1926 hurricanes...neat!!

[iceangel]

here is a map of all the hurricanes of 1926 and a little bit down the page is a map of each hurricane track individually!
http://weather.unisys.com/hurricane/atlantic/1926/

look at this page!!
http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&ie=I ... gle+Search

[mobilebay]

On a interesting note about the 1926 season. The Hurricane that tracked over Miami, then over or just South of Mobile, and then into New Orleans is probably the worse case scenario for damage in dollar amounts. Can you imagine a track like that today? WOW!!! It hit Miami as Cat 4 Hurricane. The best estimates I could find place the damage in today's dollar amount near 98 Billion!

[Matt-hurricanewatcher]

Its very posssible to.

[Normandy]

Yes but wouldn't it take a VERY special synoptic situatuon to steer it into miami, then north, then turn it back west right at the coast straight into New Orleans? Low chances of hapenning imo.

[mobilebay]

Yes but wouldn't it take a VERY special synoptic situatuon to steer it into miami, then north, then turn it back west right at the coast straight into New Orleans? Low chances of hapenning imo.

I don't think the chances are that low at all. It happened once, it can happen again. Almost happened with Andrew. A Miami - New Orleans hit is certainly not out of the question, and will probably happen again one day. To me that is my worse case scenario in terms of dollars and lives lost. just my opinion though.

[Matt-hurricanewatcher]

A cat4 into New york.

A powerful hurricane like Camille develops near 24 north 65 west. Then it moves westward then turns northward as it gets picked up by a strong trough. Races north at 50 mph. Hits New york citie as a 135 to 140 mph cat4. The surge would wash over the citie with 20 to 30 feet of water. In the the buildings would act to make the guest up to 160 or more mph. That would cause trillions of dollars of damage.

[Normandy]

I don't think the chances are that low at all. It happened once, it can happen again. Almost happened with Andrew. A Miami - New Orleans hit is certainly not out of the question, and will probably happen again one day. To me that is my worse case scenario in terms of dollars and lives lost. just my opinion though

No, im talking a hurricane hitting Miami, then moving into New Orleans from the east....as in heading due west into the bay. That would take a special scenario (Oh yeah it also needs to be a Cat4-5 also, more problems). Andrew just hit South Florida and recurved into LA. That is more likely than the scenario im presenting.

[SouthernWx]

Andrew just hit South Florida and recurved into LA. That is more likely than the scenario im presenting.

Yeah, but we were extremely fortunate that Andrew was small and just far enough south to spare downtown Miami....and recurved at an angle just wide enough to spare New Orleans. I remember as Andrew moved into the eastern GOM, the initial model data suggested a second landfall near Buras....then up just west of the Mississippi passing just west of downtown New Orleans. Don't let anyone kid you....Andrew was a potent hurricane as it approached Lousiana....down to 937 mb before interacting with the marshes south of Houma.

Sure it was weakened to 120 mph by the time it was WSW of Morgan City...after scraping along the coast all night long. I bet $$$$ the coastline south/ SW of Houma (southern Terrebonne Parish) experienced borderline cat-4 conditions....130-135 sustained with 160 mph gusts. IF the guidance had verified and Andrew had struck near Grand Isle OR between Grand Isle and Port Sulphur moving NW.....that area at the Mouth of the Mississippi would have been wiped out, and New Orleans would have IMO experienced
gusts over 130 mph....and a 10-15' storm surge (Betsy II?).

PW

[HurricaneJoe22]

Check out the individual track for Faith. Now that's what I call a long tracker! But it looks as if it got easy to forecast it's path after the big hook to the left in the North Atlantic! Can you say due west!

http://weather.unisys.com/hurricane/atl ... /track.gif

[mobilebay]

Check out the individual track for Faith. Now that's what I call a long tracker! But it looks as if it got easy to forecast it's path after the big hook to the left in the North Atlantic! Can you say due west!

http://weather.unisys.com/hurricane/atl ... /track.gif

That was an error.

[cajungal]

Notice the one that went right through my area in Louisiana. My neighbor down the street is 92 years old. She was 14 for the hurricane of 1926. And she remembers it vividly. She was living in a shotgun house at the time. The winds around where I live now had got up to over 120 that night. She said their house was blown off his fondation and every dish in their cabinets broke. She said that the damage was extreme around here at that time. And it was one of the scariest hurricanes she ever been through.

[weathermom]

What is a shotgun house? This is the second reference I have seen lately to one and I am clueless. I guess it's not something a yankee would know?

[CentralFlGal]

The Shotgun house is a narrow one-story dwelling without halls. Each room is placed behind the other in single file. The roof ridge is perpendicular to the street. The traditional description of why these houses are called "shotgun" is that if one fired a shotgun through the front door, the shot would pass through the lined-up doors of each room and out the back door. This description does not really fit most shotgun houses, because the doors of the successive rooms don't usually line up.

Cute little places!

