Meteorological history | |
---|---|
Formed | August 15,1812 |
Dissipated | August 20,1812 |
Category 3 major hurricane | |
1-minute sustained (SSHWS/NWS) | |
Highest winds | 115 mph (185 km/h) |
Lowest pressure | ≤995 mbar (hPa);≤29.38 inHg |
Overall effects | |
Fatalities | c. 100 |
Damage | $6 million (1812 USD) |
Areas affected | Jamaica,Spanish Florida,Louisiana,Mississippi Territory |
Part of the 1812 Atlantic hurricane season |
The 1812 Louisiana Hurricane was a major hurricane that struck New Orleans,Louisiana,during the War of 1812. It was the worst storm of the early history of New Orleans and was very likely the hurricane which made the closest landfall known to affect the city. [1]
It was first observed in the eastern Caribbean Sea on August 12 as a tropical disturbance,which later affected Jamaica as a tropical storm. After entering the Gulf of Mexico,it intensified into a hurricane,with winds estimated at over 115 mph (185 km/h). The circulation affected areas from the Florida Panhandle to Natchez in the Mississippi Territory,but the worst effects were in the New Orleans area. There were around 100 deaths,many of them due to drowning.
On August 12,a tropical disturbance entered the Caribbean Sea to the south of Antigua,believed to have been a strong tropical wave. Moving westward,it developed into a tropical storm by August 15,based on ship observations in the region. That day,it passed to the south of Jamaica and later turned to the northwest. Due to the ongoing War of 1812,there was a British blockade of American ships,which caused a lack of observations in the region. As a result,the storm's track was uncertain,although it is believed that the system entered the Gulf of Mexico by August 18;that day,a ship reported hurricane-force winds. After moving northward,the hurricane turned to the northwest off the coast of Louisiana. [2]
Although meteorologist David Roth assessed the storm as making landfall on August 19 at Isle Dernière to the west of New Orleans, [3] a research paper from the American Meteorological Society estimated that the hurricane moved ashore about 40 mi (60 km) southeast of New Orleans. [2] Modern research suggests the storm was the equivalent of a major hurricane (a Category 3 on the Saffir-Simpson Hurricane Scale),or with winds of at least 115 mph (185 km/h),when it made landfall. [4] It passed just southwest of the city,becoming the closest major hurricane to New Orleans. The wind diameter was average to slightly below-average,and the forward speed was normal. Due to its movement,the hurricane likely maintained much of its strength after making landfall and by the time it affected New Orleans. The hurricane gradually weakened over land,passing near Baton Rouge,Louisiana and Natchez,Mississippi on August 20. Heavy rainfall was reported in eastern Ohio beginning on August 21,potentially from the remnants of the storm merging with a cold front. [2]
When the storm was moving through the Caribbean Sea,it produced rough seas and heavy rainfall. In Jamaica,gusty winds damaged crops,including to corn and plantains. [2]
As the storm moved ashore in Louisiana,outer rain bands produced gale-force winds and heavy damage at Pensacola,in Spanish West Florida. At Cat Island offshore of Bay St. Louis (claimed from Spain in the same year,as part of the Mississippi Territory),strong winds washed several boats ashore. Hurricane conditions began in New Orleans around 8 p.m. local time on August 19. [2] In southeastern Louisiana,Fort St. Philip sustained heavy damage, [5] after it was flooded. Most soldiers in the fort drowned. There was a rumor during the storm that the British took over Fort St. Philip,causing a panic in the midst of the War of 1812;however,the British fleet was scattered throughout the region, [3] and many British ships were damaged. [2] In New Orleans,the hurricane damaged 53 ships,and several boats were washed ashore along Lake Pontchartrain. [5] The USS Louisiana,a cutter commissioned in 1804,was wrecked during the hurricane while at port in New Orleans,and the entire crew except for the captain was killed. [6] Debris and bodies from the ships were dispersed along the lake's coastline. The USS Viper lost its mast while offshore during the storm. Ten people died on the ship Harlequin. [3]
The storm produced heavy rainfall, [5] along with a powerful storm surge. Flooding up to 15 ft (4.6 m) deep was reported in New Orleans and portions of Plaquemines Parish. In the Parish,45 people drowned,and there was heavy damage to the sugar crops. [3] The levee system in New Orleans was heavily damaged. [5] The strong waves washed saltwater 75 mi (121 km) up the Mississippi River. [7] High winds damaged most buildings in New Orleans, [3] some of which were destroyed, [2] and most trees were blown down. [3] The city's market house was wrecked,despite being described as "indestructible". [8] Damage was estimated at $6 million (1812 USD),and there were around 100 deaths. [3] Further northwest near Natchez,Mississippi,the storm's winds were strong enough to knock down trees. The barometric pressure there was 986 mbar (29.1 inHg),although the observation was not calibrated and was later corrected to 995 mbar (29.4 inHg) to account for elevation and air temperature. [2]
