Leaving seven hundred dead, 18 billion of today’s dollars in damages, and striking with such speed it earned the nickname “The Long Island Express” (The History Channel Online), the category three hurricane which smashed New England September 21st, 1938, was the storm of a century (MSNBC).
The hurricane developed off the “west coast of Africa, south of the Cape Verde Islands” (Popular Mechanics Online 1) on September 4th and then moved west (National Weather Service Forecast Office). It reached hurricane level on the 15th (Egan). “It passed north of Puerto Rico on Sept. 18 and 19 as a powerful Category 5 hurricane” (Popular Mechanics Online). It then rounded to the north, threatened Florida briefly, and began its trek north along the east coast.
New Englanders were completely unaware of the storm’s development. Although, a New England Fall is usually ideal weather, the September of 1938 was anything but. Nearly half of New England’s yearly rainfall fell during the three days before the hurricane (Scotti 84), this, following weeks upon weeks of hot muggy misery. The torrential downpours soon left the land waterlogged and reached flood stage far before the hurricane hit (Scotti 84).
Out to sea, the Bermuda High, which is “an area of high pressure that forms over the Atlantic Ocean during the hurricane season” (Tampa Bay Online), was several hundred miles to the north of its usual position. This is a semi-permanent high which forms in the same area every year. When a hurricane encounters this whether phenomena, it follows the High’s clockwise moving winds. Normally, an Atlantic hurricane will move in the direction of Florida and the Bahamas, then, if the High is in a more northerly position, it will move north, roughly paralleling the United States coastline (Grammatico). The hurricane will usually then travel in a northeast direction and turn back east out into the sea in the direction of Cape Hatteras (Grammatico). If, on the other hand, the Bermuda High is in a more middle position, then it will hit the area of Florida and the Bahamas (Lovering). If it is in a southern position, then the storm will move into the Gulf Coast.
Because of the Bermuda High’s unusual northerly position that year, it blocked the storm from moving harmlessly out to die in the frigid arctic waters of the North Atlantic. A second front hung over the Alleghenies, preventing the storm from skimming the coast, striking pre-warned and prepared areas. A resulting valley of low pressure extended from New England to the Carolinas and “had turned the Northeast into a steam bath [and] was as close to the tropics as it ever got” (Scotti 76). The low pressure valley literally sucked the storm in and became a dagger aimed at the heart of New England (Lovering).
Incredibly, the low pressure valley did more than simply aim the hurricane at the Nation’s most densely packed population centers (Scotti 93); it also gave the storm one, if not the most, fastest lateral speeds ever recorded. As the hurricane moved north, the two highs on either side squeezed the storm, decreasing its area and transferring that energy to forward momentum (Scotti). The hurricane speed was more than five times the normal speed, easily surpassing sixty miles an hour (PBS Online). The average is thirteen miles an hour (Tampa Bay Online). By the time it finally hit the New England Coast, the hurricane’s power was so concentrated, the force of its striking registered on seismographs in Alaska (PBS Online).
The wind speed was, at the time it hit land, anywhere from an estimated one hundred fifteen to one hundred twenty miles per hour, with peak winds estimated to be around one hundred fifty miles per hour (Grammatico). Until the roof blew off, the wind was measured to be around ninety-eight miles per hour by the Harbormaster’s office (Grammatico). The highest recorded wind speeds were one hundred miles inland from where the hurricane hit land at the Blue Hills Observatory in Boston, Massachusetts with average wind speeds around one hundred twenty one miles per hour (Grammatico) and gusts of one hundred and eighty-six miles an hour. The possibility of knowing the actual wind is unlikely because all of the measuring instruments were destroyed by the force of the winds before they hit peak (Grammatico).
Another devastating factor which simply added to the carnage was the timing of the storm. In addition to striking immediately after days of torrential down pours, the storm hit just a few hours before astronomical high tide (Mandia, Weather History of the ’38 Hurricane ). Called the “Autumnal Equinox,” this is when “the sun and moon both are in line with the earth and so exert a double gravitational pull” (Lovering). This was the day of the highest tide of the year.
A final factor which contributed is one most would not consider: geography. Long Island is what is called a “moraine” (Flagg). A moraine is a glacially accumulated collection of materials, mostly soil or rocks. Long Island is nothing more than an oversized sand pile (Flagg). So when the waves began moving inland, there was no high ground for people to run to.
Charlie Pierce, a junior forecaster at the U.S. Weather Bureau, now the National Weather Service, accurately predicted the path of the storm but was over ruled by the chief forecaster (Mandia, The Long Island Express). After all, hurricanes just don’t strike New England. The last one was in 1815 (Oblack) and in 1938, the Weather Bureau was under trained and ill-equipped. Meteorology was still a new science in America. So, on September 21, they sent out a forecast that read only:
“‘Northerly winds along the New Jersey, Maryland and southern Delaware coast will likely increase to whole gale force this afternoon and turn back to northwest and diminish tonight.” (Scotti 93)
This “was sent out to weather posts, newspaper offices, and radio stations” all over the Northeast. The storm came ashore half an hour later (Scotti 93).
