Hurricanes 



By R. C. Gentry and R. H. Simpson 



National Hurricane Research Project 

 U. S. Weather Bureau 

 West Palm Beach, Fla. 



[With 1 plate] 



INTRODUCTION 



Hurricanes have been very forcibly brought to the attention of a 

 large portion of the population of the United States during the past 

 few years. Hurricanes Carol and Edna successively battered the New 

 England coast in 1954 within a 2-week period. There had not been 

 a hurricane to affect this area seriously since 1944, and many of the 

 local residents believed that they were well outside the main hurricane 

 belt. The situation became worse one month later when Hazel brought 

 gale-force winds to the New England area and almost total destruction 

 to certain portions of the North and South Carolina beaches. 



Hazel was the most severe storm to hit the Cape Fear area of North 

 Carolina during this century, but in 1955 within the 6-week period 

 from August 12 to September 19 three more hurricanes, Connie, 

 Diane, and lone, entered the North Carolina coast. This made four 

 hurricanes that penetrated the North Carolina coast within a distance 

 of about 100 miles within one 11-month period. Although Hazel was 

 the most destructive of these four storms in North Carolina, the floods 

 caused by the rains of Connie, Diane, and lone were record-breaking 

 for much of eastern North Carolina. 



As though to show her impartiality, nature sent two violent hurri- 

 canes and one lesser tropical storm into the Tampico, Mexico, area 

 during the 1955 season. These hurricanes were Hilda and Janet and 

 tropical storm Gladys. The first two also laid waste much of the 

 Yucatan, Mexico, area. 



Although the concentration of hurricane activity in North Carolina 

 and the Tampico area during this period was unusual, it has been 

 matched in other years at other places. In 1916-17, Mobile, Ala., 

 was afflicted with three hurricanes, with wind speeds in that city of 

 107, 128, and 98 m.p.h., respectively. One of these also caused ocean 



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