MOKTHLY WEATHER ~~~1~727 107

THEHURRICANE SEASON OF 1961

GORDON E. DUNN and STAFF

U.S. Weather Bureau Offlce, Miami, Fla.

1. GENERALSUMMARY TexasTowers off t'he Sew Englandcoast. Ships also reported BS-kt,. windsin Inga on oneor two occasions. While the number of tropical CJ-C~OI~CSwas exact'ly the annual average for the ltrst t,Elree clecades, the llurricwle Previously in only eight,years since 1900 had there been as season of 1961 wasremttrkublc for tmhclack of activity tnany 11s eight8hurricanes in the Atlant,ic area [I]. Only one t,ropictllcyclone developedprior t'o September. June through August ttnd the verv high cyclone frequerrcy of Septembert.hrough Novenlber, tdso for t'lw large Activity in the tropical Atlantic in August' was at a min- number of storms of fullhurrictme i~ltensitmy-- -eight. irnnrn ant1 this was the t.hirdconsecut,ive August with Indeed, tthe number could well be ninc, or cvcn ten, since subnormaltropical cyclone frequency. Hurricanes oc- Gerda, during a period when it,was stmillregt~rded tis partly curred over nll portions of the Atlantic and there was 110 tropical, was at8t8crldetlby hurricanc.-for.ce windsat. t.hc concerltrated area of activity (fig. 1).

NORTH ATLANTIC TROPICAL CYCLONES 1961 DATE JULY 20.1, SEPT. 2-11 SEPT. 3-15 SEPT. ,-,(I SEPT. LL-1II

FIGURE1.-North Atlantic tropical cyclones of 1961.

Unauthenticated | Downloaded 10/06/21 08:18 PM UTC 108 MONTHLY WEATHER REVIEW MARCH 1962

FIGURE2.-Surf:~ce weather chart,, 1800 GMT, September 11, 1961, with four fully-developed hurricanes in evidence.

Unauthenticated | Downloaded 10/06/21 08:18 PM UTC MARCH 1962 MOKTHLY WEATHER REVIEW 109

FIGIIRE 4.-IIImicane Anna at 1048 EST, July 21, at approxim-ately 14.1' X., 52.4" W. Tht: northern coast of South America and the Gulf of JIaricaiboand Isthrnus of Panama can be seen south :md southwst of the cloud mass.

According to Tistltdc [Z], there \vas a pronoultcctl sllow~lsouth of the st20rrn trntl Ptmanla and CostmaRica reversal in t8hegelneral circulat~ionfro111 August, to Scp- can bc: seen at thc lowerleft of the picturesomewhat ternber wit8hthe slrorlg ridge over westcrn h-orth America tlistort'cd by the angle. The classical spiral band structure being replaced by tt dccp trough. Conco~t~it:mt~wit,ll this of t~ hurricane is shown in Betsy on September 8 shortly trough development,strong :tnt~icyclogcl~esis took pl;~ce after it began a sharp turn to the northeast (fig. 5). A over eastern Sort'h America with t~ positive height. (lepur- TIROSpicture of unusuallylarge hurricane Carla is ture of 180feet' at 700 nlb. over Afaine. The p:ittcrn of shown in figure 6. The centerposition of t,hehurricane the height. tlnornal3- over the Atlant'ic at t,his level rescln- W:IS irtdicrkted by the satellite us near 26' N., 95' W. The bled the circul:ltmiorlfeat,ures found by Rdlertzw-cig [3] ac.l11:11 centerposition was tbpproxirnatcly 27' N. Hurri- to be favorablefor tropical cyclonc tlcvelopltlent in tmlw c:m(' Debbie on September 10 is shown in figure 7. This eastern Atl:mt,ic, andfour 1lurric:irtcs in sucwssion stor111was first,picked up int'he Cape Verde Islands. Since developcd in this nrcn during t'he first ldf of t'he ~llontll. it, could not be reached by reconnaisstmce planes, its move- On September 11 thew four were siltlulttllteollsl3- of full ment, was forecaston the bmis of climatology. The hurricane irlt8rrlsit8yin t8he Atlant'ic R~C:L(fig. 2), the first sut,ellit8epicture on the lOt,h indicated that there had been time thisis known tollavc occurred. D:mt:tgc :~nd :L rnuchlarger northward component of motionthan fatality statistics arc shown in table I. indicated by cdirnat'ology. The existence of Esther was Some of theweather satellite poterrt'ial inhurricane not confirrncd by rcconnaissmceuntil September 12. detection andt'racking was delnonstrnted in 1961. The However, as early :IS 1412 EST, September 10, TIROS I11 track of Anna (fig. 1) was begun at 60' W. late on July 19. st,ronglyindicated the existence of a tropical cyclone (fig. 8). Intleed, it seems likelyfrom the photograph it However, TIROS I11 at, 0940 EST, July 17, :kt about812O may have been of full hurricane int,ensity at this time. N., 43' W. showed that at' least a dcpressiorl was prcseltt It does not appear t#hatit' will be difficult to differentiate (fig. 3). The line ext8erdirlgeastward from the cloud Inass between the cloud masses associatedwith upper tropo- is probablyt'lle Intertropical Convergcrlce Zone (ITC). sphere vort'ices and tmhose accompanying tropicalcyclones. (All thesesatellite pictures are print'ed so t'ht Iligher Thus, the sat,ellite without doubt is already an excellent latitudes aretoward the top of the picture.)Hurricanc detection tool. The cent,er can usually be located within Anna four days lstcr is shown in figure 4. Tlw northern fZO. The more sophisticated weat'her satellites planned coast of Sout,hAmerica and the Gulf of Maricaibo are should reduce the average error considerably.

