This weekend is the anniversary of the 1938 hurricane. The simple statistics for this storm are amazing. Squeezed between two areas of high pressure, the forward speed of the hurricane ultimately reached 70 mph. Because the forward motion of the hurricane was in the same general direction as the winds on the eastern side of the storm (which rotates counter-clockwise), the intrinsic wind speed of the hurricane added to the forward speed of the storm meant extremely high winds in areas to the east of the eye. On Long Island, which was where the hurricane first made landfall as a Category 3 hurricane, winds reached up to 150 mph and waves surged to around 25–35 feet high. The Blue Hill Observatory (just south of Boston) registered sustained winds of 121 mph and a peak gust of 186 mph. A 50-foot wave was recorded at Gloucester. Approximately 600 people died in the storm in New England (most of them in Rhode Island). Westerly was hard hit, and 100 people lost their lives there. An additional 708 people were reported injured. For additional information, go to en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1938_New_England_hurricane.
Posted on: Sun, 22 Sep 2013 16:08:44 +0000
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