the latest disaster to show just how devastating weather can be to the graves of those long gone, only a year after Hurricane Laura and Delta damaged more than 2,000 graves across Louisiana, with at least 170 caskets having been displaced.

Lebanon Cemetery doesn't sit on the Gulf Coast, but it does occupy a flood plain.

Graves upended at a cemetery are shown in Cameron Parish, La., on Sunday, May 23, 2021. Storm surge from Hurricane Laura on Aug. 27, 2020, damaged cemeteries in the coastal region. (AP Photo/Rebecca Santana)

"We're situated on a hill where there's kind of no barrier, and certainly people aren't thinking about storms of the century," Dorm said. She added that there was once a situation in which, immediately after a burial had been completed, intense rain caused one of the coffins to surface. The rain has also contributed to hundreds of flat stone grave markers sinking anywhere from between 6 inches and a foot below ground.

With human-caused climate change enhancing heavy downpours and heightening flood risks, volunteers have installed drainage systems underneath the flat markers in an attempt to keep them from sinking.

Images of a few of those laid to rest at Lebanon Cemetery. (AccuWeather / Sarah Gisriel)

"We'll see how they do through the winter months, and if that's a good strategy, then next spring we'll come out and we'll attack over 600 flat markers to do the same thing," Dorm said.

While there's still much work to be done, their efforts have already made a difference. Dorm told Gisriel that after flooding caused some markers to sink, in addition to the vegetation not being landscaped regularly, some families hadn't been able to find markers for decades.

"We've been able to connect family members that haven't been able to come and pay respects to their family for many years, in some cases 30 years, that they haven't been able to find their marker," Dorm said.

Reporting by Sarah Gisriel.

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Summerlike heat keeps Central states sweltering

 A high temperature record that stood for more than a century was broken Tuesday in the Plains. More heat is in the forecast, but a noticeable change will soon occur.

By Courtney Travis, AccuWeather senior meteorologist

Updated Oct. 7, 2021 1:08 PM EDT

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Autumn is about two weeks old in the United States, but summer has had a hard time getting the hint to leave. Summerlike heat has frequently baked the nation's midsection in recent weeks, but AccuWeather meteorologists say an upcoming stormy pattern will help usher in air more typical of fall.

Overall, it has been a mild start to meteorological autumn, which began on Sept. 1 (astronomical fall began on Sept. 22), across the central parts of the nation. Temperatures averaged 2 degrees Fahrenheit above normal for the entire month of September in places like San Antonio, Texas, and Little Rock, Arkansas, to over 4 degrees above normal in towns like Tulsa, Oklahoma, and Fargo, North Dakota.

Record high temperatures were set in cities from Billings, Montana, to Bismarck, North Dakota, on Tuesday. Billings hit 86 degrees, breaking its previous daily record of 85 from 1943, while the temperatures peaked at 91 in Bismarck. The old record of 90 had been in place there since 1947. One of the most significant records was set on Tuesday in Dickinson, North Dakota, where the mercury peaked at 92 F, exceeding the previous record of 91 F set 101 years ago.

On Thursday, heat began to build for the South Central states once again. As it continues to build, this heat will bring yet another round of abnormal warmth to portions of Texas, Oklahoma, Kansas and Missouri before the end of the week.

Widespread temperatures in the middle and upper 80s are expected for St. Louis, Kansas City and Omaha, while the 90-degree mark is likely to be topped farther south.

"Temperatures are forecast to soar into the 90s on Friday and Saturday for locations like Oklahoma City and Dallas and Amarillo, Texas," said AccuWeather Senior Meteorologist Paul Walker.

While 90-degree temperatures are not unusual for these communities, heat of that magnitude is much less common by the time October rolls around. In fact, both Dallas and Oklahoma City hit the 90s only one day in October 2020, and temperatures in the lower 90s are almost 20 degrees above normal for early October.

The afternoon high temperatures in these cities are likely to fall short of records, which are in the middle to upper 90s.

Temperatures of this magnitude are likely to be noticeable by residents spending time outdoors during this otherwise dry weather pattern. Forecasters recommend that those attending college football games or fall festivals should stay well hydrated as the weekend progresses.

