Great Havana Hurricane of 1846 - Strength

Strength

The Great Havana Hurricane was likely a Category 5 hurricane; however, confirming its intensity would require the accuracy of modern instruments. The earliest officially recorded Category 5 hurricane, the 1924 Cuba hurricane did not occur for decades.

In Havana, Cuba, a pressure of 940 mbar (28 inHg) was recorded, but reports of wind speeds at the time are only estimates.

One estimate shows a pressure of 902 mbar (26.6 inHg) as the storm crossed the Florida Keys, which would make it the second-strongest U.S. hurricane landfall on record, behind only the Labor Day Hurricane of 1935, also in the Florida Keys. In addition, if the pressure estimate is accurate, the hurricane would be tied with Hurricane Katrina as the sixth-most-intense hurricane ever recorded in the Atlantic, and easily the most intense hurricane of the 19th century. No Atlantic storm would officially reach or surpass 902 mbar (26.6 inHg) until the Labor Day storm in 1935, nearly 90 years later.

Read more about this topic:  Great Havana Hurricane Of 1846

Famous quotes containing the word strength:

    ... when I exclaim against novels, I mean when contrasted with those works which exercise the understanding and regulate the imagination.—For any kind of reading I think better than leaving a blank still a blank, because the mind must receive a degree of enlargement and obtain a little strength by a slight exertion of its thinking powers ...
    Mary Wollstonecraft (1759–1797)

    The wise and just man will always feel that he stands on his own feet; that he imparts strength to the state, not receives security from it; and if all went down, he and such as he would quite easily combine in a new and better constitution.
    Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)

    With a balanced combination of the two principal energies from mother and father, a girl can both be in touch with her womanly strengths and be a powerful force in the world—strong and nurturing, decisive and caring, goal- oriented and aware of the needs of others. She has the courage to voice what she thinks and feels and the strength to follow her destiny.
    Jeanne Elium (20th century)