![]() Weather map from September 21 depicting the storm off the Mid-Atlantic coast | |
Meteorological history | |
---|---|
Formed | September 9, 1938 |
Extratropical | September 22, 1938 |
Dissipated | September 23, 1938 |
Category 5 major hurricane | |
1-minute sustained (SSHWS/NWS) | |
Highest winds | 160 mph (260 km/h) |
Lowest pressure | <940 mbar (hPa); <27.76 inHg |
Overall effects | |
Fatalities | 682 to 800 direct |
Damage | $306 million (1938 USD) |
Areas affected | Southeastern United States, Northeastern United States (particularly Connecticut, New York, Rhode Island, and Massachusetts), southwestern Quebec |
IBTrACS | |
Part of the 1938 Atlantic hurricane season |
The 1938 New England Hurricane (also referred to as the Great Long Island - New England Hurricane and the Long Island Express Hurricane)[1][2] was one of the deadliest and most destructive tropical cyclones to strike the United States. The storm formed near the coast of Africa on September 9, becoming a Category 5 hurricane on the Saffir–Simpson hurricane scale, before making landfall as a Category 3 hurricane[3] on Long Island on Wednesday, September 21. It is estimated that the hurricane killed 682 people,[4] damaged or destroyed more than 57,000 homes, and caused property losses estimated at $306 million ($4.7 billion in 2024).[5][6] .[7][8] Also, numerous others estimate the real damage between $347 million and almost $410 million.[9] Damaged trees and buildings were still seen in the affected areas as late as 1951.[10] It remains the most powerful and deadliest hurricane to ever strike New York and New England in history, perhaps eclipsed in landfall intensity only by the Great Colonial Hurricane of 1635.[11]
The US Weather Bureau was not aware of the existience of the 1938 hurricane until it was northeast of Puerto Rico on September 16th. The storm developed into a tropical depression on September 9 off the coast of West Africa, but the United States Weather Bureau was unaware that a tropical cyclone existed until September 16 when ships reported strong winds and rough seas 350 miles northeast of San Juan; by then, it was already a well-developed hurricane and had tracked westward toward the southeastern Bahamas. It reached hurricane strength on September 15 and continued to strengthen to a peak intensity of 160 mph (260 km/h) near the southeastern Bahamas four days later, making it a Category 5-equivalent hurricane.[note 1] The storm was propelled northward, rapidly paralleling the East Coast before making landfalls on Long Island, New York and Connecticut as a Category 3 hurricane on September 21, with estimated sustained winds of 115 - 120 mph. After moving inland, it transitioned into an extratropical cyclone and dissipated over Ontario on September 23.
review of book: 'Thirty-Eight, The Hurricane that Transformed New England', by Stephen Long 2016
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