How Henri Stacks Up In New England Hurricane History - AccuWeather

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News / Hurricane

How Henri stacks up in New England hurricane history

By Jesse Ferrell, AccuWeather meteorologist

Published Aug 21, 2021 2:56 AM ICT | Updated Aug 22, 2021 9:49 PM ICT

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FILE - In this Aug. 20, 1991, file photo, boat owners gather their belongings along the shore in Dartmouth, Mass., after Hurricane Bob swept through southern Massachusetts. New Englanders, bracing for their first direct hit by a hurricane in 30 years, are taking precautions as Tropical Storm Henri barrels toward the southern New England coast. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh, File)

With such a rare occasion threatening to unfold in the coming days, residents and meteorologists are looking back to past storms that have struck the area. Going back to the middle of the 20th century, there are some notable storms that have struck and wreaked havoc in the region.

If Henri makes landfall on Long Island, it would be the first landfalling hurricane to hit there in 36 years. Hurricane Gloria was the last hurricane to hit Long Island, on September 27, 1985, moving at an unusually brisk 40 mph. 380,000 people were evacuated from North Carolina to Connecticut. Gloria killed 8 people in the U.S. and caused damage that would be around $2.2 billion in 2021 dollars.

The most memorable storm to hit New England -- an area of the northeastern United States that encompasses Vermont, New Hampshire, Maine, Connecticut, Massachusetts and Rhode Island -- in recent history, and the last hurricane to make landfall there, was Hurricane Bob in 1991. Bob came onshore in Rhode Island and caused $1 billion in damage in Massachusetts. Winds greater than 100 mph and severe coastal flooding blasted Rhode Island and Massachusetts during Bob’s rampage.

Notable New England storms of tropical origin include Hurricane Bob in 1991, Hurricane Gloria in 1985, Hurricane Edna in 1954, and the "Long Island Express" or "Great New England Hurricane of 1938." (AccuWeather)

If Henri makes landfall in New England, it would be just the eighth hurricane to make landfall in New England territory since 1900.

When Hurricane Bob made landfall near Newport, Rhode Island, on Aug. 19, 1991, the worst storm surge was focused into Buzzard's Bay east of New Bedford, Massachusetts.

Storm surge comparison of Bob 1991 and Sandy 2012. (NOAA)

LSR/CERA

To the south and west, Hurricane Irene in 2011 and Superstorm Sandy in 2012 are the most recent tropical storms that caused major damage in the New York City area, including Long Island, Connecticut and the New Jersey coast.

Hurricane Irene made landfall on the New Jersey coast near Atlantic City (its second landfall on the U.S. mainland after coming ashore in Cape Lookout, North Carolina) almost exactly 10 years ago on Aug. 28, 2011, then moved over Brooklyn, New York, as a tropical storm.

Thirteen hurricanes have tracked within 100 nautical miles of Nantucket, Massachusetts, since 1950. (NOAA)

Superstorm Sandy in 2012 made landfall on the New Jersey coast near Brigantine as a post-tropical cyclone, funneling high storm surge into Lower Manhattan. If Henry maintains a track toward the Rhode Island coast, such a devastating scenario will not likely be repeated, but a storm surge of 1 to 3 feet is forecast.

There have been 32 tropical systems that have passed within 100 nautical miles of Nantucket Island, Massachusetts, since 1950, according to an AccuWeather analysis. The most recent was Elsa earlier this year, just before it lost its tropical storm status.

The Edgewood Yacht Club in Hurricane Carol

The Edgewood Yacht Club was surrounded by water amid Hurricane Carol's storm surge in 1954. (NOAA)

NOAA

Of those, 13 of the storms were as strong as a hurricane as they moved near the area, according to National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) data. The last hurricane to pass closely offshore was Arthur in 2014, which caused power outages, flooding and winds up to 63 mph at Nantucket.

Since 1900, just seven hurricanes have made landfall in New England. In 1938, a hurricane made its second landfall in Connecticut after striking Long Island, New York. Six years later, another hurricane followed a similar path making a second landfall in Connecticut after first coming ashore on Long Island. Both of those storms preceded the convention of hurricane naming.

Two more hurricanes hit New England in 1954. Carol made its third landfall in Connecticut, and not long after, Edna hit eastern Massachusetts. Then came Hurricane Donna in 1960, which hit Connecticut, too. A quarter of a century later, Hurricane Gloria hit Connecticut in 1985, and then in 1991 Hurricane Bob made landfall in Rhode Island.

Further back in history, other famous hurricanes to affect New England include “The Great New England Hurricane” in 1938, which crashed ashore as a Category 3 storm on Long Island, and Hurricane Edna in 1954, which moved directly over Martha’s Vineyard. In 1954, Hurricane Carol set the scene for an iconic photo of Edgewood Yacht Club in Rhode Island surrounded by extreme storm surge. Like Hurricane Henri, the 1938 storm approached the coast from the south, something that has not been repeated since then, with all other hurricanes approaching from the southwest.

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