I wonder how that measurement was made?
A barometer at the scene--I don't know how it could have survived--at one point read 26.35 inches of mercury, the lowest barometric pressure ever recorded on a land-based barometer. At the time, there were probably not a whole lot of metric barometers in this country, and I doubt if there were any at the scene.
OK, but they say the measurement was made before landfall. Was the barometer on a buoy, or what?
Well, I found out where the barometric reading was taken, at what’s now known as Craig Key, a small island constructed for the railroad. The reading was either taken out in the open or in a dry docked boat, according to two different accounts.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Craig_Key
And at the following link the measurement is described in item 7.
http://www.keyshistory.org/35-hurr-war-dept.html