The Hurricane Season of 1959 Gordon E
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DECEMBER1959 MONTHLY TT'EATHEB REVIEW 441 THE HURRICANE SEASON OF 1959 GORDON E. DUNN ANDSTAFF Weather Bureau Office, Miami, Fla. 1. GENERAL SUMMARY somewhat rare; there have been seven t'ropicalcyclones in May since 1932. Eleven tropical cyclones were noted in Atlantic waters Tropical cyclone activity continued at a,n above normal during the hurricane season of 1959 (fig. 1). This number rate during June and Julywit'h two st,orms in eachmonth; compares with an annual average of ten during the past, one of only stormintensitv, two barely of hurricane 20-25 years.Since there is considerable doubtwhether strengt,h, and one (Debra) of somewhat more than mini- one storm-Edith-fully met all the crit,eria of a tropical malhurricane intensity. The 700-mb. circulationin cyclone, the 1959 season may be regarded as about normal. June, [a] was characterized by above normal heights from Except for hurricanes Gracie and Hannah in late Septrm- the extreme southeastern Pacific across California to the ber and early October, average intensity was unusually western Great Lakes region, with below normal heights weak.However, seven of the eleven stormsdid reach off t'he United States Atlantic coastacross southern Florida hurricane intensity at one time or another during their int>o the southernGulf and northwestern Caribbean. As a history. result there was deeper than normal easterly flow in the The season started early wit,h the first tropical storm Gulf of Mexico andnortllwest,ern Caribbean. However, developing on May 28. Activitycontinued high during the resemblancebetween the June 1959 circulation and Juneand July. There was an unusual lack of act'ivity that described by Ballenzweig [3] as favorable for Gulf in the tropical Atlantic during August and early Septemberof Mexico tropical cyclorle development is at best only fair. untilFlora began to develop on September 9. Most of In July a posit,ive mean 700-mb. height anomaly was t,he tropical cyclone development was confined to the Gulf cent)eredover t,he nort,hen,sternUnited States and the of Mexico and the western Atlantic and only one storm Canadian MaritimeProvinces. With negative anomalies originally attained hurricane int'ensity east of longitude ext'endingfrom the Gulf of Mexico eastwardover the 50" W. subtropical Atlantic [4], this resulted in an above normal Three t1urricanes"two barely of hurricane intensity- easterly flow north of, t8he axis of t'he negative anomaly. and four tropical c?;clones of only storm intensity reached But againresemblance to t'he departurefrom normal t,hecoastline of t'he UnitedSt'ates. Damage in the described by Ballenzweig as favorable t'o tropical storm United States from these storms totaled about$23jh million formation is onl- fair. with 24 fatalities, 22 resultingfrom Gracie, t,he only Tropical cyclone act,ivit>-in August was negligible. At majorhurricane to reach the United St'ates mainland. 700 mb., positiveheight anomalies extended from the Except for the 33 deat,hs and extensive damage in n'ova Great Lakes regionacross t'he northernAtlantic to the Scotiain connection withthe hurricane of June 17-21, Baltic Sea with a strong negative anomalJ- centered about there wereno otherknown deaths or evensignificant 30' N., 50' W.and with a, weaker departure over Cuba [5]. damage in North and CentralAmerica outside the United Thus east,erlies (westerlies) shouldhave been stronger States fromtropical cyclones. Damageand fat'alit,?; statisticsare shown in table 1. Thedamage statistics are estimates and arenecessarily approximate. TABLEl.-Fatality anddamage statistics, North Atlantic hurricane The May circu1at)ionpattern [l] included a mean ridge season 1959 over the eastern United States, averaging as much as 150 feetabove normal at, 700. mb.During the period May Deaths Deaths Storm Principal area affected in outside Damage 28-June I, the maximum positive height' anomaly over the United United States States northeasternUnited States was 320 feet,with height " deficit,s southeast of Bermudaand in the western Gulf .&rlene.. .. Louisiana". .. .~. .. ~-. .. ~. ~ ~. unnamed.. ~... Nova Scotia.-.. .. .~ ~.. .~ ~.- .~~. of Mexico. This resulted in above normal easterly winds Southern Florida-".... ~~ ....~.. Cindy." ......~. S. Carolina ...--........ ~ ........ which is considered favorable for above normal tropical Debra .____...~..-Texas- .~.... ~ ....~ ....~ .....~... Gracie- .~...~...- S. Carolina, Georgia. Virginia ... cyclone 'activity. One storm developed inthe central Irene ..".~. .. .- Extreme northwestern Florida.. Judith- ......_.._Southern Florida ... ...-- -...---- and western Gulf of Mexico on May 28. A tropical de- - Total Le.-.