1407: Worst Hurricane

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Worst Hurricane

Title text: 'Finding a 105-year-old who's lived in each location and asking them which hurricane they think was the worst' is left as an exercise for the reader.

This comic has a larger version available.

Explanation

The map divides America's Atlantic coastline into regions according to the worst hurricane that has hit each area in the last century, based on data from the North Atlantic hurricane database (HURDAT) to determine the severity and the National Centers for Enrvironmental Prediction's (NCEP) rainfall to determine where the hurricane was present. Most of the hurricanes are listed by their US reporting names, with hurricanes before 1953 (the year when the current naming system was established) being listed by their year and sometimes a sequence number or city name.

The title text is a joke in light of this bleak humor, saying that finding residents in each of the regions who are old enough to have been alive through all of these is quite a daunting task. In principle, this would be the only way to confirm the "worst hurricane in living memory," and may be taken as a riposte to anyone who wishes to argue this map: "If you think there was a worse one, find a 105 year old resident who agrees!" 105 was likely chosen because most people can only remember back to an age when they were 5, so someone would have needed to be 5 years old to remember a hurricane in any detail 100 years later.

Hurricanes and especially their names have been featured before in comics 453: Upcoming Hurricanes, 944: Hurricane Names and 1126: Epsilon and Zeta.

Listed hurricanes

A full list of North Atlantic hurricanes after Tropical cyclone naming was introduced can be found here.