In the two centuries since the hurricane,the oceans rose about 0.5 ft (0.15 m),the wetlands around New Orleans have diminished,and the elevation has dropped due to subsidence. These have increased the threat to the city of a significant hurricane strike. The 1812 hurricane was not a worst-case scenario for New Orleans,as a stronger and larger hurricane would have caused more damage. [2] If the storm struck in 2012,one researcher estimated the hurricane would have been among the costliest Louisiana hurricanes,comparable to Hurricane Betsy in 1965 and Hurricane Katrina in 2005. [9]
The 1957 Atlantic hurricane season featured one of the longest-travelling tropical cyclones in the Atlantic basin,Hurricane Carrie. Nevertheless,the season was generally inactive,with eight tropical storms –two of which went unnamed –and three hurricanes,two of which intensified further to attain major hurricane intensity. The season officially began on June 15 and ended on November 15,though the year's first tropical cyclone developed prior to the start of the season on June 8. The final storm dissipated on October 27,well before the official end of the season. The strongest hurricane of the year was Carrie,which reached the equivalent of a Category 4 hurricane on the Saffir–Simpson hurricane scale on two separate occasions in the open Atlantic;Carrie later caused the sinking of the German ship Pamir southwest of the Azores,resulting in 80 deaths.
The 1937 Atlantic hurricane season was a below-average hurricane season,featuring eleven tropical storms;of these,four became hurricanes. One hurricane reached major hurricane intensity,equivalent to a Category 3 or higher on the modern Saffir–Simpson scale. The United States Weather Bureau defined the season as officially lasting from June 16 to October 16. Tropical cyclones that did not approach populated areas or shipping lanes,especially if they were relatively weak and of short duration,may have remained undetected. Because technologies such as satellite monitoring were not available until the 1960s,historical data on tropical cyclones from this period are often not reliable. As a result of a reanalysis project which analyzed the season in 2012,a tropical storm and a hurricane were added to the Atlantic hurricane database (HURDAT). The official intensities and tracks of all storms were also revised by the reanalysis. The year's first storm formed on July 29 in the Gulf of Mexico,and the final system,a hurricane,dissipated over open ocean on October 21.
The 1936 Atlantic hurricane season was a fairly active season,with 20 tropical cyclones recorded,17 of which became tropical storms. Seven storms became hurricanes,of which one became a major hurricane. In addition,the season was unusual in the fact that no storms moved across large portions of the Caribbean Sea. Seven storms,including three hurricanes,struck the United States.
The 1912 Atlantic hurricane season was an average hurricane season that featured the first recorded November major hurricane. There were eleven tropical cyclones,seven of which became tropical storms;four of those strengthened into hurricanes,and one reached major hurricane intensity. The season's first cyclone developed on April 4,while the final dissipated on November 21. The season's most intense and most devastating tropical cyclone was the final storm,known as the Jamaica hurricane. It produced heavy rainfall on Jamaica,leading to at least 100 fatalities and about $1.5 million (1912 USD) in damage. The storm was also blamed for five deaths in Cuba.
The 1904 Atlantic hurricane season featured no tropical cyclones during the months of July and August. The season's first cyclone was initially observed in the southwestern Caribbean on June 10. After this storm dissipated on June 14,the next was not detected until September 8. The sixth and final system transitioned into an extratropical cyclone offshore South Carolina on November 4. Two of the six tropical cyclones existed simultaneously.
The New Orleans Hurricane of 1915 was an intense Category 4 hurricane that made landfall near Grand Isle,Louisiana,and the most intense tropical cyclone during the 1915 Atlantic hurricane season. The storm formed in late September when it moved westward and peaked in intensity of 145 mph (233 km/h) to weaken slightly by time of landfall on September 29 with recorded wind speeds of 126 mph (203 km/h) as a strong category 3 Hurricane. The hurricane killed 275 people and caused $13 million in damage.
