Weekly Ocean News

WEEKLY OCEAN NEWS

16-20 September 2019

Items of Interest:

Celebrating preservation of Earth's ozone layer -- This Monday, 16 September, has been designated by the United Nations as World Ozone Day, the International Day for the Preservation of the Ozone Layer. This day is celebrated to mark the day back in 1987 when the Montreal Protocol was signed. The theme for the 2016 World Ozone Day is "32 years and Healing." [United Nations Environment]
Classic GOES-East image catches four tropical cyclones across Western Hemisphere -- Sensors onboard NOAA's GOES-East (or Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite 16) satellite provided a classic natural-color image of four named tropical cyclones that stretched like a chain across the tropical waters of the North Atlantic and eastern North Pacific near midday (local time) on 4 September 2019. At that time, Hurricane Dorian was a category 2 hurricane (on the Saffir Simpson Scale) over the waters of the North Atlantic, while Hurricane Juliette was another category 2 hurricane over the eastern North Pacific. Tropical Storm Fernand was making landfall in Mexico from off the Gulf of Mexico (a part of the North Atlantic basin), while Tropical Storm Gabrielle was over the eastern North Atlantic. The GOES East satellite is in a geosynchronous orbit around Earth, positioned over the Equator at a longitude of 75.2 degrees West. [NASA Earth Observatory]
Watching for high ocean tides along nation's coasts this autumn -- The NOAA National Ocean Service recently released its High Tide Bulletin for Fall 2019, which provides information on when higher than average astronomical tides can be expected along the nation's Atlantic, Gulf and Pacific coasts during the three months of September through November, which constitutes meteorological autumn in the Northern Hemisphere. Higher than average tides should occur along most of the coasts in late September and early October, late October and late November. [NOAA National Ocean Service News]
Worldwide GLOBE at Night 2019 Campaign for late September commences -- The tenth in a series of GLOBE at Night citizen-science campaigns for 2019 will commence this Friday (20 September) and continue through Sunday, 29 September. GLOBE at Night is a worldwide, hands-on science and education program designed to encourage citizen-scientists worldwide to record the brightness of their night sky by matching the appearance of constellations with the seven magnitude/star charts of progressively fainter stars. These constellations are Cygnus in the Northern Hemisphere and Sagittarius in the Southern Hemisphere. Activity guides are also available. The GLOBE at night program is intended to raise public awareness of the impact of light pollution. The eleventh series in the 2019 campaign is scheduled for 19-28 October 2019. [GLOBE at Night]
Updated "NOAA Extreme Weather Information Sheets" available for this hurricane season -- The Center for Coasts, Oceans & Geophysics of NOAA's National Centers for Environmental Information (NCEI) has released its yearly updated set of 22 "NOAA Extreme Weather Information Sheets" (NEWIS) for those selected regions that are at high risk from tropical cyclones (tropical storms and hurricanes) along the nation's coasts. The NEWIS for 2019 contain important contact information for coastal regions that can be downloaded as a printable pdf file or as a free app for Apple devices. These sheets, which appear in an easy-to-read format, have been developed for each of the states along the Atlantic and Gulf Coasts from North Carolina to Texas, the Caribbean Islands of Puerto Rico and the US Virgin Islands, and Hawaii. The goal of these information sheets is to help the public increase their weather readiness as part of NOAA's "Weather-Ready Nation" initiative. [NOAA NCEI NEWIS]
September is National Preparedness Month -- The month of September has been declared National Preparedness Month (NPM), which is aims to educate and empower Americans to prepare for and respond to all types of emergencies, including natural disasters. NPM is managed and sponsored by the Federal Emergency Management Administration's (FEMA) Ready Campaign in conjunction with the Ad Council, A toolkit of marketing materials is provided to help promote the month and represents the lead on this campaign that was originally launched in 2004. The overarching theme for 2019 NPM is "Prepared, Not Scared" with an emphasis on preparedness for youth, older adults, and people with disabilities and others with access and functional needs. Week 3 of the 2019 NPM runs this week (15-21 September) with the theme of "Teach Youth to Prepare for Disasters." [FEMA's Ready.gov]
National Estuaries Week continues --The National Estuaries Week, which started this past Saturday (14 September), will run through this week and conclude this coming Saturday, the 21st. National Estuaries Week, which was first organized in 1988, is designed to celebrate promote the importance of estuaries and bays and how the public benefits from healthy, thriving the coastal ecosystems. During this week, which is the 31st anniversary observance, organizations from around the nation including the non-profit Restore America's Estuaries member groups, NOAA's National Estuarine Research Reserves and EPA's National Estuary Programs will be organizing special events, such as workshops, beach clean-ups, hikes and trips involving canoes and kayaks. [Restore America's Estuaries]
