1916 Pensacola hurricane

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For the hurricane that struck the Mississippi Gulf Coast in July 1916, see 1916 Gulf Coast hurricane.

1916 Pensacola hurricane
isobars, weather fronts, and areas of precipitation (shaded)
Meteorological history
FormedOctober 9, 1916 (October 9, 1916)
DissipatedOctober 19, 1916 (October 19, 1916)
Category 2 hurricane
1-minute sustained (SSHWS/NWS)
Highest winds110 mph (175 km/h)
Lowest pressure970 mbar (hPa); 28.64 inHg
Overall effects
Fatalities29
Damage$100,000 (1916 USD)
Areas affected
Part of the 1916 Atlantic hurricane season

The 1916 Pensacola hurricane was a

tropical storm and then a hurricane. It passed over the Swan Islands before moving ashore the Yucatán Peninsula on October 15 near the border between British Honduras and Mexico
. Plantains and coconuts in British Honduras sustained harsh losses. Twenty people were killed following the loss of a ship in the western Caribbean. The tropical cyclone weakened as it moved across the peninsula and curved north into the Gulf of Mexico on October 16.

The hurricane restrengthened as it accelerated towards the

Black Friday
.

Meteorological history

Map of the track and intensity of the storm, beginning in the Caribbean Sea and curving into the Gulf of Mexico before tracking over the United States
Map plotting the storm's track and intensity, according to the Saffir–Simpson scale
Map key
Saffir–Simpson scale
  Tropical depression (≤38 mph, ≤62 km/h)
  Tropical storm (39–73 mph, 63–118 km/h)
  Category 1 (74–95 mph, 119–153 km/h)
  Category 2 (96–110 mph, 154–177 km/h)
  Category 3 (111–129 mph, 178–208 km/h)
  Category 4 (130–156 mph, 209–251 km/h)
  Category 5 (≥157 mph, ≥252 km/h)
  Unknown
Storm type
triangle Extratropical cyclone, remnant low, tropical disturbance, or monsoon depression

In the wake of an

tropical storm on October 12 and a hurricane the following day.[4]

On October 14, its

inHg).[3] Pensacola briefly experienced the storm's calm center.[1] The storm quickly weakened after moving inland, tracking over Alabama, Tennessee, Kentucky, and Illinois before ultimately merging with another area of low pressure near the Great Lakes by 12:00 UTC on October 19.[3][4] This resulting combined system was initially broad and diffuse, but a dominant center of circulation soon emerged over Illinois on October 19. This new storm tracked northeast into the Great Lakes region and was last observed crossing Ontario.[1]

Preparations and impact

See also:
Black Friday (1916)
Contour map of pressures in the vicinity of the hurricane with weather station observations indicated
Surface weather analysis of the storm at its Yucatán landfall on October 15

Communications with the Swan Islands were disrupted as the hurricane passed nearby.[6] Three wireless towers were destroyed and two thousand coconut trees were blown down. Buildings sustained slight damage. Several barges were grounded on the Swan Islands' shores.[7]: 13  Twenty people were killed following a ship's sinking in the western Caribbean.[8]: 98  Most plantains and hundreds of coconut trees in the British Honduras were destroyed by the hurricane.[9] Heavy rainfall was documented on the Yucatán Peninsula.[10]

Beginning on October 14, the Weather Bureau began advising ships in the Gulf of Mexico of the storm's possible approach via the

Tallapoosa to render assistance to vessels in distress if necessary.[14] Shipping firms authorized the resumption of shipping operations at noon on October 18.[7]: 1  The perceived threat of the hurricane to Alabama's cotton-growing regions caused the price of cotton at the New Orleans Cotton Exchange to advance by $4.50 per bale, reaching autumnal highs unseen since the Civil War.[15][16] On the evening of October 18, all warnings concerning the hurricane's landfall were terminated.[1]

Contour map of rainfall totals around the Mississippi River Delta and the Gulf coast where the hurricane made landfall
Rainfall totals between October 17–18 associated with the storm in the United States

