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:
“If there is any period one would desire to be born in, is it not the age of Revolution; when the old and the new stand side by side, and admit of being compared; when the energies of all men are searched by fear and by hope; when the historic glories of the old can be compensated by the rich possibilities of the new era?”
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)
“The world-spirit is a good swimmer, and storms and waves can not drown him. He snaps his fingers at laws; and so, throughout history, heaven seems to affect low and poor means. Through the years and the centuries, through evil agents, through toys and atoms, a great and beneficent tendency irresistibly streams.”
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)