Severe Storms

Jacques Cousteau National Estuarine Research Reserve

2004 Contents

Background 2 Introduction ...... 2 Hurricanes ...... 2 Nor’Easters ...... 2 More Information ...... 2

Severe Storms: Case Studies 3 Background ...... 3 Nor’easters ...... 3 The Perfect Storm (Halloween 1991) ...... 3 December 1992 Nor’easter ...... 3 Hurricanes ...... 3 Hurricane Floyd (1999) ...... 3 Hurricane Gloria (1985) ...... 4

Toolkit 5 Books ...... 5 Potential Providers ...... 5

1 Background

Introduction

Severe storms represent an extreme climatic event that affects a region for a short period of time. This is in contrast to the coastal hazards (sea level rise, erosion, et cetera) that persist for longer periods. Severe storms consist primarily of hurricanes, typhoons, tornadoes, tsunamis, northeasters (nor’easters), and flash floods. In New Jersey, the two most likely or most common severe storms are hurricanes and nor’easters.

Hurricanes

As defined by the National Weather Service (www.nws.noaa.gov), or more specifically the National Hurricane Service (www.nhc.noaa.gov), a hurricane is a region-specific term for a tropical cyclone (in the Pacific Ocean they are referred to as typhoons). Cyclones with sustained winds up to 39mph are tropical depressions; winds up to 74mph are tropical storms. When cyclones’ winds reach 74mph they are named a hurricane. More extensive information about hurricanes can be found at the National Hurricane Center’s FAQpage.

Nor’Easters

Nor’easters form in the mid-latitudes (extra-tropical cyclones), have lower wind speeds that rarely exceed 60 mph, and are more spread out than hurricanes. They form (for the Northeast US) off the coast of Florida or in the Gulf of Mexico and travel up the Coast. Details about the differences between Hurricanes and Nor’easters can be found at the Multi- community Environmental Storm Observatory website (www.mcwar.org). The most famous Nor’easter of recent years is likely ”The Perfect Storm” of Halloween, 1991.

More Information

Search our toolbox for a collection of resources that will be valuable in learning more about severe storms and their impacts on New Jersey.

2 Severe Storms: Case Studies

Background

An excellent summary of storms in New Jersey (pre-1980) was written by Ludlum (1983) and published by the Rutgers University Press. Since 1980 New Jersey has experienced an increased frequency of Hurricanes and Nor’easters compared to prior decades. The state has seen 25 Nor’easters in the period of 1980-1998, with at least 12 being classified as major Nor’easters. The state has also seen a few hurricanes, including Gloria in 1985, and Floyd in 1999.

Nor’easters

The Perfect Storm (Halloween 1991) Of particular interest is the Perfect Storm because of its unique nature and publicity. The storm was a composite of three separate weather systems, and resulted in flooding of inland areas up to 100 miles inland. Barrier Islands and backbays were particularly hard hit, and many boardwalks were damaged. An excellent technical case study of the Perfect Storm has been produced by the Synoptic Laboratory of MIT (http://paoc.mit.edu/synoptic).

December 1992 Nor’easter The storm of record for New Jersey was the December 1992 Nor’easter. This storm caused dam- age along the shore that in places exceeded the ’62 storm. The below pictures demonstrate the devastation that can be caused by improper management strategies at the shore.

Hurricanes

Hurricane Floyd (1999) Hurricane Floyd caused significant devastation on New Jersey in September, 1999. The state was declared a Federal disaster area with many millions of dollars in damaged. However, even with the Hurricane force winds (it was a class 2 hurricane when it made landfall it reached NJ) there was little damage done to the coast. Most of the damage occurred as flooding and took place inland as the storm stalled for many days. Only very minor effects were seen at the shore.

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Hurricane Gloria (1985) Gloria caused more damage along the shore, but even her impact was small. Water levels, and storm surge, associated with hurricanes is typical less than the severe Nor’easters, and because Hurricanes travel at a greater cross-ground speed they have less time to impact the coast. Gloria, infact, moved so rapidly that tides were only significantly elevated for one tidal cycle, and resulted in only minor erosion and damage from water along the coast.

