Happy first day of fall for those in the Northern Hemisphere. For those in the Southern Hemisphere, Happy first day of Spring.

• 1551, 1555, or 1556: An intense tornado hit Valletta, Malta killing an estimated 600 people. The tornado first started out as a waterspout.
• 1815: One of the greatest hurricanes to strike New England made landfall at Long Island, New York and crossed into Massachusetts and New Hampshire.
• 1904: The temperature at Charlotteburg, New Jersey, dipped to 23*F, the coldest reading of record for so early in the autumn for the state.
• 1920: A tropical storm made landfall near Ocean Isle Beach, North Carolina. It was reported that a house was blown off its foundation and destroyed in Wilmington, possibly by a tornado spawned by the storm.
• 1945: The Little Pee Dee River near Galivants Ferry, South Carolina rose to its all-time highest crest of 13.23 feet. The Cape Fear River at Elizabethtown, North Carolina also reached its all-time highest crest of 43.20 ft., putting the river above moderate flood stage.
• 1946: The first River Forecast Center was founded. The River Forecast Center is a division of the National Weather Service.
• 1983: A thunderstorm downburst caused a timber blowdown in the Kaibab National Forest north of the Grand Canyon. 200 acres were completely destroyed, and scattered destruction occurred across another 3300 acres. Many trees were snapped off 15 to 30 feet above ground level.
• 1988: Thunderstorms developing along a cold front in the south central US produced severe weather in Oklahoma during the afternoon and early evening hours. Thunderstorms produced softball size hail near Noble, Oklahoma and Enterprise, Oklahoma, and baseball size hail at Lequire, Oklahoma and Kinta, Oklahoma. A tornado near Noble, Oklahoma destroyed a mobile home injuring one person.
• 1989: Seventeen cities in the north central US reported record low temperatures for the date, including Devils Lake, North Dakota with a reading of 22*F. Jackson, Kentucky reported a record low of 41*F during the late afternoon. Strong northwesterly winds ushering cold air into the central and northeastern US gusted to 55 mph at Indianapolis, Indiana. The temperature at Richmond, Virginia plunged from 84*F to 54*F in two hours.
• 2005: Hurricane Rita reached the Texas/Louisiana border area near Sabine Pass as a category 3 hurricane with maximum sustained winds near 120 mph. A storm surge of at least 15 feet flooded parts of Cameron, Jefferson Davis, Terrebonne and Vermilion parishes in Louisiana. These areas reported sugar cane crop loss estimated at $300 million. A total of 10 fatalities were reported, and preliminary damage estimates ranged between $4-5 billion