Some of the activities conducted in various communities as part of National Estuaries Week are highlighted. [NOAA National Ocean Service]
The Autumnal Equinox --The Autumnal Equinox will occur early next Monday morning (officially at 0750Z on 23 September 2019 or 3:50 AM EDT or 2:50 AM CDT, etc.). At that time the noontime sun will appear directly above the equator, representing one of the two times during the year for such an occurrence, with the other being at the vernal equinox in March. The term "equinox" arises from the fact that this time of year represents "equal night" and equal day essentially everywhere. Within the subsequent several days, the length of daylight will become noticeably shorter. This decrease in daylight will continue for another three months to the winter solstice during the evening of Saturday, 21 December 2019.
Editor's note: John White, a meteorologist from North Carolina involved with the AMS Education program, reported that the geosynchronous (or geostationary) satellites make an "satellite eclipse" of the sun near the spring and autumnal equinoxes because of their equatorial orbit, such that these satellites pass through the earth's shadow and the satellite is powered down when the solar array does not receive sufficient sunlight. EJH.
If you check the sunrise and sunset times in your local newspaper or from the climate page at your local National Weather Service Office, you would probably find that later next week the length of time when the Sun is above the local horizon would be precisely 12 hours at most locations. By the end of next week, the length of night will finally exceed that of the length of daylight. The effects of atmospheric refraction (bending of light rays by the varying density of the atmosphere) along with a relatively large diameter of the sun contribute to several additional minutes that the Sun appears above the horizon at sunrise and sunset.
Aspects of ocean water chemistry and marine life considered -- If you would like more background information concerning how marine organisms evolved in the ocean with a relatively narrow range of chemical and physical characteristics, please read this week's Supplemental Information...In Greater Depth.

Ocean in the News

Eye on the tropics -- During the past week named tropical cyclones (low pressure systems that form over tropical ocean waters, with near surface maximum sustained winds that intensify to tropical storm or hurricane force status) were found across the Atlantic and Pacific Ocean basins of the Northern Hemisphere:
- In the North Atlantic basin (that includes the open North Atlantic, along with the Caribbean Sea and the Gulf of Mexico) --
  - Tropical Storm Gabrielle was beginning to curve toward the northeast last Monday as it headed across the open waters of the North Atlantic approximately 1100 miles west of the Azores. Gabrielle was forecast to turn toward the northeast by Monday night. As it traveled, it accelerated as its forward speed reached over 20 mph. By early Tuesday afternoon (local time), Tropical Storm Gabrielle lost its tropical characteristics and was classified an extratropical cyclone (midlatitude storm), with maximum sustained surface winds estimated to have been 50 mph. At that time, this storm was located approximately 700 miles to the northwest of the Azores. The NASA Hurricane Blog has satellite images and further information on Tropical Storm Gabrielle.
  - A nearly stationary tropical disturbance formed over the southeastern Bahamas last Thursday and was classified as "Potential Tropical Cyclone 9" by NOAA's National Hurricane Center. After meandering across the Bahamas for approximately 24 hours, this disturbance became a tropical depression late Friday afternoon and then Tropical Storm Humberto late Friday night, as maximum sustained surface winds reached the 40-mph threshold for tropical storms. At that time, the eighth named tropical cyclone of 2019 in the North Atlantic basin was moving slowly to the northwest, approximately 130 miles to the east-southeast of Great Abaco Island. Through Saturday and into Sunday, Humberto traveled slowly toward the northwest and then to the north-northwest as it strengthened to the north of the Bahamas, coming to within 160 miles of Cape Canaveral on the Florida Atlantic Coast on Sunday morning. As of Sunday night, Humberto had become the third Atlantic hurricane of 2019 as maximum sustained surface winds were determined by a NOAA Hurricane Hunter aircraft to have reached 75 mph. At that time, this hurricane was heading toward the northeast, as it was approximately 785 miles to the west of Bermuda. Hurricane Humberto is expected to strengthen as it continues to travel toward the northeast on Monday morning, before curving toward the east-northeast. Consult the NASA Hurricane Blog for additional information and satellite imagery on Tropical Storm Humberto.
