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Subject: J6) What are some important dates in the history
of hurricanes and hurricane research ?
Hurricane Timeline
- 1494 During his second voyage, Christopher Columbus shelters his fleet from
a tropical cyclone. This is the first written European account of a hurricane.
- 1502 During his fourth voyage Columbus warns the governor of Santo Domingo
of an approaching hurricane, but is ignored. A Spanish treasure fleet sets
sail and loses 20 ships with 500 men.
- 1565 A French fleet sent to support Ft. Caroline is devastated by a hurricane.
The Spaniards at St. Augustine massacre the colonists at Ft. Caroline
ensuring Spanish control of East Florida.
- 1609 The British ship Sea Venture is damaged by a hurricane but manages
to find refuge on uninhabited Bermuda. The island become a British colony.
- 1635 The Great Colonial Hurricane strikes the young Massachusetts Bay and
Plymouth colonies.
- 1667 The Dreadful Hurricane strikes the Virginia colonies.
- 1702 A rare hurricane strikes England. Daniel Defoe gathers eyewitness
accounts and publishes them in "The Storm".
- 1743 A hurricane prevents Ben Franklin from observing a lunar eclipse in
Philadelphia. When he later learns his brother in Boston experienced
the storm much later, he surmises that hurricanes don't move in the
direction that the winds are blowing. Also, Professor Winthrop of Harvard
makes first detailed pressure and tide measurements during this hurricane.
- 1780 The Great Hurricane leaves over 22,000 dead across the Antilles.
- 1819 Professor Farrar of Harvard observes winds as hurricane passes Boston
and concludes that the storm is a large vortex.
- 1831 William Redfield observes damage across Connecticut from a hurricane
and finds the winds swirled in a counter-clockwise pattern. He begins
compiling hurricane tracks.
- A major hurricane strikes Barbados. Lt. Col William Reid of the Royal
Engineers is sent to survey the damage.
- 1837
Racer's Hurricane devastates much of the Gulf coast.
- 1838
Reid publishes his "Law of Storms" which advises mariners on how
to avoid a hurricane at sea.
- 1847
Reid establishes a hurricane warning network in Barbados.
- 1848
The Smithsonian Museum organizes a network of weather observers
across the United States and its territories.
- 1855
Andres Poey publishes a chronology of over 400 hurricanes since
the time of Columbus.
- 1856
A hurricane wipes out the resort on Last Island, Louisiana.
- 1865
Manila Observatory is founded in the Philippines with Fr. Faura
as its first director. Begins study of typhoons and creates an observing
network.
-
1870
Fr. Benito Viñes becomes head of Meteorological Observatory at Belen
College in Havana, and begins research on hurricanes. He establishes
an observing network across Cuba.
- The United States Government forms its weather service.
- 1873
The National Weather Service issues its first hurricane warning.
- 1875
Viñes issues his first hurricane warning.
- 1879
Faura makes first typhoon forecast.
- 1893
The dealiest hurricane year in U.S. history, as the "Sea
Islands" hurricane kills 1000 to 2000 people, the "Chenier
Caminada" hurricane causes about 2000 deaths, and another
major hurricane strikes the Carolinas in mid-October.
- 1897
Fr. Algue' publishes book cataloging and categorizing typhoon tracks.
- 1898
The U.S. Weather Bureau establishes a hurricane warning center at
Kingston, Jamaica. After the Spanish-American War this is moved to
Havana.
- 1900
A devastating hurricane strikes Galveston resulting in over 8000 deaths (or perhaps as many as 12,000).
- Edward Garriott writes USWB Bulletin H "West Indian Hurricanes".
- 1902
Weather Bureau moves its hurricane forecast center to Washington, DC.
- 1909
Grand Isle, LA is struck by a major hurricane, killing 350 people.
- 1913
Oliver Fassig publishes "Hurricanes of the West Indies".
- 1919
Sakuhei Fujiwara notes that hurricanes move with the larger scale synoptic flow.
- Over 600 deaths are caused by a hurricane striking the Florida Keys
and then Corpus Christi, Texas.
- 1921
Fujiwara publishes paper on the interaction of two tropical cyclones
noting what becomes known as the "Fujiwara Effect".
