Honestly, if you looked at the sky on September 21 2024, what you saw depended entirely on which corner of the map you were standing on. For some, it was a sweaty, record-breaking heatwave that felt more like July than the edge of autumn. For others, it was the day the "faucet turned on," dumping months of rain in a single afternoon.
It was a weird Saturday.
Globally, we were coming off a 15-month streak of record-breaking heat. While September 2024 eventually ended that specific "hottest month ever" streak by a hair, the weather on September 21 2024 proved that the atmosphere was still incredibly energized—and a bit chaotic.
The Great Wisconsin Soak and the Midwest Heat Pulse
In the U.S. Upper Midwest, specifically Wisconsin and Minnesota, the vibe was basically "Summer: Part II." People in Rochester, MN, saw the mercury hit 87°F. That’s high.
But then the atmosphere decided to snap.
In Madison, Wisconsin, the weather on September 21 2024 became historic for all the wrong reasons. A massive downpour hit the city, dumping nearly four inches of rain. It wasn't just a heavy shower; it was Madison’s wettest September day ever recorded. You've got to imagine the scene: one minute it’s a dry, dusty late-summer afternoon, and the next, streets are turning into rivers. A "downburst" even tore through the area between Arena and Mazomanie, flattening crops and snapping trees like they were toothpicks.
Further south in West Texas, things got even wilder. Near Nazareth, a dusty tornado touched down in the evening. It was a "landspout" style event—short-lived and mostly over open fields—but seeing a tornado the day before the Autumnal Equinox felt like the seasons were having a mid-life crisis.
Storm Boris: The Aftermath in Europe
While Americans were dodging hail in Texas, Central Europe was still reeling from the nightmare that was Storm Boris. By September 21, the catastrophic flooding had started to stabilize in places like Austria and the Czech Republic, but the cleanup was grueling.
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This wasn't just "some rain."
Boris was a "Vb depression," a rare beast where cold polar air crashes into the super-heated moisture of the Mediterranean. Scientists from World Weather Attribution later noted that this specific storm was twice as likely to happen because of our warming climate.
On this particular Saturday:
- The Danube River was still dangerously high.
- Thousands of people in Poland and Romania were still without power or living in temporary shelters.
- The death toll from the week-long event had reached at least 24 people.
It’s easy to look at a date on a calendar and see a "post-storm" day, but for the millions affected by the weather on September 21 2024 in Europe, it was a day of mud, loss, and "where do we even start?"
Asia’s Double Whammy: Pulasan and the Yagi Recovery
Over in East Asia, the weather on September 21 2024 was defined by two names: Pulasan and Yagi.
Tropical Storm Pulasan made a mess of the Republic of Korea. In Changwon, the rain was relentless. We're talking 104.9 mm (over 4 inches) in a single hour. By the end of the day, 24-hour totals hit nearly 400 mm. That is a staggering amount of water for a modern city to swallow. Over 1,500 people had to scramble to evacuation centers as the ground literally gave way in landslides.
Meanwhile, Southeast Asia was still mourning. Typhoon Yagi had recently torn through Vietnam, Thailand, and Myanmar. By September 21, the full scale of the tragedy was finally surfacing. In Myanmar alone, the death toll was climbing toward several hundred.
It's kida heavy to think about, but while some of us were just complaining about a humid Saturday, others were facing the strongest storm northern Vietnam had seen in 70 years.
Why this date actually matters for the climate record
If you look at the big picture, the weather on September 21 2024 serves as a perfect microcosm of 2024’s climate personality. It was a day of "extremes within extremes."
- The Heat-to-Rain Pipeline: The atmosphere was so warm that when it finally rained, it didn't just drizzle; it unleashed.
- The "Flash Drought" Contrast: In places like northern Wisconsin, even with the September 21 storms, the month remained incredibly dry. Medford, WI, didn't record a single drop of rain for the rest of the month.
- The Ocean Heat Factor: The reason Storm Boris and Typhoon Yagi were so destructive was the "fuel" provided by record-warm sea surface temperatures.
What we can take away from it all
Honestly, the weather on September 21 2024 taught us that "normal" is a moving target now. When you see a forecast for a 90-degree day in late September, it’s no longer just a "nice day for the beach." It’s a sign of an atmospheric engine that’s running way too hot.
If you’re looking at these patterns, here are some actionable ways to handle this "new" September weather:
- Check your gutters early: The "Madison effect" shows that extreme rain can happen even during a drought. Don't wait for a storm warning to clear those leaves.
- Update your emergency kit: With storms like Boris and Pulasan moving slower and dumping more water, being "stuck" for 48 hours is a real possibility.
- Watch the dew points: High humidity in late September is usually the precursor to the kind of "snap" storms we saw in Texas and Wisconsin on this date.
The weather on September 21 2024 wasn't just a series of isolated events. It was a global display of a planet trying to balance out an incredible amount of heat energy through wind, water, and sheer atmospheric force.
Next Steps for Your Records
- Download the local historical data for your specific zip code from the NOAA Climate at a Glance tool to see how your local September 21 compared to the 20th-century average.
- Review your home insurance policy specifically for "flood" vs. "surface water" coverage. Many of the people affected by the September 21 rains in the Midwest found out too late that their standard policies didn't cover the specific type of flash flooding that occurred.