Veterans Day: How weather has influenced the outcomes of battles that helped to shape the US

Since the first shot of the Revolutionary War was fired in 1775 to the wars of the modern age, weather and weather forecasting has had an immense influence on the outcomes of many notable, and influential battles that shaped the United States.

The U.S. National Weather Service was founded in 1870 when President Ulysses S. Grant signed a joint, congressional resolution authorizing the Secretary of War to establish a weather service.

The key goal was to take meteorological observations at military stations throughout the U.S. and its territories. The reason the service was founded under the Department of War was that it required military discipline and accuracy, according to the NWS.

However, nature and weather play a vital part in any strategic, or tactical situation, and can either provide unique advantages or lead to disastrous defeat, depending on the situation. Here is a list of a few notable ways weather has impacted American history and warfare.

Fog saves George Washington and 9,000 Continental Army troops:

On Aug. 27, 1776, a British force of 20,000 strong attacked Brooklyn on three fronts and won victory over the Continental Army, leading to the capture of Long Island. The American forces were out-numbered, and ill equipped to handle the battle.

But with some luck from unforeseen weather, commander George Washington was able to save himself, and his entire army, to fight another day.

While the British forces set in overnight for a morning siege on the evening of Aug. 29, George Washington, under cover of nightfall, began to retreat his force of 9,000 men, according to MountVernon.org.

Boats were ordered to get his army across the East River as heavy rain fell. Through the long night, Washington continued to deliver his soldiers across to the river to the other side in an effort to reach Manhattan, but dawn was fast approaching, and the situation looked grim.

If not for some help from Mother Nature, Washington and his troops may have very well have been killed or captured. As the sun rose, and a large part of the army remained susceptible to a British attack, a heavy fog settled in across the region, obstructing their view.

Due to the fog, Washington and his remaining forces were able to conceal their movements from the enemy, and by the time the fog lifted, the entire army had vanished from British sight. Washington, and his entire force of 9,000 men, successfully retreated to Manhattan without a single loss of life.

How rain added to death toll following the bloodiest battle of the American Civil War

The battle of Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, is considered by historians to be the bloodiest fight in the American Civil War with a total of 46,286 casualties or missing Union and Confederate soldiers.

Death tolls mounted even in the days following the battle as the wounded succumbed to injuries, infections and the elements in early July 1863. The weather played a role in the battle as well as some of the casualties that followed.

Ben Neely, executive director at the Adams County Historical Society, emphasized that the most damaging aspect of the weather for this event actually occurred on July 4, the day after the battle had ended, according to a 2014 AccuWeather report.

Rain fell across the area for most of the day on July 4 at estimates of 1.39 inches. At this time, many wounded still lie helpless in the field.

Some wounded soldiers had still not been moved from low-lying areas by the Plum Run Creek, however, which overflowed its banks. Those stranded near the floodwaters, reportedly all Confederates, drowned, according to the report.

However, the temperatures and cloud cover may have assisted in staving off exhaustion and heat stroke during the battle between July 1 and July 3, according to detailed meteorological reports taken at the time.

The temperatures were not as severe as they could have been for early July in the region. Records from 1981 to 2010 put the average high for the area at 87 F every day in July, but most of the Battle of Gettysburg was fought in temperatures ranging in the 70s.

D-Day: How the weather forecast changed the tide of war

One of the most important weather forecasts in world history occurred in early June 1944, as Allied meteorologists prepared to deliver the final word for the long-awaited D-Day invasion of Normandy.

Thousands of lives and the tide of the war depended entirely on teams of Allied meteorologists who determined what constituted suitable weather conditions for the invasion in a small time window.

“The Allies had decided that they wanted to go in at low tide on the landing beaches and that the airborne needed basically a full moon to have the proper dropping conditions,” Historian and Author John McManus said on the Diane Rehm Show.

By June 3, the forecasting team determined the June 5 would not be an ideal day for the invasion as seas would be too rough for landings and cloud coverage too thick for bombing operations.

Years of preparation were at stake, but just hours before the operations were to commence on June 4, British Group Captain James Stagg urged General Eisenhower for a last-minute delay due to an approaching storm. June 6 was then selected as the day.

German forecasters also predicted the hostile weather conditions; however, they did not expect the high winds or rough seas to weaken until mid-June. Their failure led to many Nazi soldiers abandoning their defenses.

“On Tuesday, June 6, 1944, under barely tolerable conditions, the largest amphibious landing force ever assembled landed on the beaches of Normandy,” International Commission on History of Meteorology President James R. Fleming said.

More than 150,000 Allied forces would lead the charge to liberate France from the Nazi's control, leading to the death of nearly 2,500 Americans in one of the bloodiest days of the war, according to an NPR report.

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