True strength of 1935 Hurricane...
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True strength of 1935 Hurricane...
Offically, the 1935 Labor Day Hurricane or "Hurricane #2" was 160 mph at landfall in the Florida Keys. A MEASURED pressure of 892 MB was recorded. Now take Isabel's 165 mph-915 MB. About every 5 millibars the wins increased 5 mph. 160 mph-920 mb, 165 mph-915 mb... If the 892 mb pressure is true (BEST BET THAT IT IS) than winds at landfall were sure to be in the 185 mph range. If this is correct, I expect the post-anaylsis to show something like that. Also, if this is true, winds went from 70 mph (990 mb rough guess) to 185 mph (892 mb) in just 24 hrs. AMAZING. Any comments?
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- Hurricanehink
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That makes some sense. Hurricane Mitch had a pressure of 905, with winds of 180. If your theory is true, than the Labor Day Hurricane would have winds of 190, quite possible. Allen, on the other hand, had winds of 185 with a pressure of 899. Around that range. Camile, 905, had winds of 195 (which I don't think is true), so the pressure just has to be somewhat low, like <905. However, these are all assuming that the pressure was 892. It is certainly possible that the pressure was not as low. I'm guessing the pressure used may noy be right, and it may have only had 910-920 millibars at is peak.
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- weatherluvr
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- weatherluvr
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Hurricanehink wrote:However, these are all assuming that the pressure was 892. It is certainly possible that the pressure was not as low. I'm guessing the pressure used may noy be right, and it may have only had 910-920 millibars at is peak.
The instrument that recorded the 892 mb pressure was tested and calibrated in a wind tunnel, and was deemed to be accurate. So the pressure reading was correct.
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- Stormsfury
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Hurricane Allen was a HUGE storm in size, and thus not very tightly packed, nowhere near the compact size of the 1935 Labor Day Hurricane. IMHO, sustained winds were 190 mph, and possibly higher.
This is a much weaker Allen just before landfall in South Texas in 1980, but that's comparably the large size throughout ...
Camille was in size, smaller, than Allen, but estimations are that the Labor Day Hurricane was even smaller in size ... and that point makes for the fact that unlike in Allen, Mitch, and Gilbert (due to their large sizes) that the wind radii was tightly clustered and hence, would likely be found to be at LEAST 165 kts (190 mph) ... and some theories suggest that the winds were even higher ...
JetMaxx and I discussed this about the Labor Day Hurricane before, and found some amazing information ... including, the sand on the beach being blown so violently that it created its own sparks.
SF
This is a much weaker Allen just before landfall in South Texas in 1980, but that's comparably the large size throughout ...

Camille was in size, smaller, than Allen, but estimations are that the Labor Day Hurricane was even smaller in size ... and that point makes for the fact that unlike in Allen, Mitch, and Gilbert (due to their large sizes) that the wind radii was tightly clustered and hence, would likely be found to be at LEAST 165 kts (190 mph) ... and some theories suggest that the winds were even higher ...
JetMaxx and I discussed this about the Labor Day Hurricane before, and found some amazing information ... including, the sand on the beach being blown so violently that it created its own sparks.
SF
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- weatherluvr
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Possibly as high as 200KT. Only storm that can compare in size was Iris back in 2001. That was 125-130KT at landfall with a 948mb pressure. The RMW was only about 4.6 KNM and was actually 100% larger than what is was from earlier in the day. The obs show that 1935 wasn't much larger, certainly much smaller than Andrew. So, the comparisons would need to be made with Iris. If we use the 5KT for 5mb factor, this would produce a sustained wind of roughly 195-200KT at the time of landfall. Now, this may be high as this was slightly larger than was Iris
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- Stormsfury
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~Floydbuster wrote:220 mph! I heard talk once that winds GUSTED up to 250 mph. That could blow a train off it's tracks.
IMHO, there's very little doubt that the winds may have gusted in the 250 mph range based on exactly what happened to the surrounding directly struck by the Labor Day Hurricane. The findings will be interesting, and it's quite possible, no ... likely, the Labor Day Hurricane will be stronger than Camille, and the strongest North Atlantic Storm in the list to this date.
http://www.miamicountryday.org/oncampus ... /frame.htm
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- Stormsfury
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I thought that it had already been decided that the 35 cane was deemed to have been stronger than Camille. I was thinking that the top 3 canes were ranked in this order:
1.Labor Day '35 hurricane
2.Camille
3.Andrew
Yeah, I think Camille's winds were at least 195 at landfall. They had to be pretty high for her to be as strong as she was by the time she reached our area.