- 1922
Edward Bowie observes that most hurricanes move anti-cyclonically
around the subtropical ridge.
- 1924
Mitchell publishes "West Indies Hurricanes and other Tropical Cyclones"
in Monthly Weather Review.
- 1926
Issac Cline publishes his major book "Tropical Cyclones".
- The Great Miami hurricane crashes into Florida causing tremendous
damage and a month later another hurricane strikes Havana causing
over 600 casualties.
- 1928
The Lake Okeechobee hurricane kills nearly 2500 people.
Also known as the 'San Felipe' hurricane in Puerto Rico
where it killed over 300 people.
- 1935
The Weather Bureau revamps its hurricane warning service, and divides
responsibilities between New Orleans, Jacksonville, San Juan, and Boston.
- The Labor Day hurricane hits the Florida Keys with over 400 killed. This
is the most intense hurricane to have been recorded in the U.S..
- 1938
The New England hurricane strikes Long Island and Rhode Island
causing over 600 deaths.
- Ivan Tannehill publishes "Hurricanes, Their Nature and History".
- 1939
Fr. Deppermann publishes "Some Characteristics of Philippine Typhoons"
in which he presents a theoretical model of tropical cyclones.
- 1940
Gordon Dunn demonstrates that most Atlantic hurricanes form from
tropical easterly waves rather than baroclinic zones.
- 1943
Major Joseph Duckworth flies his trainer airplane into a Gulf hurricane
proving the utility of this method of reconnaissance.
- The hurricane warning center is moved from Jacksonville to Miami
where a joint center with the Navy and Air Corps is established.
- 1944
The Great Atlantic hurricane sweeps up the eastern seaboard and
causes 390 casualties, mostly at sea. This is the first hurricane with
scheduled aircraft reconnaissance and the first radar depiction of a
hurricane eye and spiral rainbands.
- Herbert Riehl and Major Robert Schafer find that large vertical wind shear
is inimical to tropical cyclone formation and development.
- Halsey's Third Fleet runs into Typhoon Cobra in the Pacific
with the loss of 3 destroyers and 790 men.
- 1946
The Navy and Air Force organize Hurricane Hunter squadrons in the
Pacific and Atlantic.
- 1947
Navy planes seed an Atlantic hurricane as part of Project Cirrus.
- Bob Simpson 'piggybacks' a research mission onto an Air Force
reconnaissance flight into a hurricane. This is the first detailed
examination of the upper level circulation of the hurricane core.
- 1947-
1948
Four hurricanes over two years strike South Florida causing persistent
flooding
- 1948
Eric Palmen publishes a study showing that hurricanes require at least
80 F (26 C) water in order to form.
- 1950
The Weather Bureau officially begins naming hurricanes.
- Hurricane King strikes Miami and affects much of Florida.
- 1951
A 'piggyback' research mission is flown into Typhoon Marge, measuring
its warm core and record low pressure eye.
- 1954
Hurricane detected by camera on a Navy rocket. This convinces the
US Government of the utility of weather satellites.
- Hurricanes Carol and Edna strike New England in succession.
- Last of the 'piggyback' research missions is flown on an Air Force
reconnaissance flight into Hurricane Edna.
- Hurricane Hazel slams into the Carolinas and causes destruction all the
way to Toronto. Grady Norton dies during the ongoing effort to forecast
this storm.
- 1955
Miami office of the US Weather Bureau is designated the National Hurricane
Center and given primary responsibility for forecasting and issuing warnings
for hurricanes in the Atlantic and eastern Pacific.
- The US Weather Bureau founds the National Hurricane Research Project
which begins research flights into hurricanes the next year.
- Three hurricanes make landfall in North Carolina this year including
Hurricane Diane, the "Billion Dollar Hurricane".
- Tannehill publishes "The Hurricane Hunters" about aircraft
reconnaissance.
-
1956
Riehl develops the first statistical hurricane track forecast computer
program.
- Julian Adem describes the "beta effect" on the motion of hurricanes.
- 1957
Hurricane Audrey causes over 500 deaths in Louisiana and Texas.
- 1958
Marjory Stoneman Douglas publishes "Hurricane", a popular history
about Atlantic hurricanes.
- 1959
The Joint Typhoon Warning Center is formed in Guam, combining the
Navy and Air Force forecasting efforts.