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This extreme heat is expected to wane as the week progresses in these cities and slowly return to near-normal levels for early October. However, the abnormal warmth will linger from the Upper Midwest to the southern Plains through the end of the week.

A southerly wind flow will allow the abnormally warm conditions in cities like Minneapolis and Chicago to persist into the end of the week, according to Walker.

The peak of the heat is likely to be on Saturday, as another storm moves in from the west. For the first day of the weekend, a high temperature in the lower 80s is predicted for Chicago, while Minneapolis will soar to the upper 70s. Temperatures of this magnitude are 10-15 degrees above normal for early October.

AccuWeather forecasters say that there is an end in sight for the above-normal warmth.

"The heat building in the center of the country through the end of the week is expected to be squashed by two storms moving through the region over the weekend or early next week," said Walker.

The first storm is expected to shift from the northern Rockies into the northern Plains Saturday and Saturday night, bringing with it cooler air that will really settle in early next week. Temperatures in Fargo, North Dakota, and Minneapolis are likely to be slashed by 10-15 degrees in a matter of two days.

The same will be true farther south with a second storm moving in from the Rockies. This storm will help to drop temperatures in cities such as Wichita, Kansas, from 95 degrees on Saturday to just 75 by Monday. Widespread 15- to 20-degree temperature drops are expected elsewhere in the southern Plains.

In addition to bringing an end to the abnormally warm conditions across at least eight states, the storms will also bring welcome and beneficial precipitation along with them.

The U.S. Drought Monitor's update at the end of September showed continuing drought across the Central states. Over 63% of the High Plains region, which extends from North Dakota to Kansas, plus another 73 percent of both Minnesota and Oklahoma, were designated as being in moderate drought or worse. Little rain in the center of the country since early October has likely only worsened these conditions.

AccuWeather meteorologists will be monitoring for adverse effects with the stormy weather returning to the center of the country this weekend, including flooding and severe thunderstorms, as the week progresses.

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For the latest weather news check back on AccuWeather.com. Watch AccuWeather Network on DIRECTV, DIRECTVstream, Frontier, Spectrum, fuboTV, Philo, and Verizon Fios. AccuWeatherNOW is streaming on Roku and XUMO.

This Date in Weather History for October 7,2021

 Weather History

For Thursday, October 7,2021

1970 - Widespread flooding took place across Puerto Rico. Rainfall amounts for the day ranged up to seventeen inches at Aibonito. A slow moving tropical depression was responsible for six days of torrential rains across the island. Totals in the Eastern Interior Division averaged thirty inches, with 38.4 inches at Jayuya. Flooding claimed eighteen lives, and resulted in 62 million dollars damage. (David Ludlum) (The Weather Channel)

1981 - Seattle, WA, received four inches of rain in 24 hours, a record for the city. (The Weather Channel)

1987 - It was another hot day in the southwestern U.S. Tucson, AZ, hit 101 degrees for the second day in a row to again equal their record for the month of October. Phoenix AZ reported a record high of 103 degrees, and Blythe CA and Yuma AZ tied for honors as the hot spot in the nation with afternoon highs of 108 degrees. (The National Weather Summary)

1988 - Morning fog in the central U.S. reduced the visibility to near zero at some locations. Morning lows of 28 degrees at Rockford IL and 24 degrees at Waterloo IA were records for the date. Afternoon highs of 92 degrees at Hollywood FL and Miami FL were records for the date. (The National Weather Summary)

1989 - Morning thunderstorms in central Texas drenched San Antonio with 3.10 inches of rain in six hours causing local flooding in northeastern sections of the city. Temperatures dipped below the freezing mark from the Northern Rockies to the Upper Mississippi Valley. (The National Weather Summary)

This Date in Weather History for October 6,2021

 Weather History

For Wednesday, October 6,2021

1836 - A second early season snowstorm produced eleven inches at Wilkes Barre PA and 26 inches at Auburn NY. All the mountains in the northeastern U.S. were whitened with snow. (David Ludlum)