-.................................. velopment this early in the season in the Altantic area is Unauthenticated | Downloaded 10/04/21 11:37 AM UTC 442 MONTHLY WEATHER REVIEW DECEMBER1959 Unauthenticated | Downloaded 10/04/21 11:37 AM UTC DECEMBER19'59 MONTHLY WEATHER REVIEW 443 (weaker) t<han normal between latit'udes 25'-30' N. and and Georgia. This wast,he earliest storm of record to 45'-50' N. However, the displacement of these anomalies cross the Louisiana coast. was so far to the north that. weakened westerlies were the Highest winds report,ed in the storm were 48 kt. with principal result, but the east'erlies were also weaker t'han gust'sto 65 kt.on the Louisiana coast. Lowest central usual. The Augustcirculation appeared to approximate pressure reported was 999.7 mb. at Patterson, La. Several more closely the Ballenzweig [3] "favorable" thanthe shipsand Navy reconnaissance aircraft also reported a '(unfavorable" type. In t'he middle and upper troposphere central pressure of around 1,000 mb. while the storm was a trough persisted in t'he middle At'lantic during much of over the Gulf of Mexico. Highest tides were 3 feet above the month and temperatures at these levels over t'he area normal at Weeks Island and Pt. Au Fer, La. One man of normal tropical cyclone development were apparently was drowned in the surf at Galveston. colder than normal. Thestorm produced locally heavyrains over the In September, 700-mb. heights continued below normal southeasternportions of Louisianaand Mississippi. over the subtropical portion of the western Atlantic and Riloisant InternationalAirport (New Orleans)received abovenormal over the northeastern United States and 11.09inches in 24 hoursand Houma, La., 11.35 inches CanadianMaritime Provinces, resulting in a return to from 0700 CST May 30 to 1030 CST May 31 and 13.13 above normal east'erly flow over the southern portion of inclle,s in three days. Heavy rains associated wit,h Arlene the North At'lantic Ocean. Hurricane activity in Septem- fell fromsoutheastern Louisiana to northern Georgia berwas normal or slightly higher. The troughin the result,ing in some crop damage and serious flooding along middle Atlantic continued at high latitudes but' did not some small streams; however, other propertydamage was extend as far south as in August. slight. Totaldamage was estimated at approximately $500,000. Beulah. June 15-18."Tropical Storm Beulah was first 2. INDIVIDUALTROPICAL CYCLONES detectedduring the night of June 15-16 when the SS Hondo reported a 50-kt. northeasterly wind with heavy Arlene, May 28-June 2.-Tropical storm Arlene orig- rain and high seas near 23O N., 96O W. The storm was inated in an easterly wave which was fairly well defined short lived asit drifted northwestward on the16th, with a northeast-southwest orientation over the Domin- westward during the 17th, and turned southward moving icanRepublic as early as May 23.Shower activity inland over Mexico south of Tampico on the 18th. indicating low stability wasevident over a wide area Highestwinds were est'imated by reconnaissanceair- including most of the Caribbean Sea and the Bahamas. craft at 61 kt.with lowe'stpressure 987 mb.This is At 0700 EST on the 25th, a weak cyclonic flow appeared consistent with Fletcher's formula [6] for maximum wind at 500 mb. over the northwestern Caribbean, but there based on minimum pressure. The stormweakened rapidly was no evidence of any concentrated bad weather. About on turning southward late on the 17th, and winds were this t'ime a slow but definite increase in pressure gradient generally less than 30 kt. as it moved inland. No reports began north of western Cuba, leaving an extensive area of damagehave beenreceived from Mexico; it was of relatively slight gradient over the west'ern Caribbean probably minor. Sea. This trend in the pressure pattern continued until The synopticsituat'ion contributing to the formation wind warnings were required for small craft on both coasts and dissipation of Beulah was rather complex.Pressure of Florida on May 27. The 500-mb. T~ow,had moved first began to fall over the western Gulf on June 13 with into the southeastern Gulf of Mexico on May 27 and on t,he movementof a weak cold front into the northernGulf. the 0700 EST surface chart of May 28 a ship report'cd a A rather strong anticyclone centeredover the Great Lakes light southwest wind at 22.5' N., 88.5' W., providing the contributed to a marked increase in the easterlyflow over first indication that the closed circulation had extended the northern Gulf. This High broke down rapidly on the down to the surface. 15th and 16th wit'h the approach of an active short wave Ship reports during theevening of May 28 confirmed the from the Plains States, probably one of the factors that development of tropicalstorm Arlene and the New prevented Beulah from becoming a well developed storm. Orleans Weather Bureau office at 2100 CST issued the first At the 500-mb level, a very deep Low was located overthe tropicalstorm advisory of the 1959 season. Thestorm New England States throughout this periodwith short center moved northwestward for about 12 hours from its waves"digging" sout'heastwardinto the Mid-Atlantic initial position near 26' N., 88' W. Thereafter it moved States. In theupper troposphere, conditions became westward for 12 hours, became stationary at 28' N., 92O favorablefor development in the western Gulf aftera W.during the night of May 29-30, andthen moved weak trough at 200 mb.