As the hurricane approached the shore, it was pushing the water in front of it (Lovering). When it hit the continental shelf, all the water formed what is known as a storm surge. Most of Long Island and the Connecticut coast were buried under a solid wall of water 14 to 18 feet high which reached, unbroken, all the way to Gloucester, Massachusetts, about 250 miles distant (Popular Mechanics Online 1), with waves averaging between 30 and 50 feet (Mandia, Weather History of the ’38 Hurricane ). Downtown Providence, Rhode Island was submerged under nearly twenty feet of water (Mandia, Weather History of the ’38 Hurricane ). The devastation continued inland. “Downtown Westhampton Beach, a mile inland, was under 8 feet of water” (Mandia, Weather History of the ’38 Hurricane ).
Normally after a storm makes landfall it quickly begins to lose power because it is over land and away from the source of its power, warm water. This hurricane was different. Instead of losing power and slowing in wind speed, it increased. The hurricane simply fed off the already saturated New England soil which was steaming from the previous weeks of burning weather. This kept the storm strong causing destruction across six states, hundreds of miles inland (Scotti).
The damage caused by the hurricane was almost unbelievable. In North American history it is still consedered one of our most terrible disasters (Scotti 93). Over seven hundred people were killed (Mandia, The Long Island Express). “The hurricane’s relentless waves punched a hole through the beach at Shinnecock Bay, cutting it in two and creating Shinnecock Inlet, which still exists today” (Popular Mechanics Online 1). After the hurricane had passed, over seventy five thousand buildings were either damaged or destroyed (Grammatico). The hurricane left sixty-three thousand people homeless (Mandia, The Long Island Express) and cost an estamated eighteen bilion dollars in damages (The History Channel Online). Twenty-six thousand automobiles were left as nothing more than twisted pieces of metal (Mandia, Damage Caused by Storm). Twenty thousand miles of power and phone lines went down (Mandia, Damage Caused by Storm). Bell Systems brought in nearly three thousand men just to repair the phone lines (Mandia, Damage Caused by Storm). The devastating storm continued into Canada where it caused widespread damage until it died late that night (The History Channel Online). Even after the storm itself was spend, the devastation continued. “The Connecticut River rose 20 ft., burst its banks near the capital of Hartford and spread out 4 miles” (Popular Mechanics Online 1). The flooding after the hurricane was some of the worst ever recorded in the area (Mandia, Weather History of the ’38 Hurricane ). By the time it was all over, an estimated 2 billion trees were left dead by the storm (Mandia, The Long Island Express). To convey the scale of the damage, consider the fact that “in every coastal town to the east of New Haven – the US Postal Service was unable to deliver mail for more than a week” (Grammatico).
This hurricane was a complete meteorological surprise attack. No one knew it was coming and no one was prepared. The Great Hurricane of 1938 slammed into America’s most densely populated region. “It was the most destructive natural disaster in US history- worse than the San Francisco earthquake, the Chicago fire, or any Mississippi flood” (Scotti 93).
The future is not particularly bright for New England. They are long overdue for another major hurricane. With the area now highly urbanized, thousands of lives could be lost and damage could run as high as 70 billion dollars (Mandia, What’s In Store For New York’s Future? ).
Works Cited
Egan, Carolyn. The Great Unnamed Hurricane of 1938 In Southern New England, USA. 1 1 1997. 11 11 2008 <http://www.weathersage.com/storms/1938/>.
Flagg, Aubrey. Long Island and the 1938 Hurricane Joshua Morris. 5 November 2008.
I conducted an interview with Professor Flagg, associate proffesor of Geography at Columbia State Community College, in his office on this subject. He did contribute some unique viewpoints on the event which I, nor any of my other sources, had considered. Most of the information he provided was closely associated to his background in geography and geology.
Grammatico, Michael A. 1938 Hurricane – September 21, 1938. 7 1999. 11 11 2008 <http://www.geocities.com/hurricanene/hurr1938.htm>.
This is a webpage made by an individual interested in this topic. The author claims to hold a degree in physical geography. The site appears to be very professionally constructed and well informed. This site was very helpful and provided a great deal of new information. I was hesitant to cite this source because of its geocities URL. Typically any material from such sites is immediately disregarded because it does not originate from an easily proven credible source such as a college or a government agency. However, after corroborating a significant amount of information found on this site, I determined the information was accurate and trust worthy. I would very readily recommend this site because of its generous inclusion of photographs illustrating the storm and resulting damage.
Lovering, Larry A. The Great Hurricane in New England. 11 11 2008 <http://www.southstation.org/hurr1.htm#pix>.
