Paul Dorian

Overview

On September 21, 1938, one of the most destructive and powerful hurricanes in recorded history struck Long Island and Southern New England. Little media attention was given to the powerful hurricane while it was out at sea as Europe was on the brink of war and was the overriding story of the time. There was no advanced meteorological technology such as radar or satellite imagery to warn of the storm’s approach.

This storm has taken on a few names over the years including “The Great New England Hurricane of 1938″, “The Long Island Express”, and the “Yankee Clipper”. It was the first “major” hurricane to strike New England since the year 1869. In the long period after this storm, New England was directly hit by a hurricane on an average of once every 6.7 years until 1991 – and there have been none since.

Genesis of the great storm

The storm began on September 9th near the Cape Verde Islands in the eastern Atlantic Ocean. About a week later, the captain of a Brazilian freighter sighted the storm near Puerto Rico and radioed a warning to the US Weather Bureau and it was expected that the storm would make landfall in south Florida where preparations frantically began. By September 19th, however, the storm suddenly changed direction and began moving north, parallel to the eastern seaboard. It had been many decades since New England had been hit by a substantial hurricane and few believed it could happen again. The storm picked up tremendous speed as it moved to the north following a track over the warm Gulf waters.

Devastation arrives on September 21^st

By the time the fast-moving storm approached Long Island, it was simply too late for a warning. In the middle of the afternoon on September 21st, the powerful category 3 hurricane (previously a category 5) made landfall along the south shore of Long Island right around high tide when there was nearly a new moon (highest astronomical tide of the year). To make matters worse, this part of the country had just been through a long rainy period which saturated grounds before the arrival of this great storm. Waves as high as 40+ feet swallowed up coastal homes and homes that survived the storm surge succumbed to the damaging winds that reached 111-129 mph (lower to the west and higher to the east).

By late afternoon, the hurricane raced northward at an amazing speed of nearly 50 mph crossing the Long Island Sound and reaching Connecticut (Landsea C.W., et al. 2013, National Hurricane Center; Hurricane Research Division Re-Analysis Project). The storm surge of 14-18 feet above normal tide level inundated parts of Long Island and later the southern New England coastline. The waters in Providence harbor rapidly submerged the downtown area of Rhode Island’s capital under more than 13 feet of water and many people were swept away. The accelerating hurricane then continued northward at tremendous speed across Massachusetts generating great flooding in its path.

In Milton, a town south of Boston, the Blue Hill Observatory recorded one of the highest wind gusts in history at an incredible 186 mph. Boston was hit hard and “Old Ironsides” – the historic ship USS Constitution – was torn from its moorings in Boston Navy Yard and suffered slight damage. Hundreds of other ships were not so lucky being completely demolished. The hurricane lost intensity as it passed over northern New England, but was still strong enough to cause widespread damage in Canada later that evening before finally dissipating over southeastern Canada later that night. All told, approximately 682 people were killed by the hurricane, 600 of them in Long Island and southern New England, 9000 homes and buildings were destroyed and 3000 ships were sunk or wrecked. It remains the most powerful and deadliest hurricane in recent New England history, eclipsed in landfall intensity perhaps only by the Great Colonial Hurricane of 1635. According to Meteorologist Joe Bastardi, in the long period from 1938 to 1991, New England was directly hit by a hurricane on an average of once every 6.7 years and there have been none since with the last being Hurricane Bob in August 1991.

Final notes on the storm

In terms of weather forecasting for this storm, while the US Weather Bureau did not predict a hurricane landfall, that decision was not without controversy as a junior forecaster named Charlie Pierce believed the storm would curve into Long Island and southern New England due to blocking high pressure to the northeast and trough of low pressure which would guide the storm inland in his opinion.  Mr. Pierce was overruled by the chief forecaster, Charles Mitchell.  Shortly thereafter, Charles Mitchell resigned and Charlie Pierce was promoted. 

Source: NY Daily News

[Video was captured from the “Great New England Hurricane” of September 1938; courtesy YouTube].

Meteorologist Paul Dorian
Arcfield
arcfieldweather.com

From Climate Depot

By Marc Morano

Dumpster Diving NASA Scientist Peter Kalmus: ‘Biden must declare a climate emergency’ – Admits he has ‘bottomless grief’ because ‘we are losing Earth’ & seeks to ‘end’ fossil fuels https://t.co/i4AAtnuHVh https://t.co/NfMXVkdHv6

— Marc Morano (@ClimateDepot) September 17, 2023

AT LEAST 75K people in the streets of NYC for the March to #EndFossilFuels!! Calling on @potus to stop the expansion and production of fossil fuels and declare a #ClimateEmergency pic.twitter.com/ZyRjqkqXHt

— Molly Morabito 🌅 (@morabito_molly) September 17, 2023

BREAKING: 10K + people are taking to the streets in NYC in a massive show of of force to demand that @POTUS end new fossil fuels.