Category 2 hurricane conditions were experienced in Alabama and the

Florida Panhandle.[17] The storm's damaging effects were localized; in Florida, damage was limited to the Pensacola area.[18] At the coast, the hurricane produced a storm surge generally 3–4 ft (0.91–1.22 m) above mean tide.[3] These values were low relative to the storm's intensity due to the storm's small size and fast forward speed at landfall.[8]: 97  Rough seas along Santa Rosa Island and the Fairpoint Peninsula caused $10,000 in damage to railroads as embankments were eroded.[18] Most of the damage associated with the hurricane at its Gulf landfall was caused by the strong winds that accompanied the storm.[8]: 98  Mobile, Alabama, recorded a peak gust of 120 mph (190 km/h), while a peak gust of 128 mph (206 km/h) was registered in Pensacola, Florida. These were new highs for both cities, topping records set three months prior in the 1916 Gulf Coast hurricane.[8]: 97 [12] One-minute sustained winds of 94 mph (151 km/h) were also documented in the two cities.[3][nb 2] The anemometer in Pensacola was blown away a minute after recording the peak gust and shortly before the storm's eye passed overhead. The winds damaged fences, roofs, signs, and trees. In Pensacola, 200 trees were felled.[8]: 98  Several ships were lost in the Pensacola harbor and many small craft were damaged. Three schooners were driven ashore. The sinking of the steamship Flanders off Pensacola killed one person.[20] Plateglass windows were smashed; a 13-year-old boy sustained injuries after being defenestrated by the winds.[18] All electric and communication wires in Pensacola were knocked out of commission for 12 hours. Storm damage suspended rail service between the city and Jacksonville, Florida, for a week.[21] The roof of a school was almost entirely peeled away.[22] At the Pensacola Naval Yard, an office building was unroofed and the sheathing of the hangar was partially torn off.[23]

In Alabama, the heaviest damage occurred in Dale, Covington, and Coffee counties. Strong winds blew down homes and timber.[24] Mobile was caught in the storm's core for two hours. A steamship sank and two large ships were driven aground. One steamship, the James A. Carney, partially sunk in her dry dock after being raised following the 1916 Gulf Coast hurricane. Many smaller skiffs and launches in the Mobile area were driven ashore or capsized. Damage was relatively light in the city proper, totaling a few thousand dollars. Two buildings in the business district were unroofed and plateglass windows were broken. Communications wires were downed on the morning of October 18, though restorations of telecommunications began within hours.[25] Trains in Mobile bound for New Orleans, Louisiana, and Mobile-bound trains from Montgomery, Alabama, were halted due to the loss of communications.[26][27] Seven people were killed when a home was razed.[28] One person was killed due to electrocution by a live electric wire.[25] Electric crews from Albany, Alabama, were dispatched to repair telecommunications infrastructure in the Mobile area.[29] Other towns in South Alabama reported homes unroofed and trees blown down, but without loss of life.[30][31]

Rainfall associated with the hurricane was heaviest farther away from the storm's center to the west and east,[1] with totals above 5 in (130 mm) across much of the Mississippi River Delta.[32] Most rain occurred ahead of the system as it was approaching the coast, with drier conditions prevailing to the storm's south after it moved inland. At Burrwood, Louisiana, the storm produced 12.8 in (330 mm) of rain overall;[32] 11.88 in (302 mm) of rain fell in the 24-hours ending on the morning of October 18.[1] Five stations, including the one at Burwood, set 24-hour rainfall records during the hurricane's passage.[33] Rainfall in the state proved beneficial, relieving drought conditions and helping to restore struggling crops.[34]

Despite the intensity of the hurricane, the warnings from the Weather Bureau combined with the storm's small size and fast motion kept losses low along the Gulf coast, reducing the damage potential of storm surge and rainfall. Total property damage in the Mobile and Pensacola area was approximately $100,000.

Black Friday.[35][36][37] The influence of this system was extensive; in Florida, the cold temperatures brought equatorward by the cyclone were still in place through October 23.[18]

See also
Other storms that transitioned into or fueled damaging extratropical cyclones

Notes

  1. ^ All monetary values are in 1916 United States dollars unless otherwise indicated.
  2. ^ Five-minute sustained winds of 115 mph (185 km/h) were originally recorded in both Mobile, Alabama, and Pensacola, Florida. However, wind tunnel research beginning in the 1920s found that the era's four-cup anemometers exhibited a high bias. The 94 mph (151 km/h) figure arises from correcting for this high bias and adjusting five-minute sustained winds to one-minute sustained winds as done by the Atlantic hurricane reanalysis project.[19]: 2143 