[cajungal]

Andrew just hit South Florida and recurved into LA. That is more likely than the scenario im presenting.

Yeah, but we were extremely fortunate that Andrew was small and just far enough south to spare downtown Miami....and recurved at an angle just wide enough to spare New Orleans. I remember as Andrew moved into the eastern GOM, the initial model data suggested a second landfall near Buras....then up just west of the Mississippi passing just west of downtown New Orleans. Don't let anyone kid you....Andrew was a potent hurricane as it approached Lousiana....down to 937 mb before interacting with the marshes south of Houma.

Sure it was weakened to 120 mph by the time it was WSW of Morgan City...after scraping along the coast all night long. I bet $$$$ the coastline south/ SW of Houma (southern Terrebonne Parish) experienced borderline cat-4 conditions....130-135 sustained with 160 mph gusts. IF the guidance had verified and Andrew had struck near Grand Isle OR between Grand Isle and Port Sulphur moving NW.....that area at the Mouth of the Mississippi would have been wiped out, and New Orleans would have IMO experienced
gusts over 130 mph....and a 10-15' storm surge (Betsy II?).

PW

No, we did not experience those conditions. I live 25 miles due east of Morgan City where Andrew's eye came ashore. (I live just north of Houma) We did however get sustained winds of 100 mph with some higher gusts. I remember that clearly. At least, that was what the radio was saying. But, the winds were very loud and scary. So, I can't imagine what a Cat 4 would sound like. Because even the 100 mph winds sounded like a freight train going through my living room. Now, for Betsy, my mom said it was a lot worse here than it was for Andrew. Because she was so huge and her eyewall was 40 miles across. They were in the eyewall for Betsy. She swallowed Terrebonne Parish and Lafourche Parish whole. The Houma-Thibodaux area had winds around 130 with much higher gusts.

[cajungal]

Yes but wouldn't it take a VERY special synoptic situatuon to steer it into miami, then north, then turn it back west right at the coast straight into New Orleans? Low chances of hapenning imo.

No, maybe it did no hurricane has hit Miami dead on then New Orleans. But, the closest call would of been Betsy. She hit Key Largo which is way less populated than Miami. Then, she hit Grand Isle, and affected New Orleans. New Orleans only got winds of around 105 for Betsy. It was the water that killed many. People drowned in their attics trying to escape the floodwater. Back then, meterology was not like it is today. Remember the loop Betsy did? Nobody thought it was going to hit South Florida. Everyone thought she was heading straight for the Carolinas.

[otowntiger]

I don't think the chances are that low at all. It happened once, it can happen again. Almost happened with Andrew. A Miami - New Orleans hit is certainly not out of the question, and will probably happen again one day. To me that is my worse case scenario in terms of dollars and lives lost. just my opinion though

No, im talking a hurricane hitting Miami, then moving into New Orleans from the east....as in heading due west into the bay. That would take a special scenario (Oh yeah it also needs to be a Cat4-5 also, more problems). Andrew just hit South Florida and recurved into LA. That is more likely than the scenario im presenting.

Hurricane Elena made that due west track headed right for New Orleans just before veering slightly north into Gulfport. I know she didn't hit Miami, but the synoptic pattern you say to be so rare must have been in place then.

[SouthernWx]

No, we did not experience those conditions. I live 25 miles due east of Morgan City where Andrew's eye came ashore. (I live just north of Houma) We did however get sustained winds of 100 mph with some higher gusts.

Sorry for the misunderstanding, but the area of Terrebonne parish which experienced 130+ mph sustained winds is located well south of Houma....right along the Gulf of Mexico from Lake Pelto and Caillou Bay northwestward to Point Au Fer. That area was inside Andrew's northeast eyewall as the eye tracked just offshore....and likely experienced the very worst winds of Andrew.

FYI...here's a tv radar image taken from a VHS video I made in 1992.
This shows hurricane Andrew around 8:30-9 p.m. CDT August 25th, just offshore southern Terrebonne parish...and extreme portions of the parish were inside Andrew's intense northern eyewall.

Andrew vidcap 8/25/92
http://community-2.webtv.net/SouthernWx61/doc/

PW

[weathermom]

CentralFlGal-Thanks!

[Swimdude]

Hmmm that map is impressive. Well, not as much as i'd expected. I guess i've just been staring at the 1995 map for too long.

Less landfalls, but still, impressive.

[cajungal]

If we had Andrew hit today, I would experience the intense winds of the northern eyewall here. We are 20 miles closer to the Gulf than we were for Andrew. (Yes, I live in the same house as I did for Andrew.) But, 20 miles closer because of coastal erosion. I agree that the lowest part of my parish (Terrebonne) did get extreme winds for Andrew. Our fishing camp was located down Bayou Dularge. (Smack between Lake Decade and Lake Mechant) Only a 5 minute boat ride from the Gulf Of Mexico. Only 2 walls were left still standing. And that camp was in the family a very long time. I cried when I found out it was gone.