Posted on 08/30/2023 10:27:12 AM PDT by DallasBiff
Hurricane season began on June 1st and more often than not it is a month that doesn’t feature too much tropical storm activity, but back in early June 1966 it was a different story.
On June 4th, the first tropical depression of the young season formed near Nicaragua. The tropical depression moved north into the already warm waters of the Western Caribbean and strengthened rapidly into Hurricane Alma as it made landfall on the western tip of Cuba. Typically, when tropical systems make landfall they weaken, but Alma only got stronger as it continued to make its way to the north towards the Eastern Gulf of Mexico and U.S.
(Excerpt) Read more at localsyr.com ...
There have been hurricanes making landfall on the US forever.
How about the one that destroyed Galveston in the early 1900s?
Alma went over the Dry Tortuga Islands with winds of 215mph, but moderated to 125 by the time it got to the Keys. It was supposed to hit at high water, but had slowed and came in at near low water.
Had it come in at high water, then the storm surge would have covered the Keys to 10’ - the highest spot in the keys in Big Pine at 1.5’ above sea level.
Was a real blast partying on the roof of the Casa, recently redone from the Capone days. Hanging on to plam trees was fun also because if you let go... well
When the Eye of the storm began to approach, the winds died down and everyone ran to their vehicles, tying on Sunfish. So sailing in the water aboard Sunfish and a beer was great fun foe an hour or so. Then hurrying back, as the Eye receded, to the shelter of the Casa (now called Casa Marina Key West).
I think the Galveston storm of 1900 was the worse Atlantic storm in terms of lives lost, between 6000 and 12000
And Bob the Barbarian was there to record it.
Unfortunately he put the date on his club and it was destroyed by termites before it could be translated onto more stable material
Just a little misleading.
And probably a few million years before this but we weren’t around all that much. Note the word recorded. They may not have recorded the birth of Obama in Hawaii until number of years after his British certificate was locked up from Kenya.
wy69
Lame ‘record’
earliest hurricane in ... 140 years. So there was one in 1825.
“June 4 is earlier than September 9 or thereabouts.”
The Galveston hurricane was in 1900, not 1966 or 1935.
I figured that the First Hurricane almost took Joe Biden’s Corvette..
June is earlier in hurricane season than Galveston, which happened in September.
Donna (1960) made US landfall on September 10th.
The 1900 Galveston hurricane made landfall on September 9th.
Hurricane Alma in 1966 made US landfall on June 9th.
June 9th is much earlier than September 9th or 10th. Alma hit the US earlier than any other hurricane. That was the entire point of the article. They aren’t saying it was the first hurricane to hit the US, they are saying it hit earlier in the year than any other hurricane.
The story about the orphanage will break your heart.
Yeah - but the article was talking about the earliest in the season. Not the first to ever make US landfall.
Alma made landfall earlier in the year than any other hurricane.
Earliest N. American hurricane recorded by Europeans was apparently 1523. West coast of Florida.
And NA hurricanes recorded every few years thereafter.
I had a brain fart. The National Hurricane Center (NHC) was established in 1965, not the NWS.
Correct, the 1900 Galveston hurricane was deadliest landfall in US. Caribbean death tolls of 25k are estimated for the hurricane season of 1780. Al Gore, Greta Scoldberg, I know you’re reading this, that’s 1780.
Other large US landfall death tolls were in Florida’s 1926 and 1928 seasons, and back in 1886 two or three nasty ones, one wiped out Indianola, TX which was never rebuilt, used to rival Galveston as a Texas seaport. Another hit Savannah GA. Think also there was a large death toll in Charleston SC around 1893.
Of course forecasting has improved and it’s unlikely the death tolls before 1950 would have been as high in today’s social environment. Same goes for the 1925 tri-state tornado, over 700 died, in 1974 a rather similar outbreak saw about half that count. There was little warning of the 1925 event although it did strike in tornado alley and people would have known the precursor signs of trouble.
A movie was made about the Galveston hurricane. “Isaac’s Storm”. Good movie. Also, if you poke around you can find video taken right after the storm passed in 1900. Very grainy, but every where you look there is destruction. The estimates I have seen as far as deaths were between 10 and 12K. Many bodies were never recovered.
I think you mean the September 21st 1938 New England hurricane.
Good documentary on this storm
Violent Earth: New England's Killer Hurricane of 1938
Most weather forecasters at the time didn’t believe a hurricane would land that far north. And this was before radar and satellites, depending mostly on reports from ships at sea.
Yes, that’s the one.
“Yeah - but the article was talking about the earliest in the season. “
Oops. Didn’t get that. I was truly puzzled about that “1966”. Thanks!
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