- NHC and NHRP begin a five year program to study hurricane track
forecasts and evaluated various objective techniques.
- 1960
TIROS I, the first experimental weather satellite, is launched and promptly
discovers an undetected tropical cyclone near Australia.
- Hurricane Donna roars through the Florida Keys and then up to North
Carolina and Connecticut causing 50 deaths.
- Dunn and Banner Miller publish "Atlantic Hurricanes", the most up-to-date
summary of hurricane science at the time.
- 1961
Navy planes seed Hurricane Esther.
- The Research Flight Facility is formed to manage and operate the Dept.
of Commerce's hurricane research aircraft.
- 1962
Project STORMFURY is begun, a joint effort of the Weather Bureau, Navy,
National Science Foundation, and Air Force to seed hurricanes to reduce
their winds,
- 1963
STORMFURY planes seed Hurricane Beulah with encouraging results.
- 1964
NHC-64, the first in a long line of statistical-dynamical track forecast
programs, is used operationally.
-
1965
Hurricane Betsy crashes through the Bahamas, Florida Keys, and Louisiana
killing 75 people.
- 1968
Charlie Neumann and John Hope create a hurricane database of Atlantic
hurricanes known as HURDAT.
- Harry Hawkins and Daryl Rubsam publish influential papers on the structure
and energy budget of Hurricane Hilda.
- 1969
Vic Ooyama creates first 2D hurricane simulation and formulates his
CISK theory.
- Hurricane Camille strikes Mississippi coast as only the second Category
Five hurricane recorded in US history. She leaves 260 dead in her wake.
- Project BOMEX attempts to define the air-sea fluxes in the tropical
Atlantic.
- Project STORMFURY seeds Hurricane Debbie on two days.
- 1970
With the formation of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
the research laboratories, including NHRL, are separated from the National
Weather Service, which includes NHC.
- Fred Sanders' SANBAR, the first barotropic hurricane computer forecast
model, is put into operation at the National Hurricane Center.
- A tropical cyclone rushing up the Bay of Bengal causes over half of a
million deaths in Bangladesh and India.
-
1971
Richard Anthes creates the first 3D hurricane simulation.
- Project STORMFURY seeds Hurricane Ginger. This is the last field
experiment carried out by the Project.
- 1972
Neumann develops CLIPER, a statistical hurricane track forecast
scheme, used as a benchmark for other model's forecast skill scores.
- Roland Madden and Paul Julian describe a global scale pressure
wave which seems to enhance tropical convection known as the
Madden-Julian Oscillation (MJO).
- Hurricane Agnes floods areas along the eastern seaboard causing
over 120 deaths.
- Bob Burpee publishes a paper explaining the origin and structure
of easterly waves.
- 1974
The Navy disbands its Hurricane Hunter squadrons.
- The GATE experiment in the east Atlantic measures tropical waves as
they come off the African coast.
- Cyclone Tracy devastates Darwin, Australia.
- 1975
Vern Dvorak proposes a scheme to estimate tropical cyclone strength
from satellite pictures.
- NHC director Bob Simpson works with engineer Herb Saffir
to modify the latter's hurricane damage scale to include wind
speed regimes, creating the Saffir-Simpson scale.
- 1977
A tropical cyclone in India kills over 10,000.
- 1979
Neumann and Brian Jarvinen develop SHIFOR, a statistical scheme to
forecast hurricane intensity, used as a benchmark for intensity forecast
skill scores.
- 1980
Hurricane Allen roars through the Caribbean and Gulf of Mexico as a
Category Five hurricane.
- 1982
The first Synoptic Flow experiment is flown around Hurricane Debby to
help define the large scale atmospheric winds that steer the storm.
- Richard Anthes publishes "Tropical Cyclones, Their Evolution, Structure,
and Effects".
- Hugh Willoughby, Jean Clos, and Mohamed Shoreibah publish a paper on
hurricane eyewall cycles.
- 1983
Project STORMFURY is officially ended.
- Hurricane Alicia forms from an old frontal boundary in the Gulf of Mexico
and hits Galveston and Houston.
- 1984
William Gray and his team issue the first hurricane seasonal forecast.