Unauthenticated | Downloaded 10/06/21 08:18 PM UTC 110 MONTHLY TVEATHER REVIEW MARCH1962

evening of July 19. An area of suspicion was first noted w-ell to tlleeast on July 17 as Navyreconnaissance reported an extensive area of strong radar echoes between 14'-16' N. and 50'-55' W. Shippingin the area also report'ednumerous showers wit,ll windsgenerally light and variable. TIROS showed the principal concentration of weather near 12' N., 43' W. (fig. 3). During the 18th and 19th the ITCshift'ed well nort'h of its normal position tlrd cyclogenesisprobably occurred at, its intersect,ion withthe e:tst'erly wavefirst noted by Navyaircraft on the 17th. Following report,s from the islandof Grenada, indicating heavy squalls with gusts to 50 m.p.h. and pressure of 1002 I&. around midnight local time on the 19t8h, reconnais- snnce aircraft locat'ed Anna in the extreme sout,heastern Caribbean some 75miles north of the Venezuelan coast on the morning of July 20. By wft'ernoon windshad increased to slightly over hurricane force. From its inception, Anna maintained a course slightly north of due west on its entire track through the Caribbean Yea wit'h R forward speed bet'ween 15 and 23 1n.p.h. and

FIGUREB.-Hurricane Betsy as seen by TIROS I11 at 1515 EST, with lowest pressure 976 nib. (28.62 inches) on t'he 22d. September 8, 1961, showing classical spiralstructurc. The cen-. OJI the 23tl the center skirted t,he ext'rerrle northeastern ter is at about 36' X., 59" W., or 900 rnilcs cast of Virginia. coast of Honduras, then passed westward into t'he moun- tains of southern Brit'ish Honduras t'he next morning. Since Anna's track WLLS at an unusually low latit'ude, upper-airdata were sparse. Only when the, center was near a reporting station would t'he lower windsbe affected, but the available500-mb. data gave little indicationof a hur- ricane. However, at 200 rnb. a well-developed anticyclone was centeredto the northeast of Annaand maintained this same relative position as the storm moved through theCaribbean. Operat'ing as an efficient outflowmech- anism, this anticyclone played an important part in Anna's developmentand maintenance. This relationship of the two dependent systems could occur only ina deep easterly circulation such as existed over the Caribbean during this period,and may explain why thc size and int'erlsity of Anna remained so stat'ic. Some minor damage occurred at Trinidad and Grenada, but t'here were no casualties.Considerable damage was report,etl along tlle extreme northern Honduras coast with several hundred houses damaged or dest'royed, and many pltintationssuffered heavy damage to fruit' trees. One death and a dozeninjuries were reported from Trujillo and Bk~yJsltLds. More than 5,000coconut trees were blowndown on Utila, a smallisland off theHonduras coastdirectly in the path of Anna. No official reports FIGURE6.-Hurricane Carla, a very largestorm, 1730 EST, Sep- havebeen received from British Honduras, although tember 10, 1961 at approximat,ely 26' N., 95' W. unofficial information indicated damage was rather exten- sive at' Punta Gorda in tlle extreme southeast.The center of Anna moved inland over a sparsely settled area. 2. INDIVIDUAL TROPICALCYCLONES Hurricane Betsy, September 2-1i.-Theformation of l~urricane Betsy inaugurated ofone the most active tropical Hurricane Anna, July 19-24.-Anna, the first tropical cyclone periods inthe historyof the North AtlanticOcean. cyclone of the 1961 Atlantic hurricane season, developed No less than three other hurricanes made their appearance ashort distance east of theWindward Islands on the beforeBetsy dissipated. Betsy formed in the eastern