I do remember Camille. I live about 90-100 miles north of Gulfport, MS. Winds here during the night were easily sustained at 100mph with much higher gusts. About 20 miles to our southeast, sustained winds were officially clocked at 125 in Columbia, MS. I can only imagine what it must have been like on the MS coast that night.
Looking back at what Camille did to MS, I can't imagine how horrible it must have been during the labor day cane. Can you imagine being sandblasted to death? HORRIBLE!!
1.Labor Day '35 hurricane
2.Camille
3.Andrew
Yeah, I think Camille's winds were at least 195 at landfall. They had to be pretty high for her to be as strong as she was by the time she reached our area.
I do remember Camille. I live about 90-100 miles north of Gulfport, MS. Winds here during the night were easily sustained at 100mph with much higher gusts. About 20 miles to our southeast, sustained winds were officially clocked at 125 in Columbia, MS. I can only imagine what it must have been like on the MS coast that night.
Looking back at what Camille did to MS, I can't imagine how horrible it must have been during the labor day cane. Can you imagine being sandblasted to death? HORRIBLE!!
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- vbhoutex
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timNms wrote:I thought that it had already been decided that the 35 cane was deemed to have been stronger than Camille. I was thinking that the top 3 canes were ranked in this order:
1.Labor Day '35 hurricane
2.Camille
3.Andrew
Yeah, I think Camille's winds were at least 195 at landfall. They had to be pretty high for her to be as strong as she was by the time she reached our area.
I do remember Camille. I live about 90-100 miles north of Gulfport, MS. Winds here during the night were easily sustained at 100mph with much higher gusts. About 20 miles to our southeast, sustained winds were officially clocked at 125 in Columbia, MS. I can only imagine what it must have been like on the MS coast that night.
Looking back at what Camille did to MS, I can't imagine how horrible it must have been during the labor day cane. Can you imagine being sandblasted to death? HORRIBLE!!
I'll back you up on Camille Tim!! I lived in Gulf Breeze, FL. when Camille hit, about 120 miles East of the center. Our sustained were at 100 mph also. We had an eight foot storm surge(we measured it) in the sound behind our friends house where we also watched 45' waves washing across Santa Rosa Island at a point where it was at least 1/2 mile wide if not wider. It was and INCREDIBLE EXPERIENCE where I was and after seeing the TOTAL DEVASTATION along the coast and up into your area I would never wish what I saw on the WORST ENEMY I MIGHT EVER HAVE. I CAN'T IMAGINE ANYTHING WORSE THAT WHAT I SAW!! If the 1935 Labor Day Storm was worse IT WAS UNIMAGINABLE and many of the reports I have read make it sound like it was.
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timNms wrote:Wasn't the official storm surge measured at something like 22 feet where Camille made landfall?
You're right Tim:
- Camille's intensity in Harrison County was compounded by the geography of the area in which sections of the county were inundated from both the north and south (Leyden 1985). Maps depicting the extent of flooding show that the community of Pass Christian and parts of Biloxi were completely inundated by flood waters. Storm waters rose to 22.6 feet at Pass Christian, 17 feet behind Pass Christian, 21.6 feet at Long Beach, 21 feet at Gulfport, 19.5 feet at Biloxi, and 15 feet on the Biloxi Bay (USACE 1970) (Figure 4).
This info taken from: http://sciencepolicy.colorado.edu/pielke/camille/index.html
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Stormsfury wrote:JetMaxx and I discussed this about the Labor Day Hurricane before, and found some amazing information ... including, the sand on the beach being blown so violently that it created its own sparks.
I read that somewhere also, SF. And I was real disappointed to find this detail omitted from Willie Drye's book "Storm of the Century".
One of the un-official bp readings was 26.00 (880 mb) which was taken by Ed Butters and also witnessed by 5 others. However the numbnut was so freaked out by what he saw, he flung it out the car window into the storm. So the 892 stands as the official reading but actually could be lower.
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- weatherluvr
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isobar wrote:One of the un-official bp readings was 26.00 (880 mb) which was taken by Ed Butters and also witnessed by 5 others. However the numbnut was so freaked out by what he saw, he flung it out the car window into the storm. So the 892 stands as the official reading but actually could be lower.
I never heard about that. It seems like it's reasonable, given the power of the storm. DAMN YOU, BUTTERS!

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