1944 Great Atlantic Hurricane
| Category 4 major hurricane (SSHWS/NWS) | |
Surface weather analysis of the storm at peak intensity on September 13
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| Formed | September 9, 1944 |
|---|---|
| Dissipated | September 16, 1944 |
| (Extratropical after 12:00 UTC September 15) | |
| Highest winds |
1-minute sustained: 145 mph (230 km/h) |
| Lowest pressure | ≤ 933 mbar (hPa); 27.55 inHg |
| Fatalities | 300–400, primarily at sea |
| Damage | $100 million (1944 USD) |
| Areas affected | United States East Coast (especially New England), Atlantic Canada |
| Part of the 1944 Atlantic hurricane season | |
The 1944 Great Atlantic hurricane was a destructive and powerful tropical cyclone that swept across a large portion of the United States East Coast in September 1944. Impacts were most significant in New England, though significant effects were also felt along the Outer Banks, Mid-Atlantic states, and the Canadian Maritimes. Due to its ferocity and path, the storm drew comparisons to the 1938 Long Island Express, known as one of the worst storms in New England history.
Though the precursor to the 1944 hurricane was first identified well east of the Lesser Antilles on September 4, the disturbance only became well organized to be considered a tropical cyclone on September 9 northeast of the Virgin Islands. Tracking west-northwest, the storm gradually intensified and reached peak intensity as a Category 4-equivalent hurricane on September 13 north of the Bahamas after curving northward. A day later, the storm passed by the Outer Banks and later made landfall on Long Island and Rhode Island as a weaker hurricane on September 15. The storm eventually transitioned into an extratropical cyclone, after which it continued moving northeast before merging with another extratropical system off of Greenland on September 16.
The origins of the 1944 hurricane can be traced back to a tropical wave first identified well east of the Lesser Antilles on September 4. Over the next few days, the disturbance slowly traversed west-northwestward without producing any significant weather that would hint at tropical cyclogenesis. On September 7, an area of low pressure, albeit disorganized, formed in association with the tropical wave east of Barbados. The following day, the barometric depression became more well-defined, prompting the Weather Bureau in San Juan, Puerto Rico to issue advisories on the tropical disturbance. As a result of the sparseness of available surface observations east of the Lesser Antilles, a reconnaissance flight was dispatched to investigate the storm late on September 9; the flight reported that the disturbance had strengthened into a newly-formed but fully-fledged hurricane. Due to the seemingly rapid development of the storm, the Atlantic hurricane reanalysis project concluded that the storm likely began earlier and as a weaker system; thus, HURDAT—the official track database for hurricanes in the North Atlantic dating back to 1851—lists the tropical cyclone as having begun a tropical storm with winds of 50 mph (80 km/h) at 06:00 UTC on September 9.
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