- In the eastern North Pacific basin (located off the western North American continent and extending westward to the 140-degrease West meridian) --
  A tropical depression formed on Thursday morning off the western coast of Mexico. By Thursday afternoon, this tropical depression strengthened to become Tropical Storm Kiko, approximately 500 miles to the south-southwest of Cabo San Lucas, located at the southern tip of Mexico's Baja California Peninsula. Movement was to the west-northwest. On late Thursday and into Friday, Kiko remained a weak tropical storm has it headed westward through a relatively dry atmospheric environment, before strengthening late Friday. On Saturday afternoon (local time) Kiko became the sixth hurricane of the 2019 eastern North Pacific season as maximum sustained winds reached an estimated 85 mph as the system's center was moving westward approximately 730 miles to the west-southwest of Cabo San Lucas, Mexico. Further strengthening resulted in Hurricane Kiko becoming a major category 3 hurricane (on the Saffir Simpson Scale) on Saturday night with maximum sustained winds of 115 mph. On Sunday morning, with winds reaching 130 mph, Kiko became a category 4 hurricane as it continued westward. As of Sunday evening, Hurricane Kiko had weakened slightly as maximum surface winds had decreased to 125 mph, making this a category 3 hurricane. Kiko was heading west as it was located approximately 900 miles to the west-southwest of Cabo San Lucas. Kiko was forecast to begin a slow curve toward the west-southwest over the first several days of this week. Gradual weakening of this major hurricane was anticipated. Additional information and satellite images on Hurricane Kiko can be found on the NASA Hurricane Blog.
- In the western North Pacific basin (extending from the International Dateline westward to the Asian continent) --
  - Typhoon Faxai made landfall in Chiba City, located along Tokyo Bay near Tokyo, Japan last Monday morning, as the strongest tropical cyclone to hit the region in 15 years. After making a brief landfall, Faxai continued traveling toward the east-northeast out over the western North Pacific, before weakening to a tropical storm and then transitioning to become an extratropical cyclone. The NASA Hurricane Blog has additional information and a satellite image for Typhoon Faxai.
  - A tropical depression formed over this past weekend to the east of Guam. Traveling toward the north-northwest to the northeast of Saipan, this tropical depression strengthened to become a tropical storm late Sunday that was named Peipah. As of Monday (local time), Tropical Storm Peipah had weakened to a tropical depression as it was approximately 350 miles to the southeast of Iwo To (Iwo Jima). Peipah was forecast to travel toward the north-northwest over the first several days of this current week, passing to the east of Iwo To with slow weakening.