Date	Name	States	Highest winds	Lowest pressure	Casualties (Est. total)	Damage estimate (USD; uninflated)
1915	Galveston	LA TX OK AR	145 mph	940 mbar	400	$50 million
	1915 VI	LA MS AL TN KY WV PA	145 mph	931 mbar	275	$13 million
1916	1916 IV	SC NC	115 mph	960 mbar	7	$100,000
	1916 VI	TX	135 mph	932 mbar	15	$1.8 million
1918	1918 I	LA	120 mph	955 mbar	34	$5 million
1921	1921 VI	FL	140 mph	941 mbar	6	$3 million
1926	1926 I	FL	140 mph	967 mbar	<287	$16,401,000
	1926 II	GA	140 mph	967 mbar	unknown	unreported
	1926 III	TX LA AL	115 mph	955 mbar	25	$6million
	1926 VII	FL AL MS LA	150 mph	930 mbar	478	$22 billion
1928	1928 IV	FL SC NC	160 mph	≤ 929 mbar	<4,078	$100 million
1932	Freeport	TX	150 mph	935 mbar	40	$7.5 million
1933	1933 VI	NC VA MD PA	140 mph	940 mbar	31	$27 million
1935	1935 III	FL	185 mph	892 mbar	<400	unreported
1938	New England	NY CT	160 mph	940 mbar	682	$300 million
1940	1940 III	SC NC	100 mph	972 mbar	50	$13 million
1941	1941 II	LA TX	125 mph	942 mbar	4	$7 million
1942	Matagorda	TX NM OK	115 mph	950 mbar	8	$26.5 million
1944	1944 VII	NY NC to CT	145 mph	933 mbar	390	<$100 million
	1944 XIII	FL	145 mph	937 mbar	300	$100 million
1946	1946 VI	FL NC	100 mph	977 mbar	5 (in Cuba)	$5.2 million
1947	King	FL GA SN NC	105 mph	965 mbar	1	$20 million
1949	1949 II	FL GA to NH	130 mph	954 mbar	2	$52 million
1950	Easy	FL GA AK	125 mph	958 mbar	2	$3.3 million
1954	Carol	NY CT NH NC MA VA DC DE NJ	115 mph	957 mbar	72	$462 million
	Edna	NY VA NC NJ MA ME NH	120 mph	≤ 954 mbar	29	>$42.8 million
	Hazel	NC VA WV MD DE NY PA NJ DC	150 mph	≤ 937 mbar	1,000-1,200	$420 million
1955	Connie	NC SC VA DC MD MI PA NJ NY	145 mph	936 mbar	74	<$86 million
	Diane	PA NJ NY NC WV MA RI VT	120 mph	≤ 969 mbar	≥184	$754.7 million
1957	Audrey	TX FL LA MS AL MI MO IL NY PA VT ME	145 mph	945 mbar	<416	$147 million
1958	Helene	SC to ME	135 mph	934 mbar	1	$11.4 million
1959	Gracie	SC GA VA PA	140 mph	950 mbar	22	$14 million
1960	Donna	FL GA SC NC VA MD PA NJ NY CT MA VT NH	160 mph	932 mbar	164-364	$900 million
1961	Carla	TX LA OK IL FL NE MO MI WI IN AL AK MS IA	175 mph	931 mbar	43	$325.74 million
	Esther	NC VA MD DE NJ NY CT MA NH	145 mph	927 mbar	7	$6 million
1964	Dora	FL	130 mph	942 mbar	5	$250 million
	Hilda	FL TX LA GA MS NC SC AL TN VA MD DE	150 mph	941 mbar	38	$126 million
1965	Betsy	FL LA MS AR TE MO	155 mph	941 mbar	81	$1.42 billion
1966	Alma	FL (up to FL/GA border)	125 mph	970 mbar	91	$210.1 million
1967	Beulah	TX	160 mph	≤ 923 mbar	688	$1 billion
1969	Camille	MS LA WV VA	175 mph	900 mbar	259	$1.42 billion
1970	Celia	FL TX	125 mph	945 mbar	28	$930 million
1972	Agnes	FL GA NC VA MD PA NY	85 mph	977 mbar	128	$2.1 billion
1974	Carmen	LA TX	150 mph	928 mbar	8	$162 million
1975	Eloise	FL	125 mph	955 mbar	80	$560 million
1979	David	FL	175 mph	924 mbar	<2,068	$1.54 billion
	Frederic	FL AS MS	135 mph	943 mbar	14	$2.3 billion
1980	Allen	TX	190 mph	899 mbar	269	$1.24 billion
1984	Diana	FL SC NC	130 mph	949 mbar	3	$65.5 million
1985	Elena	FL AL MS LA AR KY	125 mph	953 mbar	9	$1.3 billion
	Gloria	NC VA MD DE NJ NY MA ME CT RI NH ME	145 mph	919 mbar	14	$900 million
	Kate	Fl GA	120 mph	954 mbar	15	$700 million
1989	Hugo	SC NC VA WV OH VI	160 mph	918 mbar	±107	$10 billion
1991	Bob	NC ME MA NH VT RI CT	115 mph	950 mbar	17	$1.5 billion
1992	Andrew	FL LA	175 mph	922 mbar	65	$26.5 billion
1995	Opal	AL FL GA	150 mph	916 mbar	63	$5.1 billion
1996	Fran	SC NC VA WV MD PA	120 mph	946 mbar	27	$3.2 billion
1998	Bonnie	NC	115 mph	954 mbar	5	$1 billion
1999	Floyd	FL to ME	155 mph	921 mbar	77-87	$6.9 billion
2002	Lili	LA MS AK	145 mph	938 mbar	15	$925 million
2003	Isabel	NC to PA	165 mph	915 mbar	51	$5.37 billion
2004	Charley	FL SC NC	150 mph	941 mbar	35	$16.3 billion
	Frances	VI PR FL	145 mph	935 mbar	49	$9 billion
	Gaston	SC NC VA MD DE MA	75 mph	985 mbar	9	$130 million
	Ivan	AL FL LA TX	165 mph	910 mbar	123	$18 billion
	Jeanne	VI PR FL	120 mph	950 mbar	<3,035	$7 billion
2005	Dennis	Fl Al MS GA TN OH	150 mph	930 mbar	89	$4 billion
	Katrina	FL LA MS AL	175 mph	902 mbar	<1,833	$108 billion
	Rita	FL MS LA TX AR MO IL	180 mph	895 mbar	97-125	$12 billion
2008	Gustav	PR AL MS LA TX OK AR MO IL MI	155 mph	941 mbar	153	$6.61 billion
	Ike	FL OH LA TX MS	145 mph	935 mbar	195	$37.5 billion
2011	Irene	NC CT NJ NY	120 mph	942 mbar	56	$16.6 billion
	Lee	NY PA	60 mph	986 mbar	18	$1.6 billion
2012	Sandy	NJ NY PA MD DE	115 mph	940 mbar	286	≥ $68 billion

Transcript

What's The

Worst Hurricane

Anyone In Your Town Remembers?

Estimated from Hurdat Database and NCEP rainfall totals

1914-2014

[A map of the east coast of the United States as far southwest as the Texas/Mexico border, as far northeast as the Maine/Canada border, and as far inland as Kentucky. The map has coastal regions blocked out with the name and year of the worst hurricane in the last 100 years.]