Biden, declare a climate emergency and phase out fossil fuels so we can all live!#ClimateEmergency #EndFossilFuels pic.twitter.com/zYWDlvDHQz

— New York Communities for Change (@nychange) September 17, 2023

AOC gets it: It’s gonna take a massive international people-powered movement to demand we transition off fossil fuels. #EndFossilFuels #ClimateEmergency pic.twitter.com/pxNqZWIWVh

— People vs. Fossil Fuels (@FightFossils) September 17, 2023

Dumpster Diving NASA Scientist Peter Kalmus: ‘Biden must declare a climate emergency’ – Admits he has ‘bottomless grief’ because ‘we are losing Earth’ & seeks to ‘end’ fossil fuels

Flashback: Meet Peter Kalmus, the ‘dumpster diving’ NASA climate scientist who warns it’s ‘end of life on Earth as we know it’ & it’s ‘freaking out in my brain’– ProPublica profile of NASA’s Jet Propulsion Lab climate scientist Peter Kalmus: – “A climate scientist spent years trying to get people to pay attention to the disaster ahead. His wife is exhausted. His older son thinks there’s no future. And nobody but him will use the outdoor toilet he built to shrink his carbon footprint.” …

Peter had been pleading, begging for people to pay attention to the global emergency. “Is this my personal hell?” he tweeted this past fall. “That I have to spend my entire life desperately trying to convince everyone NOT TO DESTROY THE FUCKING EARTH?”

CBS Sunday Morning Frets ‘Human Extinction’ from Climate – Features NASA scientist Peter Kalmus declaring ‘I do want people freaking out’

Jane Pauley: “Searing heat, massive wildfires, catastrophic flooding. Unequivocal evidence the United Nations says that climate change is real and that human activity is its primary cause. So how bad can it get?” Pauley asked. “According to some scientists, the possibility of worldwide societal collapse or even eventual human extinction isn’t out of the question. It’s a harsh warning to say the least.”

Jane Pauley features NASA scientist Peter Kalmus who declares “I do want people freaking out.” on climate.

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NASA climate scientist Peter Kalmus: ‘Race justice & climate justice are one & the same: Oppressive extractive plutocracies that colonize & kill black bodies & colonize & kill our planet are one & the same’

NASA’s Jet Propulsion Lab climate scientist Peter Kalmus: “Here’s why race justice and climate justice are one & the same: The oppressive extractive plutocracies that colonize and kill black bodies and colonize and kill our planet are one and the same.”

‘The planet is dying!’ – ‘Dumpster diving’ NASA climate scientist kicked out of the world’s biggest Earth-science conference for protesting inaction

Business Insider:Two climate scientists were kicked out of a major science conference in Chicago on Thursday. NASA’s Peter Kalmus and Rose Abramoff went onstage to urge other researchers to take climate action. They told Insider the American Geophysical Union told them they’d be arrested if they returned. …

NASA’s Peter Kalmus, a climate scientist at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Lab,  shouted during his onstage disruption: “Our science is showing that the planet is dying. It’s terrifying. Everything is at risk. As scientists, we have tremendous leverage, but we need to use it. We can wake everybody up.”

. Kalmus blames “capitalism” for the alleged climate crisis. “Can’t you all see? The real villain was capitalism all along.” Watch: Peter Kalmus weeps over climate in April 2022: “We have been trying to warn you guys for so many decades that we are heading towards a F*cking catastrophe.” – “We are going to lose everything. And we are not joking. We are not lying. We are not exaggerating.” – We have to stop financing of fossil fuels. We have to stop new fossil fuel projects. we don’t have any carbon budget left.” – “It is going to literally take us to the brink of civilizational collapse. and we have to stop it right now.”Flashback: Meet Peter Kalmus, the ‘dumpster diving’ NASA climate scientist who warns it’s ‘end of life on Earth as we know it’ & it’s ‘freaking out in my brain’Flashback: Kalmus declared ‘I do want people freaking out’

NASA’s Kalmus: “Global warming is happening with a rapidity that leaves me speechless”

2022: UK Independent: Nasa climate scientist Peter Kalmus breaks down in tears at protest after chaining himself to doors of JPMorgan Chase  – Peter Kalmus and others were later arrested after blocking the entrace to a JP Morgan-Chase building in LA – His protest in LA involved scientists chaining themselves to the doors of a JPMorgan Chase building…“We’re going to lose everything,” Kalmus said in a video of the moment. “And we’re not joking, we’re not lying, we’re not exaggerating.” Dr Kalmus, a climate scientist at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in California, was participating in a protest organized by Scientist Rebellion as part of a global day of action by scientists around the world. His protest in LA involved scientists chaining themselves to the doors of a JPMorgan Chase building.

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