Downloaded 10/08/21 11:48 PM UTC 100 MONTHLY WEATHER RI4:VIEW MARCH 1961
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MARCH1961 99 THE HURRICANE SEASON OF 1960 GORDON E. DUNN Weather Bureau Office,Miami, Fla. 1. GENERALSUMMARY mained near or above normal through mostof the Tropics and subtropics-a condition not very favorablefor tropical The hurricane season of 1960 was subnorrnal from t'he cyclone formation-the circulation during the latter half standpoints of both frequency and intensity. Seven trop- of themonth more nearly conformed bo thefavorable ical cyclones developed in the Atlantic and four reached type described by Ballenzweig [6] and Cleo formed on the hurricaneintensity (fig. 1). However,only one hurri- 18t'h. cane-Donna-was of majorintensity, although Ethel In contrast' t,o the subnormd activity in the Atlantic, may have been so for a few hours. Donna was the most t'ropical cyclone frequency in the western Pacific in Au- destructivehurricarw ever to strike Florida and one of gust was unprecedented [5]. Elevenstorms werere- themost damaging ever to affect theUnited States. It ported, nine reaching typhoon intensity. A positive 700- is also believed tohave caused hurricane winds over a mb. hcight anornaly was located some 1000 miles east of greater proport'ion of the United States coastline t,han any Japan with a negative anornaly over Formosa (possibly otherknown hurricane. Tropical cycloneswere well in part due to some six tropical cyclones tracked over or distributed throughout' the season except in Oct'obcrwhich near t'he area) resulting in unusually deep easterliesin the was remarkably free from even the weak disturbed con- form.'L t'ion area. ditions normally observed in tlle Tropics. Tracks of theI Tropical cyclone activity was normal during September tropical cyclones are shown in figure 1. wit'h two hurricanes,one tropical storm, and several The mean 700-mb. circulation for June [I] was att'cnded tropicaldisturbances whichmoved along pat'hsrather by above normal heights in t'he Atlantic over most' areas sirnilar to those of Donna and Florence (fig. 1) but never north of 30' N. and below normalover most, of tlle resched st'ornl int'ensity. The 700-nlb. anomalypattern Tropicsand subtropics. This circulation type isusually in theAtlant,ic agreed rather well withthe composite associated with at leist normal tropical cyclone activity. cllart described by Ballenzweig [7j as favorable for tropical TheJune cyclone (unnztrned) formedin a manrlerde- cyclone development. The mean circulation for Septem- scribed by Riehl [2] in which a u~esterly trough of large ber WRS predorninantly one of high index and the axis of anlplit'ude extending well int'o the, Tropics fractures and nmm TOO-Inb. zonal wind speed maximum was displaced the southern portion retrogrades followed by t'he develop- a substantial distance north of normal over North Amer- ment of a tropical cyloncl. ica [8]. Tile rn:txirnum positjive 700-mb. height anornnly in the 'l'ropicttl cyclone act'ivity in t'he Atlantic wasnon- Atlantic for July about 150 feet in the middle At'lantic was existentduring Oct'ober. The mean circulation for the between 40' and 50' with :t United States east coast IC" rllontll in t'he Atlantic area was most unusual [9]. Due to trough of considerableamplitude [3]. Norrrral tropical blocking,the subtropical ridge and rnaxirnunl westerly cyclone frequency in the dtlantic area during July is on15 winds were displaced to thc southof t'heir nornlal positions. one stormevery two years [4]; thusthe two tropical All but t'wo of the 1960 ?\Tort11Atlant,ic tropicalcyclones cyclones representconsiderably above norrnal activity. devcloped in or rcwlledthe Gulf of Xlesico and all recurv- Abby developed in very low latit'udcs and did not come 2Ltures in thc Tropics and subtropicswere west of longit'ude undert'he influence of t'he east,coast trough. Indeed, '70' (fig. I) indicating an Azores-Bermuda anticyclone of much of Abby's t,rack (fig. I) was along the lowest latitude consitlrr:tble constancyand st'rengt'h June through of record for July. September. The formation of Brenda was rather similar to t'hat' of Dtmlage ttrd fatalitystatistics tire shownin table 1. the unnnrned June storm. Estirrltlt'es are necessarilyapproximate. In Donna's Stark [5] noted a major reversal in the large-scale 700- darnage tot'itl forFlorida, citrus dttnlage has not been mb. mean circulation over Nort'h America arid adj:went included dthough 30 percent of t'he grapefruitand 10 oceltn areas between t'he first' and last halves of August. percent' of t'he orangcs were lost'. The subsequent increase The belt' of positive height anomdies shifted northward in citrus priccs is thoughtj tjo have compensated for the from 30°-400 N. during the first half to 4Oo-5O0 S. dur- crop dan1:~ge. Insurancecon~pnnies paid off about ingthe latter half of t'he month.Although heights re- $9O,OOo,oOO in property losses in Florida and it is esti- Unauthenticated | Downloaded 10/08/21 11:48 PM UTC 100 MONTHLY WEATHER RI4:VIEW MARCH 1961 NORTH ATLANTIC'TROPICAL CYCLONES 1960 NUMBER DATE Storm Principal arnasaffccted ___________ 15 Texas. 