The 1917 Nueva Gerona hurricane was the most intense tropical cyclone to strike the Florida Panhandle until Hurricane Opal in 1995. The eighth tropical cyclone and fourth tropical storm of the season,this system was identified as a tropical storm east of the Lesser Antilles on September 20. After crossing the Lesser Antilles,the system entered the Caribbean Sea and achieved hurricane intensity on September 21. After becoming a Category 2 hurricane,the storm struck the northern coast of Jamaica on September 23. Early on September 25,the cyclone reached Category 4 status and attained maximum sustained winds of 150 mph (240 km/h) soon thereafter. Later that day,the hurricane made landfall in eastern Pinar del Río Province,Cuba. The system entered the Gulf of Mexico shortly thereafter and weakened slightly. Recurving to the northeast,the hurricane briefly threatened Louisiana before turning toward Florida. Early on September 29,the hurricane made landfall near Fort Walton Beach,Florida,with winds of 115 mph (185 km/h). Once over land,the cyclone rapidly weakened and transitioned into an extratropical cyclone before dissipating on September 30.
The 1852 Atlantic hurricane season was one of only three Atlantic hurricane seasons in which every known tropical cyclone attained hurricane status. Five tropical cyclones were reported during the season,which lasted from late August through the middle of October;these dates fall within the range of most Atlantic tropical cyclone activity,and none of the cyclones coexisted with another. Though there were officially five tropical cyclones in the season,hurricane scholar Michael Chenoweth assessed two of the cyclones as being the same storm. There may have been other unconfirmed tropical cyclones during the season,as meteorologist Christopher Landsea estimated that up to six storms were missed each year from the official database;this estimate was due to small tropical cyclone size,sparse ship reports,and relatively unpopulated coastlines.
The 1909 Grand Isle hurricane was a large and deadly Category 3 hurricane that caused severe damage and killed more than 400 people throughout Cuba and the northern coast of the Gulf of Mexico. Forming out of a tropical disturbance just south of Hispaniola on September 13,1909,the initial depression slowly intensified as it moved west-northwest towards Jamaica. Two days later,the system attained tropical storm intensity and turned northwestward towards Cuba. On September 16,it attained the equivalent of a modern-day Category 1 hurricane on the Saffir–Simpson hurricane scale and further strengthened to attain winds of 100 mph (160 km/h) before making landfall in Pinar del Río Province,Cuba on September 18. After a briefly weakening over land,the system regained strength over the Gulf of Mexico,with peak winds reaching 120 mph (195 km/h) the following day. After only slightly weakening,the hurricane increased in forward motion and made landfall near Grand Isle,Louisiana on September 21. The system quickly lost strength after moving over land,dissipating the following day over Missouri.
The 1860 Atlantic hurricane season featured three severe hurricanes that struck Louisiana and the Gulf Coast of the United States within a period of seven weeks. The season effectively began on August 8 with the formation of a tropical cyclone in the eastern Gulf of Mexico,and produced seven known tropical storms and hurricanes until the dissipation of the last known system on October 24. Six of the seven storms were strong enough to be considered hurricanes on the modern-day Saffir–Simpson Hurricane Scale,of which four attained Category 2 status and one attained Category 3 major hurricane strength. The first hurricane was the strongest in both winds and pressure,with peak winds of 125 miles per hour (201 km/h) and a barometric pressure of 950 millibars (28 inHg). Until contemporary reanalysis discovered four previously unknown tropical cyclones that did not affect land,only three hurricanes were known to have existed;all three made landfall in Louisiana,causing severe damage.
The 1863 Atlantic hurricane season featured five landfalling tropical cyclones. In the absence of modern satellite and other remote-sensing technologies,only storms that affected populated land areas or encountered ships at sea were recorded,so the actual total could be higher. An undercount bias of zero to six tropical cyclones per year between 1851 and 1885 has been estimated. There were seven recorded hurricanes and no major hurricanes,which are Category 3 or higher on the modern day Saffir–Simpson scale. Of the known 1863 cyclones,seven were first documented in 1995 by JoséFernández-Partagás and Henry Diaz,while the ninth tropical storm was first documented in 2003. These changes were largely adopted by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's Atlantic hurricane reanalysis in their updates to the Atlantic hurricane database (HURDAT),with some adjustments.