Florida teacher’s experiences with NOAA helps students connect with science -- A teacher at Ocean Studies Charter School in Tavernier in the Florida Keys has used her experiences participating in the NOAA Teacher at Sea program and with the NOAA Ocean Guardian School program to help guide her 3rd-grade science students in learning about seagrass, an important plant in the Florida Keys ecosystem, which they used to design their own experiments to determine the success of uprooted seagrass fragments. They presented their findings to at several Florida State Parks and at the Florida Keys Eco-Discovery Center. [NOAA National Marine Sanctuaries News]
Examples of citizen science in national marine sanctuaries -- The National Marine Sanctuary Foundation posted a blog that identifies four projects around the nation that in NOAA’s National Marine Sanctuary Network that are available to citizen scientists who would like to participate in research in a local sanctuary. [National Marine Sanctuary Blog]
El Niño/Southern Oscillation (ENSO) Diagnostic Discussion -- NOAA's Climate Prediction Center (CPC) and the International Research Institute for Climate and Society (IRI) recently released their "El Niño/Southern Oscillation (ENSO) Diagnostic Discussion" that showed ENSO-neutral conditions in both the tropical oceans and atmosphere were observed during the month of August 2019, meaning that neither an El Niño or La Niña event was underway. Near average sea surface temperatures (SST) were found across the central and eastern equatorial Pacific during this past month. Winds near the surface and aloft were near average across most of the tropical Pacific. Convection was near average levels near the Dateline and suppressed farther west over Indonesia. Most of the available climate forecast models that are used by CPC and IRI indicate conditions to be slightly below the El Niño threshold during this Northern Hemisphere meteorological autumn (September-November) and through the Northern Hemisphere's 2019-20 winter (December-February), which suggests an ENSO-neutral status. Last month, forecasters at CPC had issued a Final El Niño Advisory in the ENSO Alert System Status, which now has been replaced with a "Not Active" status. They consider ENSO-neutral conditions to be favored during the 2019 Northern Hemisphere autumn (approximately 75 percent chance), which should continue through boreal spring 2020(55-60 percent chance). (Note: The criteria used for CPC's ENSO Alert System is available.).
An ENSO blog written by a NOAA research scientist describes in relatively plain terms how scientists came to the conclusion that ENSO-neutral conditions were in effect as of early September. She shows with several graphics the various indicators used to determine what constitutes an El Niño, a La Niña and ENSO-neutral conditions. Furthermore, she cautions that while her colleagues at CPC project that these ENSO conditions should continue through the upcoming autumn and winter months, other factors such as the Arctic Oscillation, the Madden-Julian Oscillation can cause this upcoming winter to deviate from what is considered to be "normal." [NOAA Climate.gov News]
A detailed and more technical El Niño/Southern Oscillation Diagnostic Discussion with supporting maps and charts is available from CPC.
Forecasters with the Australian Bureau of Meteorology recently issued an updated ENSO forecast from a Southern Hemisphere perspective, which is primarily over the tropical Pacific and Indian Oceans. They reported continuation of ENSO-neutral conditions, as both atmospheric and oceanic components of the climate system were close to average. Furthermore, they foresee a continuation of these ENSO-neutral conditions through early 2020, which corresponds to Southern Hemisphere summer. These outlooks are based upon the several climate model outputs and current conditions, Therefore, they have set their Bureau's ENSO Outlook to INACTIVE. [Australian Government Bureau of Meteorology]
More than 2.5 million passengers using the nation daily are dependent upon NOAA's Aviation Weather Center -- A specialized team of meteorologists working at NOAA's Aviation Weather Center that is located in Kansas City, MO provide the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) and aviation carriers with important weather observations and forecasts that are critical to the safe operation of aircraft. AWC and international partners supply these meteorologists and colleagues in other countries with a worldwide database of graphical forecast fields such as potential turbulence, thunderstorm activity, and jet stream intensity. These AWC forecasts are used by international flights that either depart or land at U.S. airports. New graphical aviation forecast products are now available over the Gulf of Mexico, the Caribbean Sea and the Pacific Ocean. [NOAA NCEI News]
New 5G cell networks could set hurricane tracking technology by three decades -- According to testimony made by the acting director of NOAA to the U.S. Congress in May 2019, wireless signals from the new Fifth Generation (5G) cellular phone networks could decrease hurricane forecasting accuracy by 30 percent. The threat from widespread use of 5G is specifically aimed at hurricane forecasting because both use the same radio frequency. Scientists tracking a hurricane’s intensity and pathway use data from other phenomena in the atmosphere that are gathered by satellites. Apparently, regulators and the cell phone industry have not been swayed by these warnings as of late August, as three large communications companies have announced expanded 5G service. [Salon.com News]
