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Article IndexBY ALICIA CRUZ
NEWJERSEYNEWSROOM.COM
Is the Garden State overdue for a hurricane? According to forecasters at the National Hurricane Center the answer is a definite "yes" for New Jersey and the entire mid-Atlantic and the nation.
Analyzing the last two years, Gary Szatkowski, chief meteorologist at the National Weather Service’s Mount Holly office say no hurricanes have made landfall in America going on three years in a row and that has never happened. While 2010 was an active season with 12 Hurricanes, none made landfall in the United States, said Chris Landsea, science and operations manager at the National Hurricane Center in Miami, the APP.com reported.
New Jersey, unlike other states, has been quite lucky at avoiding direct hits from hurricanes since September 16, 1903 when Hurricane Vagabond, a name coined by the Atlantic City Press, made landfall in Atlantic City packing 80 mph winds. Despite its Category 1 status, "Vagabond" did little damage to the Casino City, but the storm's strong surf destroyed several boats along the coastline, including 34 in Waretown.
Because of warmer Atlantic Ocean waters, one of the major factors that feed hurricanes, forecasters are predicting an above-normal number of hurricanes this season. Landsea says the tropical Atlantic waters need to reach at least 80 degrees. That threshold has already been met throughout much of the Atlantic Basin where hurricanes typically form.
La Niña, a periodic cooling of the sea-surface temperatures in the central and eastern tropical Pacific Ocean, has ended, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration reported. She is one of the biggest indicators forecasters utilize to predict Hurricane seasons.Without the La Niña factor, winds could be calmer, which means hurricanes may form. And then there is wind blowing from Africa to the west, which pushes the hurricanes west. A huge wave moving west off the coast of Africa or a cold front moving off the Gulf of Mexico, according to Landsea, is needed to trigger the formation of weather systems that develop into Hurricanes, MyCentralJersey.com reported.
According to a Wikipedia entry, tropical cyclones affect the state more than hurricanes, and the fronts normally hit during the month of September. Storms affect the state most in September due to peak warmth in water temperatures bringing with it torrential rainfall or strong waves.
Among the deadliest storms to have hit New Jersey was the Great Atlantic Hurricane in September 1944. The Category 3 storm's enormous waves diminished a large portion of the State's coastal-resort landscape from Asbury Park to Atlantic City. The center of that storm remained a mere 40 miles off the New Jersey shoreline. Named the "Great Atlantic Hurricane" as it demolished New England, North Carolina's Cape Hatteras, Long Island, Point Judith, Rhode Island, the coast of Maine, Cape Henry, Virginia, Massachusetts, Hartford, Connecticut, Canada and Greenland
The destructive storm went from a category two to a three, packing maximum reported wind gusts of 109 mph in Connecticut, and producing 6 to 11 inches of rainfall. She caused 46 deaths on land and $100 million in damage with the worst effects occurring at sea where a U. S. Navy destroyer, minesweeper, two U. S. Coast Guard cutters, and a light vessel, sank due to the storm causing 344 deaths.
Other deadly storms to brush New Jersey were Hurricane Donna in 1960, which caused one indirect death. Hurricane Danielle (1992), and Hurricane Isabel (2003), both recorded one indirect death each. Then there was Hurricane Bertha in 1996 and Hurricanes Maria and Nate in 2005. Another of the strongest storms, which brought hurricane-force winds to New Jersey arrived in October 1878 (unnamed). She was also a category one storm.
