Meteorological History
A tropical wave was detected on September 19 near Cape Verde. The system began to slowly intensify as it moved west-northwest at 20 miles per hour (32 km/h). On September 20, hurricane hunter aircraft crews reported a fall in pressure and maximum winds between 35 miles per hour (56 km/h) and 40 miles per hour (64 km/h). Helene reached tropical storm strength on September 23 with 50 miles per hour (80 km/h) winds as it slowed down and intensified further. After reaching hurricane strength, the storm then moved rapidly west-northwest, where it was 80 miles (130 km) east of Charleston, South Carolina, strengthening to a major hurricane. On September 26, the eye of Helene was approximately 10 miles (16 km) off the coast of North Carolina where it turned, reached its peak intensity of 135 miles per hour (217 km/h), and rapidly moved north-eastward and made landfall in Newfoundland. Later, Helene continued across the Atlantic as a powerful extratropical storm.
Hurricane Helene was one of the earliest hurricanes to be the subject of experiments, as hurricane hunter planes dropped airborne balloons equipped with radio transmissions. This was one of 23 missions conducted by the National Hurricane Research Project.
Read more about this topic: Hurricane Helene (1958)
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