Great Colonial Hurricane of 1635

Infobox Hurricane
Name=Great Colonial Hurricane
Type=hurricane
Year=1635
Basin=Atl
Formed=August 1635
Dissipated= August 25, 1635
1-min winds=100
Pressure=938
Pressurepre=≤
Pressurepost=Estimated [http://www.aoml.noaa.gov/hrd/Landsea/12Tides.pdf Microsoft Word - MASTER_MASTER Oct 23.doc ] ]
Da

Fatalities=46+ direct
Areas=Virginia, Long Island, New England, other areas? (Information scarce)
Hurricane season=1635 Atlantic hurricane seasonThe Great Colonial Hurricane of 1635 was a severe hurricane that hit the Jamestown Settlement and the Massachusetts Bay Colony during August 1635.

Meteorological history

The hurricane was likely a Cape Verde-type hurricane, considering its intensity. It may have taken a similar track to the Great Atlantic Hurricane of 1944 and Hurricane Edna of 1954. It is first mentioned on August 24, 1635, in Jamestown, Virginia. [ [http://www.hpc.ncep.noaa.gov/research/roth/va17hur.htm Seventeenth Cenutry Virginia Hurricanes ] ] Though it did affect Jamestown as a major hurricane, no references to damage by the hurricane can be found, probably because the hurricane was evidently moving rapidly and east of the settlement. The storm's eye is believed to have passed between Boston and Plymouth, Massachusetts. Although neither the Saffir-Simpson Hurricane Scale nor the equipment necessary to measure the storm's characteristics had yet been invented, contemporary descriptions are consistent with a Category 4 hurricane, and it was a strong Category 3 hurricane at landfall with convert|125|mph|km/h|abbr=on|lk=off winds and a central pressure of convert|938|mbar|inHg|abbr=on|lk=off at the Long Island landfall and convert|939|mbar|inHg|abbr=on|lk=off at the mainland landfall—the lowest ever for a Northeast landfall.

Impact

Much of the area between Providence, Rhode Island and the Piscataqua River was damaged by the hurricane; some damage was still noticeable 50 years later. A letter from Governor William Bradford said that the storm drowned seventeen Native Americans and toppled or destroyed thousands of trees; many houses were also flattened. From an account by Antony Thacher, there were twenty-three people aboard a little bark named the "Watch and Wait" and owned by a Mr. Isaac Allerton. The boat sank, and Thacher and his wife were the only ones to survive the shipwreck. Thus the island off Cape Ann—where Thacher survived—was named in his honor and is still known as Thacher's Island.

In Narragansett Bay, the tide was convert|14|ft|m above the ordinary tide and drowned eight Native Americans fleeing from their wigwams. The highest ever such recorded value for a New England Hurricane, a convert|22|ft|m|adj=on storm tide, was recorded in some areas. The town of Plymouth, Massachusetts suffered severe damage with houses blown down and the wind cut great mile-long sections of complete blowdown outside Plymouth and other eastern Massachusetts rural areas. The Boston, Massachusetts area did not suffer from the tide as did areas just to its south. The nearest surge swept over the low-lying tracts of Dorchester, ruining the farms and landscape (from accounts of William Bradford and John Winthrop).

A recent re-analysis of data from the Great Colonial Hurricane of 1635 by scientists of the Atmospheric Oceanic Meteorological Laboratory's Hurricane Re-analysis project [cite paper |last=Jarvinen |first=Brian R. |author= |authorlink= |coauthors= |title=Storm Tides in Twelve Tropical Cyclones (including Four Intense New England Hurricanes) |version= |pages= |publisher=Report for FEMA/National Hurricane Center |year=2006 |url=http://www.aoml.noaa.gov/hrd/Landsea/12Tides.pdf |format= |id= |accessdate= ] analyzes the hurricane as being a Category four hurricane when it made landfall along the Eastern coast of Long Island, New York, and Category Three at subsequent landfall along the border of Rhode Island and Connecticut. In addition, the hurricane is noted for potentially causing the highest storm surge along the Eastern Coast of the United States in recorded history: near the head of Narragansett Bay with a value of approximately convert|20|ft|m|abbr=off|lk=off. The study also indicates that this hurricane was very likely the most intense hurricane to ever impact the New England region in recorded history. In addition, reconstruction of the track and intensity using storm surge modelling indicates that the hurricane potentially had an intensity of convert|938|mbar|inHg|abbr=on|lk=off when it made landfall near Long Island.

ee also

*List of tropical cyclones
*List of Atlantic hurricanes
*List of New England hurricanes
*Angel Gabriel (ship)

References

* [http://www.whoi.edu/home/about/currents_v9no3_hurricanes.html Woods Hole Currents: Digging Into Hurricanes]
* [http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/hurricane38/timeline/ Timeline: U.S. Storm Disasters]
* [http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/weather/hurricane/sfl-hc-history-1495to1800,0,3354030.htmlstory Hurricane timeline: 1495 to 1800]
* [http://www.hpc.ncep.noaa.gov/research/roth/va17hur.htm Seventeenth Century Virginia Hurricanes]

Further reading

*cite journal |last=Boose |first=Emery R. |authorlink= |coauthors=Chamberlin, Kristen E.; Foster, David R. |year=2001 |month= |title=Landscape and Regional Impacts of Hurricanes in New England |journal=Ecological Monographs |volume=71 |issue=1 |pages=27–48 |doi=10.2307/3100043 |url= |accessdate= |quote=

External links

* [http://www.islandnet.com/~see/weather/events/gh1635.htm The Great Hurricane of 1635 and the Legend of Thacker Island] by Keith C. Heidorn