- 1985
Willoughby, Bob Black, Stan Rosenthal, and Dave Jorgensen write
an assessment of Project STORMFURY which documents several flaws in
the assumptions in planning the experiments that call the results into
question.
- Hurricane Gloria roars up the eastern seaboard threatening New York
City, but eventually makes landfall on Long Island.
- 1987
The Air Force disbands its Pacific Typhoon Chasers squadrons.
- 1988
Hurricane Gilbert has the lowest central pressure (888 mb) ever estimated
for an Atlantic hurricane just before striking the Yucatan peninsula.
- 1989
Hurricane Hugo makes a direct hit on Charleston, SC and causes over 20
casualties.
- BAM, the Beta and Advection Model, and VICBAR, a nested barotropic
hurricane track forecast model become operational.
- 1990
Mark DeMaria and John Kaplan create SHIPS a statistical hurricane
intensity forecast scheme.
- Roger Pielke publishes "The Hurricane".
- TCM-90 Experiment attempts to define factors contributing to typhoon
motion such as synoptic winds and the beta effect.
- 1991
TEXMex is an project carried out in the eastern Pacific to examine
the genesis of tropical cyclones.
- The Air Force transfers its Hurricane Hunters to the Air Force Reserves.
- 1992
Hurricane Andrew levels parts of south Florida and causes over $26 billion
in damages there, in the Bahamas, and Louisiana.
- NCEP's Aviation model becomes operational.
- TCM-92 Experiment combines satellite and aircraft observations to better
define tropical cyclogenesis.
- Hurricane Iniki hits Kauai in Hawai'i as a Category 4 storm.
-
1995
In one of the busiest Atlantic hurricane seasons in decades, Hurricane
Opal rapidly intensifies as it approaches the Florida panhandle, only to
weaken just before landfall. It still causes $3 billion in damage.
- Rapid scan high-resolution satellite loops are made of Hurricane
Luis, showing eye structure and motion.
- The GFDL model becomes operational. It provides both track and
intensity forecasts.
- 1996
Both the NOGAPS and UKMET track forecast models become available
to NHC.
- Mark Powell and Sam Houston publish detailed analyses of Hurricane
Andrew.
- 1997
High resolution dropsondes are released in the eyewall of Hurricane
Guillermo in the eastern Pacific. These reveal wind structure that
surprise scientists.
- NOAA's GIV high altitude jet becomes operational, allowing examination
of the steering flow around hurricanes from a greater height.
- Super Typhoon Paka ravages Guam causing $500 million in damage.
- 1998
Hurricane Mitch kills more than 12,000 people in Honduras and
Nicaragua.
- CAMEX3, a NASA experiment run in conjunction with NOAA's
Hurricane Field Program collects detailed data sets on Hurricanes
Bonnie, Danielle, and Georges.
- 1999
Hurricane Floyd causes a massive evacuation from coastal zones from
northern Florida to the Carolinas. It comes ashore in North Carolina and
results in nearly 80 dead and $4.5 billion in damages.
- 2001
CAMEX4, a NASA experiment run in conjunction with NOAA's
Hurricane Field Program collects detailed data sets on Hurricanes
Erin, Gabrielle, and Humberto and Tropical Storm Chantal.
- Stan Goldenberg, Chris Landsea, Alberto Mestas-Nuñez and Bill Gray
publish a major paper in Science noting decadal swings in Atlantic
hurricane activity.
- 2003
Hurricane Isabel leaves a path of damage from North Carolina to
Pennsylvania costing $3 billion and 16 deaths.
- Mike Black and James Franklin' publish a paper on hurricane eyewall wind profiles based on GPS dropsondes.
- Powell, Peter Vickery, and Timothy Reinhold publish a paper on
drag coefficients in hurricane force winds.
- 2004
Jason Dunion and Chris Velden demonstrate the delimiting
effect the Saharan Air Layer has on tropical cyclone
development.
References:
Fitzpatrick, Patrick "Natural Disasters : Hurricanes" 1999
ABC-CLIO Publishers, Santa Barbara, CA
Ludlum, David "Early American Hurricanes 1492-1870" 1963
Lancaster Press, Lancaster, PA
Simpson, Robert ed. "Hurricane ! Coping with Disaster" 2003
American Geophysical Union, Washington, DC
Last updated August 13, 2004
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