References

  1. ^
    doi:10.1175/1520-0493(1916)44<582:FAWFO>2.0.CO;2. Retrieved March 25, 2020.[permanent dead link] Open access icon
  2. ^ Hall, Maxwell. "The October Hurricane Which Generated Near Jamaica, Oct. 7th to 14th". Jamaica Weather Report for the Month of October, 1916 (Report). Jamaica Weather Report. Montego Bay, Jamaica: Jamaican Weather Service. pp. 4–9.
  3. ^
    Miami, Florida: National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
    . 1916/14 - 2008 Revision. Retrieved March 25, 2020.
  4. ^ a b c d e f "1916 Hurricane NOT_NAMED (1916283N19284)". International Best Track Archive for Climate Stewardship (IBTrACS). Asheville, North Carolina: University of North Carolina at Asheville. Retrieved March 22, 2020.
  5. doi:10.1175/1520-0493(1916)44<686:HOANOH>2.0.CO;2. Retrieved March 23, 2020.[permanent dead link] Open access icon
  6. ^ a b "Center of Hurricane in Gulf Passes North of Cozumel; Ships Wait". Shreveport Journal. Shreveport, Louisiana. October 16, 1916. p. 1. Retrieved March 27, 2020 – via Newspapers.com.
  7. ^ a b "Furious Tornado Lashes the Entire Mexican Gulf Coast". The Birmingham News. Vol. 29, no. 219. Birmingham, Alabama. October 18, 1916. pp. 1, 13. Retrieved March 27, 2020 – via Newspapers.com.
  8. ^
    ISBN 9780807830680. Retrieved March 25, 2020 – via Google Books
    .
  9. ^ Avery, William L. (1917). British Honduras (Report). Supplement to Commerce Reports: Daily Consular and Trade Reports. Bureau of Foreign and Domestic Commerce. p. 3. Retrieved March 27, 2020 – via Google Books.
  10. doi:10.1175/1520-0493(1917)45<519:WCOTNA>2.0.CO;2. Retrieved March 27, 2020.[permanent dead link
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  11. ^ "Hurricane Warnings Sent to the Gulf". The Lincoln Daily Star. Lincoln, Nebraska. October 14, 1916. p. 10. Retrieved March 27, 2020.
  12. ^ a b Marvin, Charles F. (September 27, 1917). Report of the Chief of the Weather Bureau (PDF) (Report). Washington, D.C.: National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. p. 4. Archived from the original (PDF) on June 18, 2019. Retrieved March 25, 2020.
  13. ^ "Fishing Schooners Return to Anchorage at Biloxi". The Birmingham News. Vol. 29, no. 218. Birmingham, Alabama. Associated Press. October 17, 1916. p. 3. Retrieved March 27, 2020 – via Newspapers.com.
  14. ^ "Coastguard Cutter Tallapoosa Ready for Emergency". Tampa Morning Tribune. No. 250. Tampa, Florida. Associated Press. October 18, 1916. p. 1. Retrieved March 27, 2020 – via Newspapers.com.
  15. ^ "Price of Cotton Makes Big Gain". The Birmingham News. Vol. 29, no. 219. Birmingham, Alabama. October 18, 1916. p. 1. Retrieved March 27, 2020 – via Newspapers.com.
  16. ^ "Cotton Makes Big Gains On Fears of Storm Damage". The Birmingham News. Vol. 29, no. 219. Birmingham, Alabama. October 18, 1916. p. 1. Retrieved March 27, 2020 – via Newspapers.com.
  17. ^ Landsea, Christopher (June 1, 2018). "E23) What is the complete list of U.S. continental landfalling hurricanes?". Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ). 4.11. Atlantic Oceanographic and Meteorological Laboratory. Retrieved July 19, 2019.
  18. ^ a b c d e Mitchell, Alexander J. (October 1916). "Florida Section" (PDF). Climatological Data. 20 (10). Jacksonville, Florida: United States Weather Bureau: 73, 79. Archived from the original (PDF) on March 26, 2020. Retrieved March 25, 2020 – via National Centers for Environmental Information.
  19. S2CID 1785238
    . Retrieved March 25, 2020.
