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From today's featured article

Hurricane Bob

The 1991 Atlantic hurricane season was the first season since 1984 in which no hurricanes developed from tropical waves, which are the source for most North Atlantic tropical cyclones. The most significant storm of the season was Hurricane Bob (satellite image shown), which at the time was among the ten costliest United States hurricanes. After brushing the Outer Banks of North Carolina and Long Island in New York, the hurricane made landfall on Rhode Island. It caused $1.5 billion in damage, mostly in Massachusetts, and 17 fatalities. The strongest hurricane of the season was Claudette, with reported peak winds of 135 mph (215 km/h) near Bermuda. Hurricane Grace, the final named storm of the season, contributed to the development of a powerful nor'easter known as the Perfect Storm that caused $200 million in damage and 13 deaths from Puerto Rico to Canada. The nor'easter later transitioned into a hurricane over the Gulf Stream, finally dissipating over Nova Scotia on November 2. (Full article...)

Part of the 1991 Atlantic hurricane season series, one of Wikipedia's featured topics.

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Did you know...

America in Meissen porcelain, 1760s

... that a new personification was developed for the Americas (example pictured) after their discovery by Europeans?
... that in 2018, Lorraine Janzen Kooistra was elected a fellow of the Royal Society of Canada for her work in 19th-century literature?
... that the weight of the volcanoes of Hawaii is causing Earth's crust to buckle, generating volcanoes under the sea?
... that Turkish women's footballer Aslı Canan Sabırlı was appointed technical director of her team while she was still a member of the squad?
... that the 1929 Hugh Ferriss book The Metropolis of Tomorrow featured "projected trends" including skyscraper churches and suspension bridges with apartments built into them?
... that Charles S. Bryan and Bill Stone worked out how to avoid toxic doses of penicillin in people with kidney failure?
... that the bodies of 499 gold miners bound for China were lost when the SS Ventnor sank in 1902?
... that Alexandra Phillips and Alexandra Phillips stood against each other for election in South East England, and both were elected?

In the news

Se'are Mekonnen

The Italian cities of Milan and Cortina d'Ampezzo are chosen as the joint hosts of the 2026 Winter Olympics and Winter Paralympics.
In the Amhara Region of Ethiopia, regional president Ambachew Mekonnen and national-military chief of staff Se'are Mekonnen (pictured) are assassinated.
At least 184 people die during a heat wave in India.
Former President of Egypt Mohamed Morsi dies during his trial, at the age of 67.

On this day

July 2

The Raft of the Medusa

626 – During the Xuanwu Gate Incident, Prince Li Shimin led his forces to assassinate his rival brothers in a coup for the imperial throne of the Tang dynasty.
1816 – The French frigate Méduse ran aground off the coast of today's Mauritania, with the survivors escaping on a makeshift raft, which was depicted in Théodore Géricault's painting The Raft of the Medusa (pictured).
1962 – The first Walmart store, now the largest company in the world by revenue, opened in Rogers, Arkansas, U.S.
1976 – More than a year after the end of the Vietnam War, North and South Vietnam officially united under communist rule to form the Socialist Republic of Vietnam.
2013 – The International Astronomical Union announced that the fourth and fifth moons of Pluto would be named Kerberos and Styx respectively.

Stephen III of Moldavia (d. 1504) · Wilhelm Cuno (b. 1876) · Alex Morgan (b. 1989)

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Today's featured picture

A collection of garments designed by the Japanese fashion label Comme des Garçons, on display at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City.

Founded in 1969 by Rei Kawakubo and established as a company in 1973, the brand's name is inspired by a line from Françoise Hardy's song "Tous les garçons et les filles". It gained popularity in Japan through the 1970s, before making its debut Paris show in 1981, where Kawakubo's heavy use of black, as well as distressed fabrics and unfinished seams, were viewed negatively by critics. Comme des Garçons produced many unusual styles through the 1980s and 1990s, many of which were disliked by experts, but nonetheless grew into a large commercially successful enterprise. The company has boutique stores across the world and exhibits its main collections annually at the Paris Fashion Week.

Photograph credit: Rhododendrites

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