2011 Hurricane anniversaries
5th Anniversary (2006)
African Monsoon Multidisciplinary Analyses (AMMA) experiment examines the wind regimes over western Africa and their role in generating disturbances over the Atlantic. The NASA African Monsoon Multidisciplinary Analyses (NAMMA) experiment similarly seeks to investigate these disturbances off the African coast using aircraft and the CALIPSO satellite.
| Richard Anthes, Robert Corell, Greg Holland, James Hurrell, Michael MacCracken, Kevin Trenberth publish “Hurricanes and Global Warming – Potential Linkages and Consequences” |
10th Anniversary (2001)
Tropical Storm Allison stalls over Texas and Louisiana dumping as much as 40 inches of rain in some areas. The storm was responsible for 41 deaths and over $5 billion in damage, and became the only tropical storm to have its name retired without officially reaching hurricane strength.
Hurricane Iris slams into Belize. A month later, Hurricane Michelle brings floods to Central America and Cuba.
CAMEX4, a NASA experiment run in conjunction with NOAA’s Hurricane Field Program collects detailed data sets on Hurricanes Erin, Gabrielle, and Humberto and Tropical Storm Chantal.
Stan Goldenberg, Chris Landsea, Alberto Mestas-Nuñez and Bill Gray publish a major paper in Science noting decadal swings in Atlantic hurricane activity.
Tropical Storm Vamei forms within 85 mi of the equator, the most equator-ward tropical cyclone on record
15th Anniversary (1996)
Hurricanes Bertha and Fran impact the Carolinas bringing ~$3.5 billion in total damages.
Mark Powell, Tim Reinhold, and Sam Houston publish detailed analyses of Hurricane Andrew.
Bob Burpee, Sim Aberson, Steve Lord, Bob Tuleya, and James Franklin publish their assessment of the impact of using ODW dropsondes to improve hurricane track forecasts.
20th Anniversary (1991)
Hurricane Bob threatens New York City and ends up striking New England and Canada.
“The Perfect Storm” forms from the remnants of Hurricane Grace and sinks the Andrea Gail off the Georges Banks.
TEXMex is an MIT/NOAA joint project carried out in the eastern Pacific to examine the genesis of tropical cyclones.
The Air Force transfers its Hurricane Hunters (53rd WRS) to the Air Force Reserves.
A Bay of Bengal Cyclone kills 138,000 in Bangladesh.
Tropical Storm Thelma kills at least 6000 people in the Philippines, becoming on the the deadliest tropical cyclones to strike the Philippines.
Mark Powell, Peter Dodge, Sam Houston, and Mike Black publish detailed analyses of surface wind field of Hurricane Hugo.
30th Anniversary (1981)
NOAA 42 flies along a rainband above the freezing level in Hurricane Irene on September 26th, collecting unprecedented microphysics data. However, due to damage caused by ice and graupel, similar future fights are proscribed, make this a unique data set.
Tropical Storm Lydia strikes Mexico killing at least 73 due to flooding and burst dams. It is the tenth most deadly East Pacific storm.
35th Anniversary (1976)
Hurricane “Bicentennial” Belle threatens New York City and ends up striking Long Island and New England.
N42RF, NOAA’s new P-3D research aircraft, makes its inaugural hurricane flight into East Pacific hurricane Bonny.
40th Anniversary (1971)
Hurricane Edith strikes Nicaragua, Honduras, Belize, Mexico, and Louisiana. Prior to its first landfall, Edith gives NOAA aircraft a turbulent shaking with the loss of 1000 feet of altitude in less than a minute.
Hurricane Ginger is one of the longest lasting Atlantic hurricanes on record as it wandered back and forth across the ocean basin. It also becomes the last hurricane seeded by Project STORMFURY.
Navy Typhoon Trackers (VW-1) disestablished.
Richard Anthes creates the first 3D hurricane simulation.
Typhoon Irma set a record for rapid intensification and reached 885 mb.
Orissa cyclone kills 10,800 near Kolkata, India.
45th Anniversary (1966)
Hurricane Alma dumps torrential rains on Central America, Cuba, Florida, and North Carolina.
Hurricane Faith has one of the longest tracks recorded for an Atlantic hurricane, yet never makes landfall.
Hurricane Inez ravages the Caribbean and Mexico. Research flights into Inez produce famous Hawkins and Imbembo paper “The Structure of a Small, Intense Hurricane.”
50th Anniversary (1961)
The Research Flight Facility (RFF) is formed to manage and operate the Dept. of Commerce’s Weather Bureau research aircraft. This is the predecessor of NOAA’s Aircraft Operations Center.
Hurricanes Carla ravages the Texas coast and launches Dan Rather’s career. It’s the first tropical cyclone to have its entire life cycle examined by RFF research aircraft.
Hurricane Hattie kills over 300 people in Central America. Belize City is so badly damaged that British Honduras moves its capital to Belmopan.
Navy and RFF planes seed Hurricane Esther. The next year Project STORMFURY is established based on this experiment.
Hurricane Tara hits Mexican Pacific coast killing about 500 people. It is the fourth deadliest East Pacific storm.
55th Anniversary (1956)
National Hurricane Research Project begins hurricane research flights out of Morrison Field (Palm Beach International Airport.)
Riehl and William Haggard develop the first statistical hurricane track forecast techniques.
Julian Adem describes the “beta effect” on the motion of hurricanes.
60th Anniversary (1951)
Bob Simpson flies research mission aboard Air Force aircraft into Typhoon Marge, measuring its warm core and record low pressure eye.
70th Anniversary (1941)
Severe hurricane ploughs through the Bahamas to strike Miami and continues up Gulf of America to strike Tallahassee region.
85th Anniversary (1926)
Great Miami hurricane pummels Miami and ends last of the 1920s Florida land boom and kills over 300 people. A month later another severe hurricane hits Cuba causing over 650 deaths.
90th Anniversary (1921)
Sakuhei Fujiwara publishes paper on the interaction of two tropical cyclones noting what becomes known as the “Fujiwara Effect” where the two cyclones rotate about each other.
The Tarpon Springs hurricane causes $3 million in damage and six deaths when it floods the vulnerable Tampa Bay area.
110th Anniversary (1901)
A minor hurricane breeches the levees around New Orleans, flooding the city. It continues on and strikes Gulfport, MS, killing 10 people and causing $1 million in damage.
125th Anniversary (1886)
Hurricane strikes Indianola, TX, with a pressure of 925 mb, fifth strongest landfall in the US.
135th Anniversary (1876)
Tropical cyclone strikes what is now Bangladesh, killing about 200,000 people.
180th Anniversary (1831)
William Redfield publishes his observation of 1821 hurricane damage and theorizes storms are large, moving vortices. He begins compiling hurricane tracks.
A major hurricane strikes Barbados. Lt. Col William Reid of the Royal Engineers is sent to survey the damage. This begins his study of hurricanes which leads to his writing the “Law of Storms.”
235th Anniversary (1776)
Hurricane strikes Guadeloupe in Lesser Antilles, killing more than 6000 people.
730th Anniversary (1281)
A typhoon destroys a Mongol fleet on its way to invade Japan. The “divine wind” (kami kaze) saves Japan from conquest.