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The 1944 Great Atlantic hurricane was a destructive and powerful tropical cyclone that swept across a large portion of the United States East Coast in September 1944. Impacts were most significant in New England, though significant effects were also felt along the Outer Banks, Mid-Atlantic states, and the Canadian Maritimes. Due to its ferocity and path, the storm drew comparisons to the 1938 Long Island Express, known as one of the worst storms in New England history. Though the precursor to the 1944 hurricane was first identified well east of the Lesser Antilles on September 4, the disturbance only became well organized to be considered a tropical cyclone on September 9 northeast of the Virgin Islands. Tracking west-northwest, the storm gradually intensified and reached peak intensity as a Category 4-equivalent hurricane on September 13 north of the Bahamas after curving northward. A day later, the storm passed by the Outer Banks and later made landfall on Long Island and Rhode Island as a weaker hurricane on September 15. The storm eventually transitioned into an extratropical cyclone, after which it continued moving northeast before merging with another extratropical system off of Greenland on September 16. ==Meteorological history== The origins of the 1944 hurricane can be traced back to a tropical wave first identified well east of the Lesser Antilles on September 4. Over the next few days, the disturbance slowly traversed west-northwestward without producing any significant weather that would hint at tropical cyclogenesis. On September 7, an area of low pressure, albeit disorganized, formed in association with the tropical wave east of Barbados. The following day, the barometric depression became more well-defined, prompting the Weather Bureau in San Juan, Puerto Rico to issue advisories on the tropical disturbance. As a result of the sparseness of available surface observations east of the Lesser Antilles, a reconnaissance flight was dispatched to investigate the storm late on September 9; the flight reported that the disturbance had strengthened into a newly-formed but fully-fledged hurricane.〔 〕 Due to the seemingly rapid development of the storm, the Atlantic hurricane reanalysis project concluded that the storm likely began earlier and as a weaker system; thus, HURDAT—the official track database for hurricanes in the North Atlantic dating back to 1851—lists the tropical cyclone as having begun a tropical storm with winds of 50 mph (80 km/h) at 06:00 UTC on September 9. After formation, the tropical cyclone gradually intensified as it slowly moved west-northwestward, reaching the threshold for hurricane intensity at 06:00 UTC on September 10 while north of the Virgin Islands. Strengthening continued thereafter, and by September 12, the storm reached an intensity equivalent to a Category 3 hurricane on the modern-day Saffir–Simpson hurricane wind scale. Later that day, the cyclone strengthened further into a Category 4-equivalent and was given the moniker of "Great Atlantic hurricane" by the Weather Bureau in Miami, Florida.〔 Concurrently, the tropical cyclone began to curve and accelerate towards the north.〔 At 12:00 UTC on September 13, the hurricane reached its peak intensity with maximum sustained winds of 145 mph (230 km/h), and five hours later, a ship documented a minimum barometric pressure of 933 mbar (hPa; 27.55 inHg). The storm's pressure may have been lower at the time as it is unknown whether or not the observation took place in the eye, though the 909 mbar (hPa; 26.85 inHg) pressure suggested by meteorologist Ivan Ray Tannehill in a 1938 paper was considered too low.〔 The hurricane began to gradually weaken after reaching peak intensity on September 13. In the morning hours of September 14,〔 the storm passed just east of Cape Hatteras and eastern Virginia as a small but powerful hurricane with winds of 125 mph (205 km/h).〔 Afterwards, the cyclone curved slightly further towards the northeast and continued to accelerate;〔 at 02:00 UTC on September 15, the hurricane made landfall on the eastern tip of Long Island with winds of 105 mph (165 km/h).〔 The storm then crossed the island and Long Island Sound before making a second landfall two hours later near Point Judith, Rhode Island as a slightly weaker storm with winds of 100 mph (160 km/h).〔〔 After crossing Rhode Island and Massachusetts, the tropical system transitioned into an extratropical cyclone off the coast of Maine on September 15;〔 these extratropical remnants continued to track towards the northeast and across the Canadian Maritimes before they were last noted merging with another extratropical cyclone off of Greenland at 12:00 UTC on September 16.〔 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「1944 Great Atlantic hurricane」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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