The 1933 Texas tropical storm produced record rainfall in the south-central United States in July of the 1933 Atlantic hurricane season. It was the third storm of the season,developing on July 14 near the Lesser Antilles. While moving westward through the Caribbean Sea,the cyclone passed just south of Jamaica on July 16. The storm dropped heavy rainfall on the island that caused flooding and road washouts. On July 18,the storm struck Belize and later moved across the Yucatán Peninsula. Initially it was believed that the storm continued into Mexico and dissipated while another storm formed to its northeast,but it was discovered in 2012 that the storm followed one continuous track.
The 1920 Louisiana hurricane was a strong tropical cyclone that caused significant damage in parts of Louisiana in September 1920. The second tropical storm and hurricane of the annual hurricane season,it formed from an area of disturbed weather on September 16,1920,northwest of Colombia. The system remained a weak tropical depression as it made landfall on Nicaragua,but later intensified to tropical storm strength as it moved across the Gulf of Honduras,prior to making a second landfall on the Yucatán Peninsula. Once in the Gulf of Mexico,the storm quickly intensified as it moved towards the north-northwest,reaching its peak intensity as a Category 2 hurricane with winds of 100 mph (160 km/h) prior to making landfall near Houma,Louisiana with no change in intensity. Afterwards,it quickly weakened over land,before dissipating on September 23 over eastern Kansas.
The 1926 Louisiana hurricane caused widespread devastation to the United States Gulf Coast,particularly in Louisiana. The third tropical cyclone and hurricane of the 1926 Atlantic hurricane season,it formed from a broad area of low pressure in the central Caribbean Sea on August 20. Moving to the northwest,the storm slowly intensified,reaching tropical storm strength on August 21 and subsequently attaining hurricane strength after passing through the Yucatán Channel. The hurricane steadily intensified as it recurved northwards in the Gulf of Mexico,before reaching peak intensity just prior to landfall near Houma,Louisiana on August 25 with winds of 115 mph (185 km/h). After moving inland,the tropical cyclone moved to the west and quickly weakened,before dissipating on August 27.
The 1940 Louisiana hurricane caused record flooding across much of the Southern United States in August 1940. The second tropical cyclone and hurricane of the annual hurricane season,it formed from a frontal low off the west coast of Florida on August 3. Initially a weak disturbance,it moved generally westward,slowly gaining in intensity. Early on August 4,the depression attained tropical storm intensity. Ships in the vicinity of the storm reported a much stronger tropical cyclone than initially suggested. After reaching hurricane strength on August 5 south of the Mississippi River Delta,the storm strengthened further into a Category 2 hurricane with maximum sustained winds of 100 mph and a minimum barometric pressure of 972 mbar at 0600 UTC on August 7. The hurricane moved ashore near Sabine Pass,Texas later that day at peak strength. Once inland,the storm executed a sharp curve to the north and quickly weakened,degenerating into a tropical storm on August 8 before dissipating over Arkansas on August 10.
The 1855 Atlantic hurricane season featured tropical cyclone landfalls in the Gulf Coast of the United States,the Greater Antilles,and Mexico,but none along the East Coast of the United States. It was inactive,with only five known tropical cyclones. Another tropical storm was believed to have existed offshore Atlantic Canada in late August and early September,but HURDAT –the official Atlantic hurricane database –now excludes this system. The first known system was initially observed on August 5,while the final known storm was last noted on September 17. These dates fall within the period with the most tropical cyclone activity in the Atlantic. At one point during the season,two tropical cyclones existed simultaneously. Two of the cyclones only have a single known point in their tracks due to a sparsity of data.
The 1875 Indianola hurricane brought a devastating and deadly storm surge to the coast of Texas. The third known system of the 1875 Atlantic hurricane season,the storm was first considered a tropical cyclone while located east of the Lesser Antilles on September 8. After passing through the Windward Islands and entering the Caribbean Sea,the cyclone gradually began to move more northwestward and brushed the Tiburon Peninsula of Haiti late on September 12. On the following day,the storm made a few landfalls on the southern coast of Cuba before moving inland over Sancti Spíritus Province. The system emerged into the Gulf of Mexico near Havana and briefly weakened to a tropical storm. Thereafter,the storm slowly re-intensified and gradually turned westward. On September 16,the hurricane peaked as a Category 3 hurricane with winds of 115 mph (185 km/h). Later that day,the hurricane made landfall near Indianola,Texas. The storm quickly weakened and turned northeastward,before dissipating over Mississippi on September 18.