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Great Colonial Hurricane of 1635

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Great Colonial Hurricane
Category 4 major hurricane (SSHWS/NWS)
FormedAugust 1635 (1635-08)
DissipatedAugust 25, 1635 (1635-08-26)
Highest winds1-minute sustained: 135 mph (215 km/h)
Lowest pressure≤ 930 mbar (hPa); 27.46 inHg
(Estimated [1])
Fatalities46+ direct
Areas affectedVirginia, Long Island, New England, other areas? (Information scarce)
Part of the 1635 Atlantic hurricane season

The Great Colonial Hurricane of 1635 was a severe hurricane that hit the Virginia Colony at Jamestown and the Massachusetts Bay Colony during August 1635.

Meteorological history

Map plotting the storm's track and intensity, according to the Saffir–Simpson scale
Map key
  Tropical depression (≤38 mph, ≤62 km/h)
  Tropical storm (39–73 mph, 63–118 km/h)
  Category 1 (74–95 mph, 119–153 km/h)
  Category 2 (96–110 mph, 154–177 km/h)
  Category 3 (111–129 mph, 178–208 km/h)
  Category 4 (130–156 mph, 209–251 km/h)
  Category 5 (≥157 mph, ≥252 km/h)
  Unknown
Storm type
triangle Extratropical cyclone, remnant low, tropical disturbance, or monsoon depression

It is first mentioned on August 24, 1635, in Jamestown, Virginia.[2] 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.

In modern-day Massachusetts, accounts were recorded by John Winthrop of Massachusetts Bay Colony (modern-day Boston) and William Bradford of Plymouth Plantation (modern-day Plymouth). Both describe great destruction, 14 to 20 foot storm surges along the south-facing coasts of modern-day Massachusetts and Rhode Island, and high winds resulting from a fast-moving storm.[1]

Based on all the accounts of the time and using modern-day hurricane and storm surge computer models, Brian Jarvinen of the NHC recreated a storm consistent with the accounts of the day. He concluded the hurricane was likely a Cape Verde-type hurricane, considering its intensity, which took a track similar to the Great Atlantic Hurricane of 1944 and Hurricane Edna of 1954. The storm's eye would have struck Long Island before moving between Boston and Plymouth, Massachusetts. It would likely have been a Category 4 or 5 hurricane further south in the Atlantic, and it was at least a strong Category 3 hurricane at landfall with 125 mph (201 km/h) sustained winds and a central pressure of 938 mbar (27.7 inHg) at the Long Island landfall and 939 mbar (27.7 inHg) at the mainland landfall. This would be the most intense hurricane landfall north of North Carolina. He concludes that "this was probably the most intense hurricane in New England history."[1]

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 Island.

Postcard showing Antony Thacher's Monument.

In Narragansett Bay, the tide was 14 feet (4.3 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 22-foot (6.7 m) 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[3] analyzes the hurricane as being a Category Four hurricane when it made landfall in the Northeast. 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 20 feet (6.1 m). 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 modeling indicates that the hurricane potentially had an intensity of 938 mbar (27.7 inHg) when it made landfall near Long Island.

The Great Colonial Hurricane might have also been detected as erosional scarp in the western Gulf of Maine.[4] It even destroyed the original Aptuxcet Trading Post in the town of Bourne, MA.

See also

References

  1. ^ a b c Storm Tides in Twelve Tropical Cyclones
  2. ^ Seventeenth Century Virginia Hurricanes
  3. ^ Jarvinen, Brian R. (2006). "Storm Tides in Twelve Tropical Cyclones (including Four Intense New England Hurricanes)" (PDF). Report for FEMA/National Hurricane Center. {{cite journal}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |coauthors= (help); Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
  4. ^ Buynevich, Ilya V.; FitzGerald, Duncan M.; Goble, Ronald J. (2007). "A 1500 yr record of North Atlantic storm activity based on optically dated relict beach scarps". Geology. 35 (6): 543–546. doi:10.1130/G23636A.1. {{cite journal}}: Unknown parameter |lastauthoramp= ignored (|name-list-style= suggested) (help)

Further reading

  • ^ Chapman, D. J. Our southern summer storm. Report from National Weather Service Office, Norfolk, Virginia.