Jacques Cousteau NERR Coastal Training Program 130 Great Bay Blvd, Tuckerton, NJ 08087 609-812-0649 Toolkit

Books

Godschalk, D.R., Beatley, T., Bower, D.J. 1988. Catastrophic Coastal Storms: Hazard Mitigation and Development Management. Duke University Press. 275 pages. The H. John Heinz III Center for Science, Economics and the Environment. 2000. The Hidden Costs of Coastal Hazards: Implications for Risk Assessment and Mitigation. Island Press, Washington, D.C. 220 pages. Lloyd, John Bailey. 1990. Six Miles at Sea: A Pictorial History of Long Beach Island. Down the Shore Publishing. 173 pages. Lloyd, John Bailey. 1994. Eighteen Miles of History on Long Beach Island. Down the Shore Publishing. 208 pages. Ludlum, D. 1983. New Jersey Weather Book. Rutgers University Press. Psuty, N.P., and D.D. Ofiara. 2002 Coastal Hazard Management: Lessons and Future Direc- tions from New Jersey. Rutgers University Press. 448pages. Salvini, Emil R. 1995. The Summer City by the Sea. Rutgers University Press. Chapter 18. Savadov, L., Buchholz, M.T., and Bradley, B. 1993. Great Storms of the Jersey Shore. Down the Shore Publishing, 203 pages.

Potential Providers

Hurricane Floyd dataset While not a technical or scientific review this website contains a vast database of storm accounts related to this devastating Hurricane. http://members.aol.com/windgusts/Floyd.html#HISTORY Monmouth County, New Jersey, Coastal Resources PDF (printable) file with portions related to severe storm preparedness specific to Coastal Monmouth County, New Jersey. http://www.visitmonmouth.com/03230planboard/EnvirMidCoast/MCRegChap5. pdf National Coastal Data Center imagery of significant storms Nice archive of storm related imagery. http://www5.ncdc.noaa.gov/cgi-bin/hsei/hsei.pl?directive=

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quick results&pop=YES National Coastal Data Development Center’s (NCDDC) Coastal Risk Atlas (CRA) The purpose of the project is to deliver an on-line risk/vulnerability atlas for the coastal U.S. using NCDDC information technologies. The CRA will provide the data and proven methodology to enable communities to assess vulnerabilities unique to the coastal zone. http://www.ncddc.noaa.gov/cra/ coastalresources National Council for Science and the Environment: Ocean & Coastal Resources—Congressional report Covers Issues of Coastal Flooding, Erosion, and Sea Level Rise related to storms. http://www. ncseonline.org/nle/crsreports/briefingbooks/oceans/o.cfm New Jersey Office of Emergency Management Resource for severe storm response and preparation specific to New Jersey. http://www.state.nj.us/ njoem/ NOAA Coastal Services Center: Coastal Management Techniques The NOAA Coastal Services Center serves the nation’s coastal resource managers. Search Coastal Management Techniques to find methods, strategies, and policies for addressing various coastal issues. The database is organized to allow a search by technique type and/or by coastal issue. http://www. csc.noaa.gov/techniques/htm/techniques.html NOAA Coastal Services Center—VATA (Vulnerability Assessment techniques and Applications Background on organization, stating goals of risk assessment and outreach for education of individuals and providing information to communities on hazard mitigation/risk assessment. Specific interest to http://www.csc.noaa.gov/vata/shoreline.pdf which shows shoreline change in relation to coastal hazards. http://www.csc.noaa.gov/vata/ NOAA Coastal Services Center Hazard Information An archive (in list form) covering topics including Natural Disasters, Weather, and Environmental topics, among others. http://www.csc.noaa.gov/products/nchaz/htm/dinfo 2.htm NOAA Coastal Services Center - Coastal Storm Initiative The Coastal Storms Initiative (CSI) is a nationwide effort led by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) to lessen the impacts to coastal communities from storms. To accomplish this goal, local, state, and federal organizations are working together to develop a large suite of new and improved tools, data, information, forecast models, and training for coastal communities. This effort will help coastal communities plan for, respond to, and recover from coastal storms. http://www.csc. noaa.gov/csi/ The National Climatic Data Center (NCDC)—Shearable database for storm events Excellent resource for technical storm resources filterable by state, storm type, etc. http://www4.ncdc. noaa.gov/cgi-win/wwcgi.dll?wwEvent∼Storms National Safety Council Fact Sheet on Hurricanes and Coastal Storms Broad overview of the storms and their effects, with some limited resource links. http://www.nsc.org/ library/facts/hurrican.htm

Jacques Cousteau NERR Coastal Training Program 130 Great Bay Blvd, Tuckerton, NJ 08087 609-812-0649 Severe Storms 7

National Weather Service storm listing Complete listing of all Tropical Storms and Hurricanes 1899-present by state with information on frequency and return period. General resource links also included. http://www.srh.noaa.gov/lch/ research/tropical3.htm USGS Publications searchable index on Storms Contains documents and information on obtaining from all US Geological Survey publications. Many reports are available on technical aspects of individual storms. http://infotrek.er.usgs.gov/servlet/ page? pageid=1983& dad=portal30& schema=PORTAL30

Jacques Cousteau NERR Coastal Training Program 130 Great Bay Blvd, Tuckerton, NJ 08087 609-812-0649