Thermal inertia of global oceans buffers rapid change in planetary temperature -- A contractor with NOAA's Climate Program Office wrote a Global Q&A blog for ClimateWatch Magazine with the interesting title "If carbon dioxide hits a new high every year, why isn't every year hotter than the last?" She explains that while the global atmospheric concentration of the greenhouse carbon dioxide gas has been increasing significantly and with essentially no decreases (nearly monotonically) since 1880, the global atmospheric temperature trend, expressed as departures from the 20th century average temperature, does not necessarily show a nearly monotonic increase. In some years, even during the last decade, the annual global temperature has shown momentary decreases. (The graph showing the trends in both global annual air temperature departures and global carbon dioxide since 1880 is instructive.) She attributes some of the decreases in global temperature over a year or two even while the carbon dioxide continues to increase to the role that the global oceans play. Such events as El Niño and La Niña, as well as the Pacific Decadal Oscillation, could contribute to the occurrence of "cold" years interspersed between "warm" years. She contends that the thermal inertia of the global ocean buffers Earth's temperature from rapid change. [NOAA Climate.gov News]
Report released that focuses on major observed climate changes in Alaska -- A new 16-page report entitled Alaska's Changing Environment was recently released by Alaska Center for Climate Assessment and Policy and the International Arctic Research Center at the University of Alaska Fairbanks that is a compilation and documentation of the physical and biological changes in Alaska as found by observations, especially those between 2014 and August 2019. A variety of photographs, graphs and maps are used to show the large changes in Alaska occurring with increases in temperature, decreases in sea ice, glaciers and permafrost and shifts in plants and animals. [NOAA Climate Program Office News]
New climate model made available to IPCC -- A new numerical global climate model that has been developed at Germany's Alfred Wegner Institute (AWI) is now being used by scientists at that institute to generate output information that has been provided directly into the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPPC) database. The model developed at AWI is part of an extensive international project, known as the Coupled Model Intercomparison Project (CMIP), that involves approximately 50 research institutions worldwide. This new AWI model depicts sea ice and the oceans with far greater definition than conventional methods. Therefore, the new output information, which has been run out to 2100, can be used by climate scientists and stakeholders around the globe to determine the effects of climate change on humans and the environment. [Phys.org News]
An All-Hazards Monitor-- This Web portal provides the user information from NOAA's National Weather Service, FAA and FEMA on current environmental events that may pose as hazards such as tropical weather, fire weather, marine weather, severe weather, drought and floods. [NOAA/NWS Daily Briefing]
Earthweek -- Diary of the Planet [earthweek.com]

Concept of the Week: Sea Water Salinity and Carbon Dioxide

In view of the contemporary concern regarding global climate change, scientists are studying the various factors that govern the ocean's ability to absorb atmospheric carbon dioxide. Concentrations of atmospheric carbon dioxide are on the rise primarily because of the burning of fossil fuels (i.e., coal, oil, natural gas). Carbon dioxide is a greenhouse gas (an atmospheric gas that absorbs and radiates infrared radiation) so that higher levels of atmospheric carbon dioxide may be contributing to global warming. The ocean's role in regulating the concentration of atmospheric carbon dioxide depends on the temperature, salinity, and biological components of surface waters.

As noted in Chapter 3 of your textbook, gases are more soluble in cold seawater than warm seawater. Hence, changes in sea surface temperature affect the ability of the ocean to absorb carbon dioxide. As noted in Chapter 1 of your textbook, photosynthetic organisms take up carbon dioxide and release oxygen. And through cellular respiration, all organisms release carbon dioxide. What about the effects of changes in salinity on the ocean's uptake of atmospheric carbon dioxide? Research from the Pacific Ocean near Hawaii provides some insight on this question.

Since the late 1980s, scientists have been recording ocean conditions at a site (dubbed ALOHA) about 100 km (62 mi) north of Oahu. In 2003, David M. Karl, a biogeochemist at the University of Hawaii in Honolulu, reported a decline in the rate at which surface ocean waters were absorbing carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. In fact, in 2001, the rate of CO₂ uptake was only about 15% of what it was in 1989. Why the change in CO₂ uptake? In this region of the Pacific north of Hawaii, sea surface temperatures showed no significant change during the period of observation, but precipitation decreased and evaporation increased. Less precipitation coupled with higher rates of evaporation caused the surface water salinity at ALOHA to increase by about 1%. Increasing salinity inhibits water's ability to absorb gases including carbon dioxide. Karl and his colleagues attribute 40% of the decline in the ocean's CO₂ uptake to the saltier waters. The balance of the decline may be due to changes in biological productivity or ocean mixing.

