NEW ENGLAND HURRICANE — BROOKS AND CHAPMAN 239 



Though the sky became completely covered with altostratus before 

 sunset, there were breaks during the evening, and, indeed, mostly clear 

 sky overhead at midnight, an hour before light showers began. Dis- 

 tant lightning was visible at 10 p. m. The wind had slowly swung to 

 southeast at 9 p. m., but by 10 : 30 had gone to east, as the pressure, 

 steady all day (around 29.75 inches, 1,007 millibars), began its un- 

 broken descent. By 1 a. m. the wind had gone to east-northeast and 

 increased to 20 miles an hour. 



At 5 a. m., when the center was within 150 miles, the barometer 

 began to plunge (from 29.57 inches, 1,001 millibars) and the wind be- 

 gan to reach gale force and increase rapidly (estimated average, 30 

 miles an hour at 5). Steady rain commenced before 6. Details of the 

 next 13 hours are presented in table 1. 



OBSERVER'S NOTES WITH REGARD TO THE TABLE 



Observation of wind direction not guaranteed within 10° or 12° because 

 observed from unfamiliar location in clearing surrounded by woods. The 

 observer is certain, however, that throughout the entire period of strong winds, 

 the wind direction failed by as much as 30° or more of achieving a 180° shift 

 such as might be expected in a storm of this type. 



Wind velocities given were estimated from the stronger intervals varying from 

 several seconds to more than a minute, so that they would represent a combina- 

 tion of values from 5-minute averages up to fastest miles and gusts, depending 

 on the length of each blast of wind. We should think our 5-minute maximum 

 between 12 : 50 and 1 p. m. was not less than 90 miles an hour, for the wind 

 during the climactic period seemed sustained at the extreme level with compara- 

 tively little fluctuation and no respite, until the amazingly sudden relief came at 

 1 : 10 p. m., when the 70-mile wind seemed like a breeze by contrast. 



observer's interpretations 



I was especially impressed with the evidence suggesting an abnormally large 

 central area of no rain and reduced wind. At Avon, N. C. [10 miles north of 

 Cape Hatteras and 10 miles nearer the center than the Weather Bureau Station, 

 Hatteras], the rain stopped for about iy 2 hours as the center passed. The wind 

 dropped to a gentle breeze. It shifted to West by way of North, so the track of 

 lowest pressure passed east of this point. At Wanchese [15 miles farther from 

 the center] the rain stopped for about half an hour while we were inside the 

 28.00-inch [948-millibar] isobar. This would suggest a vast eye perhaps 50 miles 

 or more in diameter whose center could have been east of the coast at all times. 

 Our wind also diminished during this period, to a minimum of about 25 miles an 

 hour. 



The winds of hurricane force were limited to the area inside the 29.00 [-inch, 

 or 982-millibar] isobar and outside the 28.00 [-inch, or 948-millibar] isobar. If 

 my data are anywhere near correct . . . the storm did not exceed a speed of 30 

 miles an hour along its track until it was past the latitude of Cape Henry, Va. 

 We estimated our wind gusts reached 140 miles an hour during the latter half 

 of the storm, which was considerably more violent than the first part, when the 

 strongest wind seemed to be about 100 miles an hour. [The isobars were more 

 or less egg-shaped, and farther apart (less gradient, less wind) ahead of the 

 storm than to the side or rear.] 