Unauthenticated | Downloaded 10/06/21 08:18 PM UTC Unauthenticated | Downloaded 10/06/21 08:18 PM UTC 112 MONTHLY WEATHER REVIEW MARCH 1962

lolor , I I , I I , I I ' I ' I ' I ' centralpressure (931 mb.) on the afternoon of t'he 11th. Upper-air clata at the 200-mb. level vividly illustrate the 1000 - deepening it's during Carla fromtroposphereoutflow- upper stage (fg. 10). - 990 - The center of Curla was under surveillance for SOI~~48 *s by three land-based radars located at Brownsville, 980 - Gttlveston, arid Lake C'harles.showed All radars a - n strong cycloidal track during the period preceding landfall E 970 - 3 v1 le New Orleans hurricane center described Carla as Y 960 - - oneintense of the most ltwgest, ttnd destruct'ivehurricanes ever tostrike the United States Gulf coast.Carla's

950 - O'Connor-PortLavaca Port- cent,er the moved over inlund area on the central Texas coast during the afternoon of Legend US Navy 940- 0 - Scptetnber 11 (fig. 11). Sustainedhurricane force winds X RFF Lond Stot,ons were reported from Corpus C'hrist'i to Galvest'orl and were felt 930 hurricarregusts dong wlmost the erlt'irelength ;21 ; 111 j ;zz ,;I ; I'zr 1 I;r ,lz ;o ;zz ), iz ,; 1;z 6 SEPTEMBER 1961 4 13 of nxws Hightides began tiffectirlg theupper Texas coast on FIGURE9,"Central pressure in hurricane Carla, September 4-13, 1061. Sept,enlber 8 ant1 waves tlnd tides cont~inuedto batter

Unauthenticated | Downloaded 10/06/21 08:18 PM UTC .- .-

FIGURE 12.-Storm surgeand high water marks (height, iu feet. andtime) on Texas coast during hurricane Carla. (From [,!I]), Some of thcse data are prelimimry and mapbe revised.

50 Plirnatological Data, National Summary Annual 1961 which goes to press about a mont'h later than thisart'icle. Peak gustsof 175 n1.p.h. were estimated at Port Lavaca. A gust of 153 rn.p.11. was observed on the anemometer of the Bt~uerDredging Co. beforethe inst,rurnent failed.

TRACK OF HURRICANE CARLA The lowest' reported pressure at Port Lavaca was 27.62 OVEH TEXAS (Cme -Central Standard) inches (985 mb.) and it' remained at that value from 1545 m"EYB" OF HURRICANE to 1735 CST. Availableinformation indicates the needle eARLAOF SEVERE DAMAGE AREA OF MODERATE TO IIEAVY DAMAGE was below thc scale during that period. EAREAOF LIGHT DAMAGE E Totd d:tmage in Texas was estirnated at' $300 million, two-thirds t'o property and one-third to crops. FIttalit,ies were 34 in Texas, 6 in Louisiana, 5 in Kansas, and 1 in Missouri. Of the 34 dead in Texas 8 werekilled in a FIGURE11.-Track of hurricane Car1:t on September 11, 1061 over tornado which swept wross Galveston from t'he Gulf as Texas.(From [,!I].) the hurricane t'here was subsiding. Eight tornadoes in all were associated with Carla in Texas arid 10 in Louisinna. Persons injured in Texas totaled 465; 1,915 homes, 568 the Texas coast with ever increasir~gfur)- until the center ftwn buildings, and 415 other buildings were destroyed; moved inlandt~hree clays lat'er.Highest titles were 16.6 7,398 homes, 1,382 farm buildings, and 1,219 other build- feet MSL at Port' Lt~vt~ca,14.5 feet MSL at Port O'Connor, ingsreceived major damage; and 43,325 homes, 4,238 15.2 feet MSL at h'lnt~agortla,and 14.8 feet MSL on the farnl buildings, and 9,268 other buildings received minor upper Houston ship channel. A high watcr line varying tl:llnage. from 15.7 t'o 22.0 feet MSL w:ls establisl~eclfro111 the Tilne1)- and accurnt,e hurricane advisories resulted in t'lle debris nearthe head of I~t~vncnBay. HOWCVCI.,this largest'evacuation of persons I'rom danger areas inthe includes anundeterrrhlcd anlount of ~aveuprush and Nation'shistory. An est,inlated 350,000 persons fled must be an overestirnat'ion of the still-water level ill thc inland from the Texas mtl Louisiana coast'al areas. This area of theobservation. The unusutlllyslow movctumt evncnation was responsible for the comparst'ively low of 6 to 9 m.p.11. resulted in cxceptionnlly prolor~gctl hurri- death t'oll. In September 1900 some 6,000 persons died, cane conditions. A short section of the storm track, the mostly from drowning, in the well-renlelnberetl Galveston location of the recording tide gtlgcs, nrld a few high water hurricane. marks and peak surge elevnt,iorls :we shown in figure 12. Ilurricane Debbie, SeptPmber 6-16.--"Hurric:me Debbie See[5] for a full explanation of this figure. It, is expected probablydeveloped bet'ween t'lle C'ape Verde Tslrtnds that final details concerning t'hc high water ~nnrlcscan hc tmcl Africa. Pressures in that area fell to wellbelow presented inthe hurrict~nc surnmnry includedin the their normal values with evidence of cyclonic circulation