Map

Date	Hurricane name	States (Postcode form)
1915	Galveston	LA TX OK AR
	1915 VI	LA MS AL TN KY WV PA
1916	1916 IV	SC NC
	1916 VI	TX
1918	1918 I	LA
1921	1921 VI	FL
1926	1926 I	FL
	1926 II	GA
	1926 III	TX LA AL
	1926 VII	FL AL MS LA
1928	1928 IV	FL SC NC
1932	Freeport	TX
1933	1933 VI	NC VA MD PA
1935	1935 III	FL
1938	1938 VI	NY CT
1940	1940 III	SC NC
1941	1941 II	LA TX
1942	Matagorda	TX NM OK
1944	1944 VII	NY NC to CT
	1944 XIII	FL
1946	1946 VI	FL NC
1947	King	FL GA SN NC
1949	1949 II	FL GA to NH
1950	Easy	FL GA AK
1954	Carol	NY CT NH NC MA VA DC DE NJ
	Edna	NY VA NC NJ MA ME NH
	Hazel	NC VA WV MD DE NY PA NJ DC
1955	Connie	NC SC VA DC MD MI PA NJ NY
	Diane	PA NJ NY NC WV MA RI VT
1957	Audrey	TX FL LA MS AL MI MO IL NY PA VT ME
1958	Helene	SC to ME
1959	Gracie	SC GA VA PA
1960	Donna	FL GA SC NC VA MD PA NJ NY CT MA VT NH
1961	Carla	TX LA OK IL FL NE MO MI WI IN AL AK MS IA
	Esther	NC VA MD DE NJ NY CT MA NH
1964	Dora	FL
	Hilda	FL TX LA GA MS NC SC AL TN VA MD DE
1965	Betsy	FL LA MS AR TE MO
1966	Alma	FL (up to FL/GA border)
1967	Beulah	TX
1969	Camille	AS MS LA
1970	Celia	FL TX
1972	Agnes	FL GA NC VA MD PA NY
1974	Carmen	LA TX
1975	Eloise	FL
1979	David	FL
	Frederic	FL AS MS
1980	Allen	TX
1984	Diana	FL SC NC
1985	Elena	FL AL MS LA AR KY
	Gloria	NC VA MD DE NJ NY MA ME CT RI NH ME
	Kate	Fl GA
1989	Hugo	SC NC VA WV OH VI
1991	Bob	NC ME MA NH VT RI CT
1992	Andrew	FL LA
1995	Opal	AL FL GA
1996	Fran	SC NC VA WV MD PA
1998	Bonnie	NC
1999	Floyd	FL to ME
2002	Lili	LA MS AK
2003	Isabel	NC to PA
2004	Charley	FL SC NC
	Frances	VI PR FL
	Gaston	SC NC VA MD DE MA
	Ivan	AL FL LA TX
	Jeanne	VI PR FL
2005	Dennis	Fl Al MS GA TN OH
	Katrina	FL LA MS AL
	Rita	FL MS LA TX AR MO IL
2008	Gustav	PR AL MS LA TX OK AR MO IL MI
	Ike	FL OH LA TX MS
2011	Irene	NC CT NJ NY
	Lee	NY PA
2012	Sandy	NJ NY PA MD DE

Trivia

• Hurricanes have a maximum wind speed in the eye-wall around the centre of the storm. After a storm passes over land it loses the warm water needed to power it, and rapidly dissipates. Around the Caribbean Sea there are major storms, such as Katrina, that affect a long path inland, and storms such as Carmen that have had significant effects on local coastal areas. Further north the pattern changes, as hurricanes will be beginning to transform to an extra-tropical depression, and can intensify over land. There may be a degree of sample bias, as hurricanes from the early half of the twentieth century may not have been monitored as intensely after making landfall.
• Randall wrote "Esther 1951" instead of "Esther 1961" in the map.

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Discussion

I tried to list all the unnamed hurricanes, but I gave up after 1938. Anybody feel like finishing it? 108.162.219.195 05:37, 13 August 2014 (UTC)

The current explanation seems to interpret the title text completely wrongly; it isn't about finding a person that lived in *all* of the states, but finding people that lived in *each*. The point is that the entire data is estimated based on rainfall, not based on actually asking people the question. 108.162.250.231 (talk) (please sign your comments with ~~~~)

I very much doubt that the data was based on rainfall, which is pretty irrelevant to the severity of most hurricanes. The severity is generally a factor of storm surge and windspeed, rainfall only becomes relevant far inland.

