Historic Storms
A violent storm during the Crimean War on November 14, 1854, wrecked 30 vessels, and sparked initial investigations into meteorology and forecasting in Europe. In the United States, the Columbus Day Storm of 1962 led to Oregon's lowest measured pressure of 965.5 hPa (28.51 inHg), violent winds, and US$170 million in damage (1964 dollars). A rapidly strengthening storm struck Vancouver Island on October 11, 1984, and inspired the development of moored buoys off the western coast of Canada. The Wahine disaster, New Zealand's most infamous maritime disaster, that caused the death of 53 people occurred during a major extratropical storm. The Braer Storm of January 1993 was the strongest extratropical cyclone known to occur across the northern Atlantic ocean, with a central pressure of 914 millibars (27.0 inHg).
In the Southern Hemisphere, a violent extratropical storm hit Uruguay on August 23–24, 2005, killing 10 people. The system's winds exceeded 100 mph (160 km/h) while Montevideo, the country's capital with 1.5 million inhabitants, was affected by tropical storm-force winds for over 12 hours and by hurricane-force winds for nearly four hours. Peak gusts were registered at Carrasco International Airport as 107 mph (172 km/h) and at the Harbour of Montevideo as 116 mph (187 km/h). The lowest reported pressure was 991.7 hPa (29.28 inHg). Extratropical cyclones are common in this part of the globe during fall, winter and spring months. The winds usually peak to 80–110 km/h (50–68 mph), but winds of 116 mph (187 km/h) are very uncommon.
Read more about this topic: Extratropical Cyclone
Famous quotes containing the words historic and/or storms:
“We are becoming like cats, slyly parasitic, enjoying an indifferent domesticity. Nice and snug in “the social” our historic passions have withdrawn into the glow of an artificial cosiness, and our half-closed eyes now seek little other than the peaceful parade of television pictures.”
—Jean Baudrillard (b. 1929)
“A tree is made to live in peace in the color of day and in friendship with the sun, the wind and the rain. Its roots plunge in the fat fermentation of the soil, sucking in its elemental humors, its fortifying juices. Trees always seem lost in a great tranquil dream. The dark rising sap makes them groan in the warm afternoons. A tree is a living being that knows the course of the clouds and presses the storms because it is full of birds’ nests.”
—Jacques Roumain (1907–1945)