Historical Events

16 September 1926...The Great Miami Hurricane struck that city as a Category 4. The eye of the storm crossed directly over downtown Miami and lasted for 35 minutes, prompting people to return to the streets where subsequently many were killed as the second half of the storm roared in. Very little of Miami and Miami Beach were left intact. (National Weather Service files)
16 September 1928...Hurricane San Felipe, a monster hurricane, which left 600 dead in Guadeloupe and 300 dead in Puerto Rico, struck West Palm Beach, FL causing enormous damage, and then headed for Lake Okeechobee. Peak winds were near 150 mph. The high winds produced storm waves that breached the eastern dike on Lake Okeechobee, inundating flat farmland. When the storm was over, the lake covered an area the size of the state of Delaware, and beneath its waters were 1836 victims. The only survivors were those who reached large hotels for safety, and a group of fifty people who got onto a raft to take their chances out in the middle of the lake. (David Ludlum) (Intellicast)
16 September 1988...Hurricane Gilbert made landfall 120 miles south of Brownsville, TX in Mexico during the early evening. Winds gusted to 61 mph at Brownsville, and reached 82 mph at Padre Island. Six-foot tides eroded three to four feet of beach along the Lower Texas Coast, leaving the waterline seventy-five feet farther inland. Rainfall totals ranged up to 8.71 in. at Lamark, TX. Gilbert caused $3 million in property damage along the Lower Texas Coast, but less than a million dollars damage along the Middle Texas Coast. During its life span, Gilbert established an all-time record for the Western Hemisphere with a sea-level barometric pressure reading of 26.13 inches (888 millibars). Winds approached 200 mph, with higher gusts. Gilbert devastated Jamaica and Mexico's Yucatan Peninsula. (The National Weather Summary) (Storm Data) (The Weather Channel)
17 September 1829...The Siebold Typhoon, Japan's most catastrophic typhoon, inflicted widespread damage over much of Japan. On the southern island of Kyushu, the storm surge off the Ariake Sea killed 10,000 people. (National Weather Service files)
17-23 September 1989...Hurricane Hugo hit the Virgin Islands on the 17^th, producing wind gusts to 97 mph at Saint Croix. Hurricane Hugo passed directly over the island of Saint Croix causing complete devastation and essentially cutting off the island's communications systems. A storm surge of five to seven feet occurred at Saint Croix. The only rain gauge left operating, at Caneel Bay, indicated 9.40 in. in 24 hrs. Hurricane Hugo claimed the lives of three persons at Saint Croix, and caused more than $500 million in damage. A ship, Nightcap, in the harbor of Culebra, measured wind gusts as high as 170 mph. On the 18^th, Hugo hit Puerto Rico, producing a storm surge of four to six feet, and northeastern sections of the island were deluged with more than ten inches of rain. Hugo claimed the lives of a dozen persons in Puerto Rico, and caused $1 billion in property damage, including $100 million in crop losses. On the 21^st, Hugo slammed into the South Carolina coast at about 11 PM, making landfall near Sullivans Island. Hurricane Hugo was directly responsible for thirteen deaths, and indirectly responsible for twenty-two others. A total of 420 persons were injured in the hurricane, and damage was estimated at $8 billion including $2 billion damage to crops. Sustained winds reached 85 mph at Folly Beach SC, with wind gusts as high was 138 mph. Wind gusts reached 98 mph at Charleston, and 109 mph at Shaw AFB. The highest storm surge occurred in the McClellanville and Bulls Bay area of Charleston County, with a storm surge of 20.2 ft reported at Seewee Bay. Shrimp boats were found one half-mile inland at McClellanville. On the 22^nd, Hugo quickly lost strength over South Carolina, but still was a tropical storm as it crossed into North Carolina, just west of Charlotte, at about 7 AM. Winds around Charlotte reached 69 mph, with gusts to 99 mph. Eighty percent of the power was knocked out to Charlotte and Mecklenburg County. Property damage in North Carolina was $210 million and damage to crops was $97 million. The greatest storm surge occurred along the southern coast shortly after midnight, reaching nine feet above sea level at Ocean Isle and Sunset Beach. Hugo killed one person and injured fifteen others in North Carolina. (Storm Data) (The National Weather Summary)
