302 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 195 6 



tides to rise 11.6 feet above normal. In 1947-48, Miami, Fla., was 

 battered by four hurricanes. 



Hurricane Janet of 1955 was one of the greatest recorded in 

 meteorological history. Dunn, Davis, and Moore [7] * list the lowest 

 reliable sea-level land barometer readings of record in the world as 

 follows : 



Location Date Inches 



Lower Matecumbee Key, Fla Sept. 2, 1935 26. 35 



Basilan, P.I Sept. 25, 1905 26.85 



Cossack, Australia Jan. 7,1881 27.00 



Chetumal, Mexico Sept. 28, 1955 27. 00 



When Janet passed over Chetumal the winds were measured at 175 

 m.p.h. before the anemometer collapsed. The wind continued to in- 

 crease, and the maximum speed was estimated in excess of 200 m.p.h. 

 Thus, Janet had the second lowest barometer reading ever observed 

 in the Western Hemisphere and had winds estimated in excess of 

 200 m.p.h. 



From the meteorological viewpoint, the 1954 and 1955 seasons offer 

 several items of special interest: (1) The great acceleration in speed 

 of forward movement by Carol, Edna, and Hazel; (2) the lack of 

 acceleration of hurricane lone after reaching the latitude at which 

 hurricanes Carol, Edna, and Hazel had accelerated so rapidly; (3) 

 Hazel's and Carol's maintenance of great intensity after moving into 

 northern latitudes and after traveling over land; (4) recognition that 

 the flood resulting from hurricane rains is the number two killer and 

 destroyer among the hurricane forces, ranking next to the storm surge 

 (the storm surge as used here refers to the rise of the ocean surface that 

 usually precedes and accompanies a hurricane's passage across the 

 coastline), and ahead of the hurricane winds as a destructive force; 

 and (5) the shift in hurricane tracks from the United States Gulf coast 

 and Florida areas to the North Carolina-New England area. 



After the 1954 and 1955 seasons, people in the northern States aban- 

 doned their former custom of labeling most hurricanes as Florida 

 hurricanes, regardless of where they originated. Figure 1 presents 

 the tracks of all tropical storms and hurricanes for 1947, at which 

 time most of the storms were concentrated in the area extending from 

 South Carolina to Texas. Tracks of most of the important storms of 

 the 1954 and 1955 seasons are given in figure 2, and these illustrate 

 why hurricanes are no longer automatically labeled as Florida hurri- 

 canes. During 1954 and 1955 not a single tropical storm of hurri- 



1 Numbers in brackets indicate authorities cited in the list of references at end 

 of text. 