  20. ^ "Hurricane Hit Pensacola; Wind At 114-Mile Rate; Vessels Sunk". Tampa Morning Tribune. Vol. 23, no. 251. Tampa, Florida. Associated Press. October 19, 1916. p. 1. Retrieved March 28, 2020 – via Newspapers.com.
  21. ^ "Storm Damage Will Not Exceed $100,000". The Birmingham News. Vol. 29, no. 220. Birmingham, Alabama. Associated Press. p. 1. Retrieved March 28, 2020 – via Newspapers.com.
  22. ^ "City Schools Are Damaged". The Pensacola Journal. Vol. 19, no. 292. Pensacola, Florida. October 19, 1916. p. 1. Retrieved March 28, 2020 – via Newspapers.com.
  23. ^ "Worst Storm Known But Damage is Slight Wind Was 114 Miles". The Pensacola Journal. Vol. 19, no. 292. Pensacola, Florida. October 19, 1916. p. 1. Retrieved March 28, 2020 – via Newspapers.com.
  24. ^ Smyth, Patric H. (October 1916). "Alabama Section" (PDF). Climatological Data. 20 (10). Montgomery, Florida: United States Weather Bureau: 75. Archived from the original (PDF) on March 27, 2020. Retrieved March 27, 2020 – via National Centers for Environmental Information.
  25. ^ a b "Tornado Travels 110 Miles in Hour at Mobile Today". The Birmingham News. Vol. 29, no. 219. Birmingham, Alabama. Associated Press. October 18, 1916. p. 1. Retrieved March 27, 2020 – via Newspapers.com.
  26. ^ "Mobile and Pensacola Are In Grip of Tropical Hurricane". The Birmingham News. Vol. 29, no. 219. Birmingham, Alabama. October 18, 1916. p. 1. Retrieved March 27, 2020 – via Newspapers.com.
  27. ^ "Louisville and Nashville is Held at Capital". The Birmingham News. Vol. 29, no. 219. Birmingham, Alabama. October 18, 1916. p. 2. Retrieved March 28, 2020 – via Newspapers.com.
  28. ^ "Great Storm is Sweeping Mobile; Seven Are Killed". The Albany-Decatur Daily. Vol. 5, no. 201. Albany, Alabama. International News Service. October 18, 1916. p. 1. Retrieved March 28, 2020 – via Newspapers.com.
  29. ^ "Local Linemen Again Go to the Storm District". The Albany-Decatur Daily. Vol. 5, no. 201. Albany, Alabama. October 18, 1916. p. 4. Retrieved March 28, 2020.
  30. ^ "South Alabama Suffers". Tampa Morning Tribune. Vol. 23, no. 251. Tampa, Florida. Associated Press. October 19, 1916. p. 9. Retrieved March 28, 2020 – via Newspapers.com.
  31. ^ "Union Springs, Ala., Badly Damaged". Tampa Morning Tribune. Vol. 23, no. 251. Tampa, Florida. Associated Press. October 19, 1916. p. 9. Retrieved March 28, 2020 – via Newspapers.com.
  32. ^
    OCLC 1015746192
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  33. ^ Roth, David M. (January 13, 2010). "Hurricanes of the Early Twentieth Century" (PDF). Louisiana Hurricane History (Report). Camp Springs, Maryland: National Weather Service. p. 30. Retrieved March 27, 2020.
  34. ^ Cline, Isaac Monroe (October 1916). "Louisiana Section" (PDF). Climatological Data. 20 (10). Jacksonville, Florida: United States Weather Bureau: 75. Archived from the original (PDF) on March 27, 2020. Retrieved March 27, 2020 – via National Centers for Environmental Information.
  35. ^ Kerfoot, Sara Christine (April 2015). Catastrophic Disaster in the Maritime Archaeological Record: Chasing the Great Storm of 1913 (PDF) (Thesis). East Carolina University. p. 16. Retrieved March 27, 2020.
  36. ^ Champion, Brandon (October 20, 2016). "Today marks 100th anniversary of 'Black Friday,' Lake Erie's perfect storm". MLive.com. Advance Local Media LLC. Retrieved March 27, 2020.
  37. ^ "October 20, 1916: Deadly Lake Erie Gales". Severe Weather in Ohio. Ohio Historical Society. Archived from the original on February 1, 2020. Retrieved March 27, 2020.
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