This is a website maintained by another enthusiast. The site covers a great number of topics unrelated to hurricanes or weather in general. Again, I was hesitant to used this site but after an amount of corroboration decided to use it. The individual lives in the Long Island area and gained access to a 1938 issue of the Providence Journal, a local news paper. He then typed the text and posted it on his website. There was a fair amount of new information provided by this source. The greatest amount was mostly links to other sources. There were a few facts on this page which I decided to use in this paper. I would not recommend this source to others simply because there is very little information. It covers a very basic set of information which could be easily obtained from other, more credible sources.
Mandia, Scott A. Damage Caused by Storm. 05 09 08. 01 12 2008 <http://www2.sunysuffolk.edu/mandias/38hurricane/damage_caused.html>.
. The Long Island Express. 5 9 2008. 11 11 2008 <http://www2.sunysuffolk.edu/mandias/38hurricane/>.
This is the website of a community college professor who lives and teaches in Suffolk County. This information was posted on a page within the college website. This source was an excellent general overview of the storm as well as its history, damage, and influence. He covered a great many of the pointes coved in this paper though less thoroughly. This is the first site I would recommend. Although the posted information is not as in-depth as I wished, Dr. Mandia has become the main online authority being cited, almost without exception, by every other internet source on this topic.
. Weather History of the ’38 Hurricane . 5 9 2008. 11 11 2008 <http://www2.sunysuffolk.edu/mandias/38hurricane/weather_history_38.html>.
. What’s In Store For New York’s Future? . 05 09 08. 01 12 08 <http://www2.sunysuffolk.edu/mandias/38hurricane/hurricane_future.html>.
MSNBC. Ready or not, Northeast ripe for big hurricane. 2008. 11 11 2008 <http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/12839865/>.
This was an article by MSNBC Online. I found it very informative and helpful. There was some new information gathered from this source. While it also covered a great deal of the same info I already knew, it did cover some other points I did not find elsewhere. Mostly, this article addressed the issue of the possibility of a future repeat of the same events. I may recommend this source to others. It covers very little in the actual event. Instead, it focuses on the future which would be very interesting to a person who was living in the area or already familiar with the storm’s history.
National Weather Service Forecast Office. The Great New England Hurricane of 1938. 5 12 2005. 11 11 2008 <http://www.erh.noaa.gov/box/hurricane/hurricane1938.shtml>.
This is the official website of the National Weather Service. The page I viewed was a simple description of the hurricane. I especially appreciated this source for its credibility. This page did not supply a great deal of new information. The main reason I used it was to provide backing for the facts already present in the paper. A few small details were included in the page I did not know before but this source did not contribute significantly to the paper. I would not readily recommend this source to others simply because it is not interesting reading. If a person simply desired facts on this event rather than an entertaining description, then I would recommend it to them.
Oblack, Rachelle. New England Hurricanes: The Great Hurricanes of New England 1635, 1815, 1938. 2008. 11 11 2008 <http://weather.about.com/od/weatherhistory/p/NewEngland1938.htm>.
PBS Online. Maps: The Hurricane of ’38. 2002. 11 11 2008 <http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/hurricane38/maps/index.html>.
This is a summery of the storm. It was posted to give greater detail on an audio/visual production produced by PBS. I got a number of interesting facts on the hurricane from this site. The most prominent of which was the fact the hurricane registered on seismographs in Alaska. This was a very useful site. I would recommend this site to others because it does a very good job of describing the hurricane with out getting bogged down in lengthy descriptions.
Popular Mechanics Online. The New England Hurricane: New York, Connecticut, Rhode Island, Massachusetts, Vermont, September 1938. 31 7 2007. 11 11 2008 <http://www.popularmechanics.com/science/worst_case_scenarios/4219867.html?series=31>.
This was a very good article. This took a very different perspective on the event from most of the other sources. I gathered a number of new facts from this article. It covered a number of areas left untouched by most sources. One of which was the water temperature. This played a crucial role but is ignored by most sources. I would recommend this source to others. The author did a good job presenting the information in an interesting way.
Scotti, R.A. Sudden Sea: The Great Hurricane of 1938. Little, Brown & Company, 2003.
This was a book written on the subject which wonderfully combined fact and good writing. I read two books on this subject. One was a fictionalized account of several characters who experienced the event but his book covered the factual history and included firsthand accounts of storm survivors. I would readily recommend this book to anyone interested on the storm, both because of its accurate description, and the incredible skill with which the author compiled this book.
Tampa Bay Online. Bermuda High And Other Storm Questions. 15 5 2005. 11 11 2008 <http://hurricane.weathercenter.com/bermudahigh.htm>.
This is an article about the Bermuda High. The I got from this site only background information on the Bermuda High. I wanted to read up some more on this because it plays such an important role in the disaster. I would not recommend this source to others because the Bermuda High is simply not a very interesting subject. The author did a reasonable job but this is just not an engaging topic.
The History Channel Online. The Great New England Hurricane. 2008. 11 11 2008 <http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history.do?action=Article&id=7027>.
