Talk:Racer's hurricane

This article is written in American English, which has its own spelling conventions (color, defense, traveled) and some terms that are used in it may be different or absent from other varieties of English. According to the relevant style guide, this should not be changed without broad consensus.

	Racer's hurricane is a featured article; it (or a previous version of it) has been identified as one of the best articles produced by the Wikipedia community. Even so, if you can update or improve it, please do so.
	This article appeared on Wikipedia's Main Page as Today's featured article on March 9, 2022.
Article milestones Date Process Result January 22, 2017 Good article nominee Listed April 27, 2020 Featured article candidate Promoted
Current status: Featured article

This article is rated FA-class on Wikipedia's content assessment scale. It is of interest to the following WikiProjects:

Weather: Tropical / Atlantic Low‑importance This article is within the scope of WikiProject Weather, which collaborates on weather and related subjects on Wikipedia. To participate, help improve this article or visit the project page for details. Articles Requested Project Resources Become a Member Project Talk Assessment A-Class Alerts WeatherWikipedia:WikiProject WeatherTemplate:WikiProject WeatherWeather articles Low This article has been rated as Low-importance on the project's importance scale. This article is supported by WikiProject Tropical cyclones (assessed as Low-importance). This article is supported by the Atlantic hurricane work group (assessed as Low-importance). United States: North Carolina / Texas Low‑importance This article is within the scope of WikiProject United States, a collaborative effort to improve the coverage of topics relating to the United States of America on Wikipedia. If you would like to participate, please visit the project page, where you can join the ongoing discussions. Template Usage Articles Requested! Become a Member Project Talk Alerts United StatesWikipedia:WikiProject United StatesTemplate:WikiProject United StatesUnited States articles Low This article has been rated as Low-importance on the project's importance scale. This article is supported by WikiProject North Carolina (assessed as Low-importance). This article is supported by WikiProject Texas (assessed as Low-importance).

I propose this to be merged with the

Agreed with you. Information is scarce on most historic storms, except for the most legendary of those (i.e. the 1900 Galveston hurricane). CrazyC83 04:14, 11 October 2005 (UTC)[reply]

I disagree; it's quite a bit more than a stub. Jdorje 07:16, 9 January 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Borderline B-class at the moment. The writing is mediocre but the content and organization are solid. Needs references. Jdorje 07:16, 9 January 2006 (UTC)[reply]

During several automated bot runs the following external link was found to be unavailable. Please check if the link is in fact down and fix or remove it in that case!

• http://www.srh.noaa.gov/lch/research/txearly19hur.php
  • In
    1837 Racer's Storm
    on 2011-05-25 02:04:40, 404 Not Found
  • In
    1837 Racer's Storm
    on 2011-06-01 22:47:19, 404 Not Found

--

• http://www.srh.noaa.gov/lch/research/laerly19hu.php
  • In
    1837 Racer's Storm
    on 2011-05-25 02:04:40, 404 Not Found
  • In
    1837 Racer's Storm
    on 2011-06-01 22:47:26, 404 Not Found

--

Reviewer: Hurricanehink mobile (talk · contribs) 17:29, 22 January 2017 (UTC)[reply]

@Juliancolton: - good work! Here are some minor comments I had in reading the article.

• which got caught up in the hurricane and sustained some damage in the northwestern Caribbean Sea - could be tighter: which sustained damage when it experienced the hurricane in the northwestern Caribbean Sea."
• The hurricane destroyed the first lighthouse constructed outside the Thirteen Colonies. - put "American" before lighthouse, I'm guessing?
• "Little is known about the origins of the storm, though modern reanalysis efforts suggest that it was first noted at Barbados." - since you have the date from Chenoweth, add that it was noted on September 22nd

All in all, a great read, especially for an article I originally wrote 11 years ago. Your research has improved the article significantly, and with some minor tweaks, I'll be happy to pass it for GA status. Hurricanehink mobile (talk) 17:29, 22 January 2017 (UTC)[reply]

Hey, thanks for the review! Your original article served as a solid foundation for my research. :) Great suggestions,  Done. – Juliancolton | ^Talk 18:34, 22 January 2017 (UTC)[reply]

Per your request Julian, here is my review of the article.

