I said unlilkely...I think there have been 2...the 38 storm and one from early 1800s...very very rare
and unlike this one...1938 storm stayed out at sea till it hit mid Long Island...what it has to have the stay strong...feeding off the Gulf Stream...and missed big population centers...it killed give folks had little warning unlike today
Irene hit land early on...weakened as expected...and alarmists acted like it would then pass over DC, Philly and NYC before making a hard right over Albany back out to the east.. it would take a high Cat 4 or Cat 5 storm at landfall to have such momentum
and note..some meterologists called the hype on this one
(not Muscles Bastardi..self descrived survivor..lol)
The data on the 1938 have an additional kicker: not only was the storm out to sea from the West Indies, but it got between two strong high pressure zones, which ejected it like a pinball directly at Long Island. It was moving at 50 mph for several hundred miles.
The ‘cane history of the area:
Before the 1938 hurricane it had been several decades since a hurricane of any significance adversely affected the northeastern Atlantic coastline. Nevertheless, history has shown that several severe hurricanes have affected the Northeast, although with much less frequency in comparison to areas of the Gulf, Florida, and southeastern Atlantic coastlines.
The Great September Gale of 1815 (the term hurricane was not yet common in the American vernacular), which hit New York City directly as a Category 3 hurricane, caused extensive damage and created an inlet that separated the Long Island resort towns of the Rockaways and Long Beach into two separate barrier islands.
The 1821 Norfolk and Long Island Hurricane, a Category 4 storm which made four separate landfalls in Virginia, New Jersey, New York and southern New England. The storm created the highest recorded storm surge in Manhattan of nearly 13 feet and severely impacted the farming regions of Long Island and southern New England.
The 1869 Saxby Gale affected areas in Northern New England, decimating the Maine coastline and the Canadian Outer Banks. It was the last major hurricane to affect New England until the 1938 storm.
The 1893 New York hurricane, a Category 2 storm, directly hit the city itself, causing a great storm surge that pummeled the coastline, completely removing the Long Island resort town of Hog Island.