Unauthenticated | Downloaded 10/06/21 08:18 PM UTC Unauthenticated | Downloaded 10/06/21 08:18 PM UTC Unauthenticated | Downloaded 10/06/21 08:18 PM UTC 116 MOKTHLYREVIEW WEATHER MARCH 1962

Reconnaissance aircraft, did not report any indictttion of BAROGRAM or RECORD of PRFRSURF (MONDAY 301h/ TUESDAY 31%) / WEDNSDAY 1st / THURSDAY 7nd \ wall cloud fornlat,ion or spiral bands nt any time during the course of the st'orm. Even at' the time of the strong winds at the Texas Towers, an Air Force reconntliss*ime aircraft' very near their location report'ed winds of only 10 kt. at 700 mb. A low-level injection of polar air into Gerda was occurringat' this time and the circulation apparently was quit'e shallow. Damage from Gerda was not heavy dthough according t'o press reportsinfornlation was received from eastern Y 960 \ \ \ \ ' ' STATION:STANLEY FIEQ FROM MONDAY: 30st. OCT. i961 Cuba of extensive flooding resulting inseven deaths. Five \ \ \\\ BRITISHHONDURAS TO THURSDAY: 2nd. NOV 1961 deaths were reported from Jarnaicadue to drowning. Heavy rains occurred for several days over Jamaica antl FIGURE13.-Barograph trace at Stanley Field, Belize, British Ilonduras during passage of hurricane Ilattir. e~t~rerneeastern Cuba. Orographic effects probably caused excessive amounts with flash flooding quite common over the more mountainoussections of theseareas. Damage through the NewEngland area TVBS about the same as eye, which measured approximately 25 miles in diameter, thatfrom tt typicalwintertime northenstcr. The st'rong passed 20 miles sout'heast of Belize. The lowest pressure winds reported by the Texas Towers did not occur on the on t'he barograph at St'anleyField, Belize, was 972 nib. coast, where 30 to 50 rn.p.11. were thestrongest winds (fig. 13) indicating it gradient of some 45 to 50 mb. in t'he reported. 20 miles betweenthat point and the cerlt,cr of t.he eye. HurricaneHattie, October 27-31 .-Hurricane Hattic A t'rnined observer estmirnated windsfrom 150 to 160 rn.p.11. WAS the killer storm of the 1961 hurricaneseason, tdt~hougll :It Belize with unofficial estimates to 200 1n.p.11. or more. property damage mas nluchgreater in Chrla. Approx- A copy of the Dines anenlonleter record is shown in figure imately 275 peopleperished in Hattie. Not' sincehurri- 14.The pen retnt~inetl at, the top of thegraph for n cane Janet, 1955, has a stornl inflict'ed so much dam:tge in while. Storm tides of 10 t'o 11 feet' dong t8he Belize the Yucatan Peninsula region. wntmerfront8werc general and waves deposit,ed nlud on the The first indication of at'ropical storm (wne frotrl a third floor of some buildings. Ot.her locations near Belize ship,located about 120 ridessouth-southeast of Snn reported storm tides up to 14 feet,. Andres Island at 1900 EST, October 26, reporting t~ 40-kt. Seventv-fivepercent of Belize, thecvpitd of British southerly wind. By 1000 EST, October 27, the airport' :it8 Hond~lras, was eitherdestroyed or severely darnttged. San Andres Island report'etl that it' was closed because of Some colnmunities suc.1~NS St8nn Creek were txlnlost corn- 40- to 50-kt. easterly winds and, basedon this report, plctc1)- erased. Dalrulge was so great in Belize t,llat, plans the first tropicd storm advisory for Hattie was issued 1))- arc under consideration for it,s relocation farther inland. the Mianli Weather Bureau at 1700 EST. Latest fatality figures show 262 dead in British Hon- Hattie passed over, or just to the west' of, S:tn Antlres duras. Thercild~~-to-?lilrvest' citrus crop scheduled for int,he late d"ter1loorl of the,27t,h. A n~inirnumprepsure export ant1 worth $2,000,000 was destroyed and unknown of 991 nlb. WAS observedat, 2100 EST, October27, t~nd tnillions were lost, in titnber, cocoa, :~ndbananas. Damage highest steady winds were 70 kt. with 90-kt. gusts. One iscst,iln:lt8ed netlr $60 million.Gu:ltmenlala report,ecl 11 person was killed on the island and 15 were injured, with tlrtlths :rnd Honduras I, most, of t,hese appnrently occur- property damage estimated at $300,000. ring in flash flooding. Fromthis point Hattie continued on :I gener:dly Thc Governor of Brit'ish Hondur:ts stated that' Jrurri- northerlycourse for t,he nest 36 hours and int'ensificcl cane Hattie was much worse t'lurn t,he 1931 hurricane in with the centrill pressure reaching 952 nlb. 11ew15' N. which 2,000 persons died and t8hc fact, t'hatthe deatmlltoll By 1900 EST, October29, A chtrngc to a 1no1.e westerly was not'higher at t,llis time was due to the excellent course becanle clewlyevident. The storm continuctl on warnings. A large percent8ngc of t8hepeople in Belize a cyclonic turn passing between Swan and Crr'iInd ('ltty111:tn either evtlcuuted or moved to supposedly safer buildings. Islands with nlaximunl winds on thesetwo islands rert1:tin- In Stan Creek,3,500 of the 4,500 residents were evacuated. ing under hurricane force. H:ltt,ic continued west-southwcstw-tlrd antl sout,hwest- Hat,tiefinally settledon a ~~~est-southu;est~~,:trdcourse mtl ward through British Honduras and Guwtenltda, dissipat- intensified markedlyduring the morning of October 30 ingin thc ~nourlt~ainsof GutLtemuln. Tropicalst,orrn Si- whent8he cent,ral pressurc probably reachcd it8s lowc>st mone \was :rlready inexistence in the PacificOcean ns value, 924 mb., at 0800 EST. A lower pressure of 920 Hattie p:tsscd mar Relizc, and t'hc renlnant's of Hattie nlb. was computed at 1700 EST; however, t'his was based developed into neither Sinlone nor Inga. upon t'he700-lnb. height8and not determined by dropsonde. There arc a rrurnbcr of interest'ing pointtscorlnect8ed wit'h Hattie movedinland on the Brit'ish Honduras coast hurricttne Hatt'ie which tire wort811yof nlent8ion.This is aboutsunrise on October 31. Thecenter of the radar t8hcfourth hurricane of record t'o nffcct San Audres Island,

