Isabel - Strongest Hurricane to Hit Hatteras in Over 100 yrs

[wxman57]

There's been a lot of talk here about how strong Isabel was when it hit Hatteras. I just read in the paper this morning that Hatteras was basically destroyed. Initial reports show sustained (1-minute average) winds no higher than 80 mph, though I do suspect that there was a pocket of 90-100 mph sustained wind that missed any observing stations. So let's assume, for the sake of argument, that Isabel actually produced minimal Cata 2 winds at Hatteras.

My contention has been that even 75 mph sustained winds have been rarely felt by residents of Cape Hatteras, as most hurricanes that have "hit" Hatteras have dealt glancing blows, with Hatteras on the often much-weaker west side where the residents most likely received no more than 50-60 mph sustained wind. So I did a bit of research. As near as I can tell, all hurricanes except the 1933 storm just grazed Hatteras. But the 1933 storm was at 70 kts and weakening as it reached 75W moving WNW toward Hatteras. So residents may have seen only 55-70 mph sustained wind with that storm.

http://weather.unisys.com/hurricane/atl ... index.html

Bob and Gloria in recent years almost certainly didn't produce sustained 75 mph wind at Hatteras, as Hatteras would have passed through the weaker left half of each storm. In fact, I'm not so sure that Hatteras has seen 75+ mph sustained wind (the key word here is sustained) since the 1899 hurricane (not counting Nor'easters).

http://weather.unisys.com/hurricane/atl ... index.html

So not since 1899 has Hatteras been in the more powerful right-front quadrant of a hurricane, where most of the hurricane-force winds are in Cat 1 and 2 storms. As such, no lifetime resident of Hatteras has likely seen real Cat 1-2 hurricane-force winds before Isabel. I've been through Betsy, Hilda, and Carmen, but even I have never seen sustained wind of 75+ mph (from a hurricane). I saw gusts that high, but not persistent winds over 75 mph.

So it's easy to understand why the residents of NC view Isabel as the worst storm they've ever seen, as it probably was. I didn't go back all the way to 1851, but it may be that Hatteras has never seen a Cat 3 or higher storm (in the right-front quadrant). They're very lucky that Isabel was a shadow of her former self at landfall.

Oh, and I DID experience 75+ mph sustained wind in a winter storm off Rio Gallegos, Argentina in 1980. I was working on a plaform 20 miles off the Straits of Magellan doing weather forecasts for Shell. My anemometer was pegged at 100kts. We were on a jack-up rig in 250 feet of water, and the rig was near its design limits. I went outside (100 ft above the water) and stood in the wind to see what it felt like. I could put my back up to a railing, face the wind, and lift my feet off the ground. The wind force kept me pinned to the railing with my feet not touching anything. That's strong!

[janswizard]

Does anyone know if the Hatteras Lighthouse is still standing? I'm sure it was built very securely. The webcam that was there doesn't work any longer but that's probably due to electrical outages.

Never mind, Gabrielle answered it in another thread!

[SacrydDreamz]

How about Charley in 1986? I believe Hatteras was in the NE quad for that one. Wonder what the winds were at landfall..

[Stormsfury]

Yep. But it looks like they might have been in the center of Charley.

http://www.nhc.noaa.gov/tracks/1986.gif
http://www.ns.ec.gc.ca/weather/hurrican ... rley86.gif

The only thing I can find is this page

http://www.hurricanecity.com/moreheadcity.htm

EDIT: Just found this.

http://www.erh.noaa.gov/ilm/tropics/pas ... s1986.html
http://www.erh.noaa.gov/ilm/tropics/pas ... ley86.html

[wxman57]

When Charley passed, its pressure was 988 mb and carried as 65kts/75 mph max winds. Odds are, with a storm that week, that few people (if any) actually experienced hurricane-force winds. Now also consider that the NHC would likely have carried Charley as a hurricane even if it had weakened near landfall, so Hatteras may have seen significantly less than 75 mph wind. All those other hurricanes that passed within 40 miles either missed off to the east, putting Hatteras in the weak quadrant or were so far inland and/or weak that hurricane-force winds may not have reached the area. I certainly can't find a case where Hatteras saw 85-95 mph sustained wind in the past 104+ years.

I really couldn't find any clear evidence that Hatteras has seen 75+ mph wind in a hurricane since 1899. Remember, most Cat 1 and Cat 2 storms have a very assymetrical wind field. Hurricane-force wind usually doesn't wrap around west of the center, particularly in storms that are recurving.

[ncbird]

WRAL a news channel from Raleigh-Durham has some great info on Isabel and some video clips.


http://www.wral.com/index.html

[JtSmarts]

Newspaper report said their was an estimated 300 million dollars of damage on Hatteras alone.