1984 - The temperature at Honolulu, Hawaii, reached 94 degrees to establish an all-time record at that location. (The Weather Channel)

1985 - A tropical wave, later to become Tropical Storm Isabel, struck Puerto Rico. As much as 24 inches of rain fell in 24 hours, and the severe flooding and numerous landslides resulting from the rain claimed about 180 lives. (Storm Data)

1987 - The western U.S. continued to sizzle. Afternoon highs of 85 degrees at Astoria OR, 101 degrees at Tucson AZ, and 102 degrees at Sacramento CA, equalled October records. It marked the fourth time in the month that Sacramento tied their record for October. (The National Weather Summary)

1988 - Cool Canadian air prevailed across the central and eastern U.S. Toledo OH reported a record low of 27 degrees. Limestone ME received an inch of snow. Warm weather continued in the western U.S. Boise ID reported a record high of 87 degrees. (The National Weather Summary)

1989 - Temperatures soared into the 90s across southern Texas. Afternoon highs of 93 degrees at Houston, and 96 degrees at Austin and Corpus Christi, were records for the date. Beeville was the hot spot in the nation with an afternoon high of 101 degrees. (The National Weather Summary)

This Date in Weather History for October 5,2021

 Weather History

For Tuesday, October 5,2021

1638 - The journal of John Winthrop recorded that a mighty tempest struck eastern New England. This second severe hurricane in three years blew down many trees in mile long tracks. (David Ludlum)

1786 - The famous "Pumpkin Flood" occurred on the Delaware and Susquehanna Rivers. Harrisburg PA reported a river stage of twenty-two feet. The heavy rains culminated a wet season. (David Ludlum)

1917 - The temperature at Sentinel, AZ, soared to 116 degrees to establish an October record for the nation. (The Weather Channel)

1972 - Heavy rains, mostly the remnants of Tropical Storm Joanne, fell across much of Arizona. It was believed to be the first time in Arizona weather history that a tropical storm entered the state with its circulation still intact. The center was over Flagstaff early on the 7th. (3rd-7th) (The Weather Channel)

1987 - It was another day of scorching heat for the southwestern U.S. Afternoon highs of 102 degrees in Downtown San Francisco, and 104 degrees at Monterrey, established all-time records. The high of 101 degrees at San Jose was a record for October. Sacramento tied their record for October for the third time in the month, with a reading of 102 degrees. The high for the nation was 111 degrees at San Luis Obispo and Palm Springs. Twenty cities in the southeastern U.S. reported record low temperatures for the date, including Knoxville TN with a reading of 34 degrees. (The National Weather Summary)

1988 - Thirteen cities in the central U.S. reported record low temperatures for the date, including Duluth MN with a reading of 21 degrees. Goodland KS reported an afternoon high of 39 degrees. Showers over Upper Michigan produced an inch of snow at Marquette. (The National Weather Summary)

1989 - Showers and thunderstorms associated with Tropical Storm Raymond deluged southeastern Arizona with heavy rain. Up to four and a half inches of rain was reported north of Wilcox. Three- fourths of the streets in the town of Wilcox were left under eighteen inches of water, and damage exceeded a million dollars. Evening thunderstorms developing along a cold front produced severe weather in Oklahoma and the Texas panhandle. Thunderstorms produced high winds which gusted to 80 mph at White Deer TX, and resulted in one death at Pocasset OK. Thunderstorms produced golf ball size hail at Pampa TX and Lefors TX. (Storm Data) (The National Weather Summary)

This Date in Weather History for October 4,2021

 Weather History

For Monday, October 4,2021

1777 - The Battle of Germantown was fought in a morning fog that grew more dense with the smoke of battle, causing great confusion. Americans firing at each other contributed to the loss of the battle. (David Ludlum)

1869 - A great storm struck New England. The storm reportedly was predicted twelve months in advance by a British officer named Saxby. Heavy rains and high floods plagued all of New England, with strong winds and high tides over New Hampshire and Maine. Canton CT was deluged with 12.35 inches of rain. (David Ludlum)