Lede

• Any reason no infobox?
• The storm first affected Jamaica with flooding rainfall and strong winds on September 26 and 27, before entering the Gulf of Mexico by October 1. As the hurricane approached northern Tamaulipas and southern Texas, it slowed to a crawl and turned sharply eastward. - love the article up to this point. I recommend ending the first sentence after 27, or removing the date for when it entered the GoM. Yea, the storm entered a body of water, that's relatively important, but I think you should mention the date for its 2nd major land interaction.
• The storm battered the Gulf Coast from Texas to the Florida Panhandle between October 3 and 7, and after crossing the Southeastern United States, it emerged into the Atlantic shipping lanes off the Carolinas. - you might've lost half your readers' interest with this sentence being so long. Simply split in two.
• For most of the storm's duration, the strongest winds and heaviest rains were confined to the northern side of its track. - this feels odd at the end of the first lead paragraph. Call me crazy, but I'd recommend splitting the first paragraph, ending it at Caribbean Sea, then having the second paragraph describe the track, which makes the third paragraph describe the effects. Just an idea, but I think there could be better organization within the lead.
• Many towns along the Texas shoreline were inundated by the storm surge, which flooded the coastal plains for miles inland. - I suggest you rewrite this in active voice. Starting with The storm surge inundated is more engaging to the reader.
• To the east, a water level rise of 8 ft (2.4 m) on Lake Pontchartrain submerged low-lying areas of New Orleans, where strong winds also unroofed houses. Many buildings along the shores of the lake were swept away, and steamboats were wrecked. - I feel like this could be written simpler, like - In New Orleans, strong winds and high water levels wrecked steamboats and swept away houses in New Orleans. I get the need for specificity and clarity, so your call if you want to leave as is or change it to your liking.

MH

• Can you link something for dismasted and re-righting?
• Since the ship was apparently the first to detect the cyclone at sea, writers and historians have commonly referred to the system as Racer's storm or Racer's hurricane - I suggest starting the sentence with "Writers and historians", and have the "since" part at the end. I'm not a fan of seeing "apparently" in articles, and maybe I'm just nitpicking, but it feels less wrong having it at the end of the sentence. Your call, minor
• Both ships recorded easterly winds for several days as they traversed the Yucatán Channel, indicating that the storm center remained to their south. - great detail
• The lede mentions the storm entering the GOM on 10/1, but you technically didn't mention the date in the MH. You say "The hurricane crossed the northern Yucatán Peninsula and moved west-northwestward across the Gulf of Mexico, nearing the mouth of the Rio Grande by early on October 3." I suggest splitting this up into two sentences so you can add another date.
• The storm is estimated to have peaked as the equivalence of a Category 4 or stronger on the modern-day Saffir–Simpson scale. - can you go into a bit more detail here? Who estimated that, and why?
• while its center was near the southern Republic of Texas coast - I love this detail, but I feel like the writing could be stronger, like "while its center was near the coast of the Republic..." nope, I see why you emphasized southern where you did... that's a tough one. You could probably remove "Republic of", because it was still Texas. And I don't know how relevant it was that it was an independent country as opposed to a state. Something like "while its center was near the southern Texas coast, then the Republic of Texas"? You might need to split up the sentence, since it's wordy at that point.
• Extensive damage to forests in interior Louisiana and Mississippi indicated that the strongest winds occurred away from the coast, on the northern side of the hurricane's circulation. This was likely the result of a tight pressure gradient between the storm and the expansive high pressure area centered over the Ohio Valley. According to weather historian David Ludlum, the storm likely moved ashore between Mobile, Alabama, and Pensacola, Florida. - this might be slightly too detailed, and could be tightened a bit. Maybe part of the bit about the forests could be in the final paragraph, which discusses how the track was determined

Impact

• Of the 30 vessels present in the harbor at Galveston when the storm began, only one remained moored following its passage. - link for "moored"? Or perhaps a more common synonym?
• At Houston, the surf action, accompanied by a 4 ft (1.2 m) surge, altered the coastline. - so foolish me, I didn't know Houston even had a coastline, I thought it was inland a bit. Perhaps specify the coastline along Galveston Bay?
• only two people are known to have died, including one in Galveston --> one of them in Galveston." ? ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
• One of the passengers of the SS Home has an article - Oliver H. Prince
• Following the disaster, Congress passed a law requiring commercial vessels to carry enough life preservers for all passengers. - so according to USA Today, the law got passed in 1852, which is located here.

The article is in good shape, it reads well, and it captivates the reader about a disaster from 183 years ago. (going for 200 year TFA? :P ) ♫ Hurricanehink (talk) 23:26, 14 February 2020 (UTC)[reply]

In the second paragraph this tropical storm is referred to a “tropical cyclone”. This is incorrect. Tropical storms are only referred to as cyclones when they occur in the South Pacific and Indian Ocean. Hurricanes occur in the Atlantic Ocean and the northeast Pacific Ocean. Thus the phrase “tropical cyclone” should be changed to “hurricane” since this storm was entirely contained within the Caribbean and the Atlantic. Gregory McCoy (talk) 21:13, 9 March 2022 (UTC)[reply]

Tropical Cyclone is also a general term Builder900 (talk) 21:25, 9 March 2022 (UTC)[reply]

(edit conflict)@Gregory McCoy: See Tropical cyclone. The term is used correctly. Tropical cyclone is the correct general term of such a storm (encompassing hurricane, tropical storm, typhoon, etc.), whereas "hurricane" is a region-specific term. TornadoLGS (talk) 21:29, 9 March 2022 (UTC)[reply]