17 September 1996...Remnants of Hurricane Fausto that had initially formed over the eastern Pacific and moved northeastward from Mexico reformed into a powerful coastal storm in Atlantic waters off the Del-Mar-Va Peninsula, before passing Cape Cod in eastern Massachusetts. Winds gusted to 50 mph and rainfall was up to four inches. Minor coastal flooding in the New York City metropolitan area. (Accord Weather Guide Calendar)
17 September 2004...Flooding and mudslides killed more than 3,000 people in Haiti in Hurricane Jeanne. (National Weather Service files)
18 September 1926...The great "Miami Hurricane" produced winds reaching 138 mph, which drove ocean waters into Biscayne Bay drowning 135 persons. The eye of the hurricane passed over Miami, at which time the barometric pressure dropped to 935.0 millibars (27.61 inches of mercury). Tides up to twelve feet high accompanied the hurricane, which claimed 372 lives. (David Ludlum) (The Weather Channel)
19 September 1559...The first hurricane in recorded U.S. history hit Pensacola, FL. As many as seven Spanish expedition ships may have been destroyed. (National Weather Service files)
19 September 1957...Bathyscaph Trieste, in a dive sponsored by the Office of Naval Research in the Mediterranean, reached a record depth of 2 miles. (Naval Historical Center)
19 September 1967...Hurricane Beulah deluged Brownsville, TX with 12.19 in. of rain in 24 hours, to establish a record for that location. Hurricane Beulah made landfall on the 20^th near the mouth of the Rio Grande River, where a wind gust of 135 mph was reported by a ship in the port. (19^th-20^th) (The Weather Channel)
20 September 1519...Portuguese navigator Ferdinand Magellan set sail from Spain in an effort to find a western sea route to the rich Spice Islands of Indonesia. In October 1520, he passed through the straits that now bear his name separating Tierra del Fuego and the South American mainland and became the first known European explorer to enter the Pacific Ocean from the Atlantic. In September 1522 one remaining ship from the original five that set sail returned to Spain, to become the first ship to circumnavigate the globe. Magellan was killed in the Philippines in 1521. (The History Channel)
20 September 1909...A strong hurricane made landfall in southeastern Louisiana. A 15-ft storm surge flooded the Timbalier Bay area. Some 350 people perished. (Intellicast)
20 September 2017...Hurricane Maria, the tenth-most intense Atlantic hurricane on record, struck Puerto Rico as a category 4 hurricane with 155-mph; at least 2975 fatalities were reported in Puerto Rico, making it one of the deadliest hurricanes in U.S. history. it has been tabulated as the third-costliest Atlantic hurricane ($91.6 billion in damage). (National Weather Service files)
21 September 1938...The "Great New England Hurricane" smashed into Long Island and bisected New England from New Haven, CT across Massachusetts and Vermont, causing a massive forest blowdown and widespread flooding. Winds gusted to 186 mph at Blue Hill Observatory in Milton, MA, and a storm surge of nearly 30 ft caused extensive flooding along the coast of Rhode Island. The hurricane killed over 600 persons and caused $500 million damage. The hurricane, which lasted twelve days, destroyed 275 million trees. Hardest hit were Massachusetts, Connecticut, Rhode Island, and Long Island NY. The "Long Island Express" produced gargantuan waves with its 150 mph winds. Waves smashed against the New England shore with such force that earthquake-recording machines on the Pacific coast clearly showed the shock of each wave. (David Ludlum) (The Weather Channel)
21 September 1989...Hurricane Hugo made landfall on Isle of Palms, SC as a Category 4 hurricane. This storm brought strong winds to many areas of South Carolina. In Downtown Charleston, sustained winds of 87 mph were reported; along with gusts of 108 mph. Total damage from this hurricane is estimated at $10 billion, including $5.2 billion in the United States. (National Weather Service files)
22-23 September 1998...Hurricane Georges raked Hispaniola leaving over 580 dead in Haiti and the Dominican Republic, due mainly to flash flooding and subsequent mud slides in high terrain regions. Damage estimates from the storm exceeded $1 billion (US). (The Weather Doctor)