1969 - Denver, CO, received 9.6 inches of snow. October of that year proved to be the coldest and snowiest of record for Denver, with a total snowfall for the month of 31.2 inches. (Weather Channel)

1986 - Excessive flooding was reported along the Mississippi River and all over the Midwest, from Ohio to the Milk River in Montana. In some places it was the worst flooding of record. (Sandra and TI Richard Sanders - 1987)

1987 - A storm brought record snows to the northeastern U.S. Snowfall totals ranged up to 21 inches at North Springfield VT. It was the earliest snow of record for some locations. The storm claimed 17 lives in central New York State, injured 332 persons, and in Vermont caused seventeen million dollars damage. The six inch snow at Albany NY was their earliest measurable snow in 117 years of records. (The National Weather Summary) (Storm Data) (The Weather Channel)

1987 - Southern California continued to "shake and bake". An earthquake was reported during the morning, the second in a matter of days, and during the afternoon temperatures soared well above 100 degrees. Highs of 100 degrees at San Francisco, and 108 degrees at Los Angeles and Santa Maria, were October records. San Luis Obispo was the hot spot in the nation with an afternoon high of 111 degrees. (The National Weather Summary).

1988 - Temperatures dipped below freezing in the north central U.S. Five cities in North Dakota and Nebraska reported record low temperatures for the date, including Bismarck ND with a reading of 17 degrees above zero. Low pressure brought snow and sleet to parts of Upper Michigan. (The National Weather Summary)

1989 - Unseasonably cold weather continued in the north central U.S., with freezing temperatures reported across much of the area from eastern North Dakota to Michigan and northwest Ohio. Thirteen cities reported record low temperatures for the date, including Saint Cloud MN, which was the cold spot in the nation with a morning low of 19 degrees. (The National Weather Summary)

This Date in Weather History for October 3,2021

 Weather History

For Sunday, October 3,2021

1841 - An October gale, the worst of record for Nantucket, MA, caught the Cap Cod fishing fleet at sea. Forty ships were driven ashore on Cape Cod, and 57 men perished from the town of Truro alone. Heavy snow fell inland, with 18 inches near Middletown, CT. (David Ludlum)

1912 - The longest dry spell of record in the U.S. commenced as Bagdad, CA, went 767 days without rain. (David Ludlum)

1964 - Hurricane Hilda struck Louisiana spawning many tornadoes, and claimed twenty-two lives. (Sandra and TI Richard Sanders)

1979 - The first killer tornado of record in October in Connecticut destroyed sixteen vintage aircraft at the Bradley Air Museum in Windsor Locks. The tornado damaged more than one hundred homes causing 200 million dollars damage. Three persons were killed, and 500 others were injured. (The Weather Channel)

1986 - Remnants of Hurricane Paine deluged Oklahoma and southeastern Kansas with 6 to 10 inch overnight rains. Hardy, OK, was drenched with 21.79 inches. Heavy rain between September 26th and October 4th caused 350 million dollars damage in Oklahoma. (The Weather Channel)

1987 - Twenty-five cities in the Upper Midwest, including ten in Iowa, reported record low temperatures for the date. Duluth MN, Eau Claire, WI, and Spencer, IA, dipped to 24 degrees. Temperatures warmed into the 80s in the Northern and Central High Plains Region. At Chadron, NE, the mercury soared from a morning low of 29 degrees to an afternoon high of 88 degrees. Temperatures soared above 100 degrees in southern California. The high of 108 degrees at Downtown Los Angeles was a record for October. (The National Weather Summary)

1988 - Cold Canadian air invaded the north central U.S. bringing an end to the growing season across those states. Unseasonably warm weather prevailed in the southwestern U.S. Phoenix, AZ, reported a record high of 105 degrees. (The National Weather Summary)

1989 - Unseasonably cold weather prevailed from the Pacific Northwest to the Upper Mississippi Valley. A dozen cities reported record low temperatures for the date, including Bismarck, ND, and Williston, ND, with readings of 16 degrees above zero. An upper level weather disturbance brought snow to parts of Idaho, Wyoming and Montana, with five inches reported at West Yellowstone, MT. (Storm Data) (The National Weather Summary)