New York City's Hurricane History

New York City's Hurricane History
Weather.com, 23-Aug-2011
By Becky Kellogg

Hurricane Irene is threatening the U.S. and could impact tens of millions of Americans along the East coast by this weekend.

People from the Deep South to New England are watching the storm's progress very closely to see how Hurricane Irene will impact them. Several cities who were highlighted by Hurricane Expert Dr. Rick Knabb as being overdue for a hurricane hit, are in the cone of concern. New York City is one of those cities.

"Hurricanes in New York City metro area are relatively rare events because of the geography (places like Cape Cod stick much farther out into the ocean), typical steering patterns, and a tendency for tropical systems to weaken as they go very far north," says The Weather Channel's Senior Meteorologist Stu Ostro.

Only 5 hurricanes in records dating back to 1851 have tracked within 75 miles of New York City. The most recent one being in 1985.

1985 (Cat 1): Gloria
1976 (Cat 1): Belle
1938 (Cat 3): Long Island Expressway
1894 (Cat 1): No name given
1893 (Cat 1): No name given

One of New York's unique challenges in dealing with a hurricane would be mandatory evacuations. It takes hours to evacuate significantly smaller cities, such as New Orleans and Savannah. But New York, as America's most populous city, faces a unique set of evacuation challenges.

“It’s a concern because surveys in recent years have shown that even after the 2004, 2005, and 2008 seasons there is complacency in places which are much more prone to hurricanes, much less in places where hurricanes are very infrequent." says Ostro. "Plus this is one of the last big weekends of the summer with many people heading to the beaches. Folks in New York City and elsewhere need to be closely monitoring the progress of Irene just in case.”

Regardless of Irene's eventual impact on the U.S., Hurricane Expert Rick Knabb says now is the time to prepare. Learn your evacuation routes, get your evacuation kits ready, and be ready to move if your local official order an evacuation notice.