Not retired, but should have been?

[weatherluvr]

Gloria was retired not necessarily for the damage she caused, but the overwhelming media attention it received would make it impossible to name another storm Gloria and not confuse it with the '85 storm.

On a side note, I remember Gloria very well. I was living in Springfield, MA at the time (right next to East Longmeadow, Bill). Aside from losing power for an extended period and having a couple of small trees blown down, I just remember it being a "cool" storm to go through. I played football in the middle of it (it made passing a little difficult). We even got the eye directly over us, although by the time it passed there wasn't much of a backside left.

Part of the reason Bob didn't get quite as much attention as Gloria, IMO, is that it struck the same day as the Soviet coup to overthrow Gorbachev, and that was the big news story that day.

[HurricaneBill]

Oh well, Gloria was still a bad storm IMHO and one that deserved retirement.

Bob was DEFINITELY a bad storm. I don't think Bob recieved as much media attention as Gloria because there wasn't really much time to.

Gloria was a Cape Verde storm. Bob, on the other hand, just flared up off the coast of Florida and became a tropical storm on August 17th. Bob was upgraded to a Category 1 hurricane around late afternoon/early evening on the 18th. Overnight, Bob became a Category 3. When I woke up on the morning of the 19th, it was already pouring out. Not windy yet, but raining.

My dad was up on a ladder, cleaning out the gutters. He also found a bees' nest in the gutter and got stung twice. Needless to say, he was not in a good mood.

As the day progressed, Bob weakened but was still a Category 2 at landfall. Although far inland, the weather in East Longmeadow was bad. We were on the upper left quadrant, so we got the weaker side. Of course, weak is not the word to describe it. Looking out the window, the trees would be bending in the wind, move back up, bend over again. It was like a bunch of people bowing repeatedly. I think I read that the winds in the Springfield area were sustained at near 60 mph with gusts to near 80 mph. The rain was coming down like a waterfall.

During the afternoon, the power went out just briefly. Only for a few seconds. But long enough to make all the clocks flash 12:00AM repeatedly. (Of course)

At one point, I opened the door to look outside. As I was closing it, the wind blew so hard, the knob just came out of my hand and the door slammed shut.

By late afternoon/early evening, it was over. I think we got around 7-8 inches of rain. You couldn't go anywhere without seeing a fallen tree on the ground. Lots of leaves were on the ground too.

[HurricaneBill]

Looking at the eastern Pacific, there are 5 storms that I think should have been retired but were not.

Hurricane Dot (1959) Dot peaked as an intense Category 4. When she made landfall on Kauai as a Category 1. Despite this, some wind gusts reached 150 mph. Although there were no fatalities, damage was extensive.

Hurricane Bridget (1971) Bridget peaked as a Category 2. Bridget made landfall on Acapulco as a Category 2. After landfall, Bridget moved offshore and made landfall further up the coast of Mexico as a Category 1. 10 ships sank, including the Mexican Navy admiral's flagship. Bridget left 40 dead.

Hurricane Kathleen (1976) Kathleen peaked and made landfall on Baja California as a Category 1 hurricane. Moving up Baja California, Kathleen was still at tropical storm intensity when she moved into California. With sustained winds of more than 55 mph and torrential rains, Kathleen produced many desert floods that claimed 5 lives. Kathleen was probably the worst tropical storm to strike California since 1939. Kathleen is also one of the few tropical storms to hit California.

Hurricane Liza (1976) Liza made landfall on La Paz as a Category 4 hurricane. After crossing Baja California, Liza made landfall on Mexico as a Category 4. On the Cajoncito River, flooding rains caused a dam to collapse, sending a wall of water through La Paz. At least 630 people died.

Hurricane Madeline (1976) Very little is online about Madeline except the fact that she made landfall on Mexico as a Category 4 with sustained winds of 144 mph. This makes Madeline stronger than Hurricane Kenna at landfall. Only a 1959 hurricane that struck Mexico as a Category 5 was stronger at landfall. Madeline had a barometric pressure of 941 millibars at landfall.