And the map is too small scale to really represent what you would get if actually asked people - for instance, in Fort Lauderdale it's unlikely anyone would say Andrew was worst (having been thru both Andrew and Wilma, I'd say Wilma was worse, but old timers in Fort Lauderdale would say the 1947 hurricane was worst). 108.162.238.182 (talk) (please sign your comments with ~~~~)

Except the fact remains that the comic says it is based on rainfall. So why is wind speed and pressure on the table? 108.162.216.209

Hurricane Audrey was in June 1957. -- Jkrstrt (talk) (please sign your comments with ~~~~)

Some areas in the map is pretty large se Opal, Katrina, Hugo while others are very small like 1946 near the tip of Florida. I don't know much about hurricanes but could one draw a conclusion that the hurricanes in the small areas are not as bad as the larger ones (and that some large ones like those near Mexico, are large only because they don't receive many hurricanes)? Should one add a note in the description why not entire America is mapped? We know that the Atlantic is very good at producing hurricanes but why doesn't the Pacific Ocean produce as many? I write my comment out of curiousity hoping someone has the answers, not that I know much about this (I am not even an American). Aquaplanet (talk) 10:09, 13 August 2014 (UTC)

That would be a false conclusion. The area of severe damage for a hurricane is fairly narrow (perhaps 50 miles wide), so if another hurricane has hit nearby, each would just be "worst" in a small area. Conversely, in an area that gets few hurricanes even light damage would count as "worst". Just for reference, in terms of deaths the three most severe hurricanes would be 1915 Galveston TX, 1926 Palm Beach FL, and 2005 Katrina MS/LA. In terms of wind strength, the three most severe would be 1935 Florida Keys, 1969 Camille MS, and 1992 Andrew (FL). 108.162.238.182 (talk) (please sign your comments with ~~~~)

On the Pacific coast of the US we get no hurricanes. This is due to the cold water flowing south from Alaska rather than coming north from the equator. This in turn is due to the clockwise flow of large bodies of water in the northern hemisphere, which is in turn due to the coreolis effect (caused by the rotation of the earth.) In California we only remember hurricanes because we here about them on the news, or occasionally when we travel. 108.162.215.134 10:25, 13 August 2014 (UTC)BluDgeons

There are no hurricanes in Pacific because they are called Typhoons (difference) and damage places like South East Asia where the concentration of news reporters is lower. -- Hkmaly (talk) 11:01, 13 August 2014 (UTC)

Both of the above comments are mistaken. Tropical cyclones in the western Pacific are called hurricanes. It is possible (altho rare) for a hurricane to hit California (it's common in Baja California). If the map were expanded to include California and Arizona, 1997 Kathleen would probably be the worst anyone remembered. 108.162.238.182 (talk) (please sign your comments with ~~~~)

West Pacific and Baja are not US which I specifically stated for that reason. I also doubt anyone remembers Hurricane Kathleen, I certainly don't. 173.245.54.197 08:56, 15 August 2014 (UTC)BluDgeons

I swear there must be a small joke in there about the reporters, but the veil is a bit too opaque for me, I fear... Also, is it kosher for me to fix people's links, if it's evident what needs to be fixed, and what they meant to put? -- Brettpeirce (talk) 11:19, 13 August 2014 (UTC)

You're welcome, and actually encouraged, to do that; a wiki is a group project, with every editor contributing their knowledge and fixing others' errors.--Troy0 (talk) 12:12, 13 August 2014 (UTC)

"'If you think there was a worse one, find a 105 year old resident who agrees!'" I would like to point out that if someone has the specific hurricane that they would like to claim to be worse than the presented one, they only need to find someone who experienced both hurricanes; there is no need for 105-year-olds every time.--Troy0 (talk) 12:16, 13 August 2014 (UTC)

Is there any rhyme or reason to the parentheses? I can't figure out why we have Connie (1955) and Diane 1955. jameslucas (" " / +) 13:10, 13 August 2014 (UTC)

If we make a complete list, are we ordering it chronologically or north-to-south? It seems easier to list it from Maine to Texas. Unless we can create a list that lets you adjust those fields which I don't know how to do173.245.56.152 12:44, 13 August 2014 (UTC)

There is no proper north to south order, but we could create a table with name, year, state and description, so you can order by it. Condor70 (talk) 15:07, 13 August 2014 (UTC)

Very cool. And next someone could mash this up with a population density map and find the number of people likely to remember each one as "worst", then sort by that ro find the hurricane most-remembered as "worst". Nealmcb (talk) 15:43, 13 August 2014 (UTC)