Unauthenticated | Downloaded 10/06/21 08:18 PM UTC STATION- STANLEYFIELD LAT. 17O32'N LONG. 88O18'W MONTH - OCTOBER YEAR-1961 ON- 30th OFF - 3i~t14t NIGHT

1 I I I I I:

and it is most unusual t80Il:xvc ollc for111 south of t,he island. 1novctl c&wnrd pastSwan Island on October 25 to a Residentscould recallonly one otller hurriwncwhich positionjust northeast of t'heformation point. On Oc- passed over the island since the t,urrl of t'llc ct.ntmurJ-; this tober 26, a sharp int,cnsifyir~g t,rougll movedirlt'o the west- one occurred in October 1908 [7]. ern Gulf of Mexico from Texas.This combination pro- This developnwntmof hurricane Hattie :~ppearsto have duced strong southwest to sout,h flow over t,he western been triggered by eventsnear the outflow- level.fliclll Caribbem thus furnishing an excellent evacuation rnech- [SI pointed out t8he irrlport'ance of t811is levelsuggcst'ing anisnl for rising war111 air currents over the surface per- that superposition of high-level divergence over a low- turh~tion.The 200-1nb. chartfor 1900 EST is a classic level disturbance could lead t-clorle rlort'henst,.Only occasionally a stormrecurves rapidly

Unauthenticated | Downloaded 10/06/21 08:18 PM UTC Unauthenticated | Downloaded 10/06/21 08:18 PM UTC Unauthenticated | Downloaded 10/06/21 08:18 PM UTC