6 St. Lucia, Martiniquo. 0 IIonduras, Br. 0 0 13 8 29 114 1R4 All areas. 0 Crntral Gulf Coast. 0 Florida. 65 120 Unauthenticated | Downloaded 10/08/21 11:48 PM UTC MARCH1961 MONTHLY WESTHI313 IZEVIEW 101 Del Oro, locatedat' 13.8' X., 59.7' W., with sea level pressure of 1007.6 rub. and wind ESE 45 kt'., indicated a strongeasterly wave or a snlwll vortex.A mall center passed just to t'he nortJl of Barbados during the next' few hollrs. At 0800 EST Juls 10, an advisory was issued on t'ropical storm Abby, based on reports from the Leeward Islands and a few ships. The st'orrn WAS movingtoward t,lle west-northwest and was forecast't'o reach hurricane intensityduring the day. Recormaissance aircraft were dispatchedto the area and confirmed the exist,ence of hurricane Abby 1100 EST. Highest winds were esti- mated at 90-100 r1l.p.h. over a small area near the center. Gale warrlings nrld a hurricane \%fatchwere ordered for the Virgin Islands andPuerto Rico and for t'lle island of Hispaniola as t'he hurricarw nloved west'ward. On July 11 and 12, the hurricanecont'inued on n westerly course, with doubt concerning its intensity. From recon- FIGURE2.---First rain band of tropicalstorm of June 23, 1960, naissance aircraft and surface ship reports, it appeared t,o showing characteristic cr~rvatnrch. Taken at Freeport, Tes. he ratherpoorly organized andmuch of the t'ime was Range markers at 20 statutcx miles. Photo courtesy Dow Chem- ical Co. b;lrcl?- discernible on aircraft' radar. By the morning of the 13t'h, t'lw hurricane had diminished in intensity, with m:c&lurn winds estimated at 60 m.p.h. in a few squalls tiearthe center in the nort'llern semicircle. By early inland, south and about 30 miles west of ('orpus Christi, morning of the 14t,h, the storm had reint'ensified to hurri- Tex. Rockportreported sustained winds of 40 1n.p.h. cane strengt'll wit'h highest windsof 80 n1.p.h. estimated by wit'h gusts to 60 and Padre Island Park 50 nl.p.1~. with 8 recont&sarlce aircraft. The hurricaneretained this gusts to 60. The lowest reported pressure was 1002.4 rnb. strength butremained quite srtlall in size as it, skirted along at Alice at) 0300 CST on t'he 24th. Corpus Christi reported the northern cost of Honduras, passing inland in extreme a tide of 3.5 ft. above mean low water. It appears that southcrn British Honduras early on the morning of t,he there was no wall cloucl. There was some mild curvature 15th. Advisories were discontinuedafter the cyclone on t'he rain bands seen on airborne radar on t.he 23d nntl 11loved inlund. the Dow Chemical Co. radar at Freeport' nearnoon 011 the C'onsideruble rainoccurred in ('entrd America from 231 reported a ch~~r~tct'eristica11~- curved rain (fig. band 2). Hondurasnorth-nortl~u~estu~ard into most' of southern Apparent cloud centers were reported by rtttlusat, lrexico ard the Gulf of Carnpeclle RS therernnants of Victoria and Kell- Air Force Base on several occ:tsions. Abby continued ~~~est-~lort~hwest~~t-artlover the land area. Three fishingpiers were wrecked on Clopano Bay; one Reconnaissance aircrdtmin the southwestern Gulf of shrimp botLt' sank wit'h three lives lost, and another was 5lcxic.o ont'hc 16th confirnld that the radar cent'er of beached. Thestorm rnovetl very slowl\- on June 24-25 circulation did not' emerge ovcr t,he Gulf of Carnpeche but att,ended by he:tv?- rains of 5 to 15 inclws or more Iron1 retllnitlcd over tlw ruggrdterrain of theIst'hmus of Corpus (Xrist'i t'o San Autonio md northe;lstwartlwith 'l'rtlunrltcpcc. considerable flooding. Port 1~vac:lreport'rd 29.76 inclles All airborne radar picture of Ahb?- (fig. 3), as t,he of rainfor the period June 23-26. 'I'ort~atlo~swere storlu just ahout tlttainetlhurricane intensity off t,he report'ed on the 26th as the dying stor111 moved nortll- 11orthwester11tip of St. lluci:l, shows tho characteristic nort}least'wttrd. Unusuallyheavy rains cxterltled into figure-nirle :Ird the asyllrrnetrical cloud and precipitation hrkmsus and southern Illinois. p:Lttrrrlirl theearly forrlultive stsgcat low latit,udes. Fifteen persons :tppnrentl>- were tlro\vned citlm in the Od>-in :L Iew squ:dls in the nlnirl rain band on trhe north high seas or subsequent floods. Datnage, mostly frorrl thc arid east sides were hurricme winds occurring.The floods, is estimated at' $3,600,000. ra(l:l,r picture it1 figure 4 onthe morning of July 15 as Hurricane Abby, July 9-l6.--The first irdictltion of the the hurric.arle WilS approachingthe costst of Brit,ish dist#urbancewhich finall- grew into 21urric.une Ahby w:m Honduras shows a 1lur~ic:lne with a perfect'ly round eye received from a ship about 3.5' east of the island of Bar- :md cwnplete wdl cloud.