Great Colonial Hurricane of 1635

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Great Colonial hurricane
Great Colonial Hurricane of 1635 track.png
Map of the Great Colonial Hurricane's path (reconstructed by the AOML)

Modern analysis

Track of the hurricane from a simulation, showcasing a storm surge of over 20 feet in the Buzzards Bay. Great Colonial Hurricane of 1635 details.jpg
Track of the hurricane from a simulation, showcasing a storm surge of over 20 feet in the Buzzards Bay.

The Hurricane Research Division of the Atlantic Oceanographic and Meteorological Laboratory of NOAA has conducted a re-analysis project to re-examine the National Hurricane Center's data about historic hurricanes. Brian Jarvinen used modern hurricane and storm surge computer models to recreate a storm consistent with contemporaneous accounts of the Great Colonial Hurricane. [1] He estimated that the storm was probably a Cape Verde-type hurricane, considering its intensity; and likely took a similar track to that of the Great Atlantic Hurricane of 1944 and Hurricane Edna of 1954. The storm's eye would have struck Long Island before moving between Boston and Plymouth. The storm likely would have been a large Category 4 or 5 hurricane when passing by Virginia and was at least a high-end Category 3 at landfall. Sustained winds of 132 mph (212 km/h) and a central pressure of 938 mbar (27.7 inHg) is the estimated intensity during the Long Island's landfall, and a pressure of 939 mbar (27.7 inHg) during the second landfall. [1] If accurate, this would make it the most intense hurricane to make landfall north of Cape Fear, North Carolina. Jarvinen also noted that the hurricane may have produced the highest storm surge along the East Coast in recorded history, at great than 20 feet (6.1 m) in the Narragansett Bay. [1]

An erosional scarp in the western Gulf of Maine may be a trace of the Great Colonial Hurricane. [7]

See also

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 Jarvinen, Brian R. (2006). "Storm Tides in Twelve Tropical Cyclones (including Four Intense New England Hurricanes)" (PDF). Report for FEMA/National Hurricane Center.{{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
  2. Seventeenth Century Virginia Hurricanes
  3. "NWS Boston (@NWSBoston) on X". X (Formerly Twitter).
  4. https://repository.library.noaa.gov/view/noaa/22790/noaa_22790_DS1.pdf [ bare URL PDF ]
  5. "The Great Colonial Hurricane and the wreck of the Angel Gabriel". Historic Ipswich. 2019-09-19. Retrieved 2021-09-25.
  6. Jameson, E. O. (1884). The Cogswells in America. Boston: A. Mudge & son, printers. pp. xvii.
  7. Buynevich, Ilya V.; FitzGerald, Duncan M. & Goble, Ronald J. (2007). "A 1500 yr record of North Atlantic storm activity based on optically dated relict beach scarps". Geology. 35 (6): 543–546. Bibcode:2007Geo....35..543B. doi:10.1130/G23636A.1.

Further reading