Hurricane Gladys (1975) - Observation, Preparations and Impact

Observation, Preparations and Impact

While over the Atlantic Ocean, a NOAA C-130 hurricane hunter aircraft flew into Gladys on October 1 on a research mission. The mission was to study the storm and use the information to improve seeding operations for the now defunct Project Stormfury. The plane and its eight crewmen which included Bob Sheets made nine trips in and around the storm monitoring its structure. On one trip, the plane hit a sheet of ice which caused it to shake violently. The impact damaged the nose of the plane and knocked out two of the measuring instruments. After the mission into the storm, information gathered from it improved knowledge of the conditions of hurricanes and their effects on cloud seeding. That information was then used for cloud seeding operations that were planned to go into effect in 1977 in the Pacific Ocean. However, pull out of the United States Navy from the project and opposition by countries of China and Japan resulted in the cancellation of those missions.

As the center of the hurricane by passed the coast of North Carolina, the weather radar at Cape Hatteras showed the eye centered 270.3 miles (435 km) offshore and spiral bands surrounding the eye. The close proximity of the eye of Hurricane Gladys to be observed by radar was the first since Hurricane Carla of 1961 when the eye of that storm was observed on radar at 260.4 miles (419 km).

As Gladys neared the East Coast of the United States, meteorologists at the National Hurricane Center forecast the storm to make landfall within three days. That prompted meteorologists to issue a hurricane watch for North Carolina's Outer Banks extending from Cape Lookout to Kitty Hawk In Manteo, residents began laying sandbags and filling their cars up with fuel in anticipation for possible evacuation, and the United States Coast Guard sent a plane equipped with a loudspeaker to warn fishermen of the hurricane. Elsewhere in the Outer Banks, residents evacuated to hotels in Elizabeth City and four United States Coast Guard servicemen stationed at a lighthouse in Cape Hatteras were evacuated. While passing the Outer Banks, the storm brought waves up to 8 ft (2.4 m) which resulted in a campground and a coastal road being closed. As the cyclone moved northward, it brushed Newfoundland with high winds. The effects of the storm on North Carolina and Newfoundland were minimal.