Wikipedia:Main Page history/2015 December 23

Tropical Storm Edouard was the first of eight named storms to form in September 2002, the most such storms for any month in the Atlantic at the time. The fifth tropical storm of the 2002 Atlantic hurricane season, Edouard developed into a tropical cyclone on September 1 from an area of convection associated with a cold front east of Florida. Under weak steering currents, Edouard drifted to the north and executed a clockwise loop to the west. Despite moderate to strong levels of wind shear, the storm reached a peak intensity of 65 mph (100 km/h) on September 3, but quickly weakened as it tracked westward. Edouard made landfall in northeastern Florida two days later, and dissipated the next day after crossing the state. The storm dropped moderate rainfall across Florida, exceeding 7 inches (175 mm) in the western portion of the state. Though Edouard was a tropical storm at landfall, wind speeds along the storm's path over land were light. The rain flooded several roads, but there were no casualties, and damage was minimal. The storm was eventually absorbed into the larger circulation of Tropical Storm Fay. (Full article...)

Part of the 2002 Atlantic hurricane season series, one of Wikipedia's featured topics.

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December 23: The Emperor's Birthday in Japan; Festivus

• 962 – Byzantine–Arab Wars: Under the future Emperor Nicephorus Phocas, Byzantine troops stormed the city of Aleppo.
• 1823 – A Visit from St. Nicholas, also known as The Night Before Christmas, was first published anonymously. Authorship was later attributed to Clement Clarke Moore.
• 1888 – During a bout of mental illness, Dutch painter Vincent van Gogh (pictured) stalked his friend French painter Paul Gauguin with a razor, and then afterwards cut off the lower part of his own left ear and gave it to a prostitute.
• 1957 – Ian Craig of Australia became the youngest Test cricket captain in history.
• 1990 – About 88% of the population in Slovenia voted to secede from the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia.

• More anniversaries:

  • December 22
  • December 23
  • December 24

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