This comic might have been inspired by Robin William's bit on hurricanes in Weapons of Self-Destruction in light of his recent death. 108.162.217.95 15:19, 13 August 2014 (UTC)

It might be of interest to colour the hurricanes by decade; see if there's a visible secular trend in hurricane "worseness". 141.101.98.187 20:24, 13 August 2014 (UTC)

Like this? (smaller version isn't yet available or I'd link to that) --Mwarren (talk) 00:36, 14 August 2014 (UTC)

Not really. That doesn't distinguish between hurricanes which were the worse over a small area, and the worse over a large area. A less bad hurricane that by chance hasn't been topped in a small locality has the same weight as a more intense one that was the worse over large tracts of land. What I was thinking of was colouring the map according to date - start at hue 0 (red) in 1914 and end at hue 200 (magenta) in 2014. The problem is that the potential sample bias mentioned would lead to a apparent trend to worser hurricanes, so any map so coloured wouldn't necessarily represent the reality of the record. 141.101.98.187 (talk) (please sign your comments with ~~~~)

Like this, then?

More details on my talk page. GuiRitter (talk) 12:50, 30 November 2015 (UTC)

That's beautiful but I thought it would be more like the tables here:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_elements (maybe not the best example) but each vertical column would be ordered so we'd have dates, states, severity, etc. Just basically like a grid. Maybe I was alone in that thought. 173.245.56.152 (talk) (please sign your comments with ~~~~) Suggestion: HSL model (or perhaps HSV) colour-space applied on the map such that Hue (say Red/0° up to Magenta/300°, the long way round) represents the year of a given hurricane, Saturation (if only to cash in on the obvious pun) depicts actual rainfall and Luminosity/Lightness or 'brightness' Value or the Intensity value (whatever it is you're using) can show windspeeds. If anyone can go back to the source data (which Randall has) it might even be possible to blend neighbouring zones together, although with this system that'd risk (say) a 1914 (Red-hued) hurricane neighbouring a 1954 one (Green-hued) giving a yellowed zone between them that might looking like an intersticial 1934 storm area (with rainfall/windspeed qualities based upon the combinatorial method you use). However, sticking to just the 'areas of majority', you could either flood-fill with their worst/greatest/typical HSX or (if the source data gives the required granularity) gradient it to show how (for example) 1995 Opal tails off into Tennessee, if my US geography is correct, while showing how Ivan's path interleaves the former patchily but (where it shows through against its competitors) doesn't evaporate, just get outdone. IYSWIM 141.101.99.7 12:38, 15 August 2014 (UTC)

Restructured the list into a table. Would you like to fill in the states (I'm not familiar enough with US geography)? Condor70 (talk) 06:38, 15 August 2014 (UTC)

The 105 year old comment is probably based on the earliest storm shown on the map being 1915 Galveston; you'd have to be 105 years old to remember that one. 108.162.238.182 (talk) (please sign your comments with ~~~~)

Would/Should we add a section or modify what we have so we can rate by the more familiar categories (CAT 1, CAT 2, etc)?173.245.56.152 01:03, 17 August 2014 (UTC)

Would it help understand the comic? 108.162.216.209 18:23, 9 December 2014 (UTC)

The Weather Channel reported on this comic as if people were actually asked about which hurricanes they remember. I'm not even certain TWC understood its provenance. 173.245.54.155 (talk) (please sign your comments with ~~~~)

I propose we remove much of the table, and provide the name of the hurricane the year, and a link to a reference to the hurricane if we can find one.108.162.216.209 18:23, 9 December 2014 (UTC)

All of the hurricanes are linked on Wikipedia, and the remarks are arbitrary facts pulled from that. There is no standard as to what kind of remark or interesting fact should be left. Some just link to the wikipedia article, which already happens in the initial listing, while others tried to find a cool or key fact, but this is the least fun part of completing this list especially when there is no uniformity to this section. I propose removing the remarks point as it's the most subjective and least scientific and least important aspect of the list. If people want to read more about the storm, they can click the link by the name. Anyone agree or disagree? 4jonah (talk) 17:26, 23 December 2014 (UTC)

I have a followup thought - just make remarks 2 figures: number killed and cost of damage. That's pretty empirical and would make for simple columns. This allows it to be filtered by most deadly and most costly

I'm giving total casualties. The Wiki pages sometimes say x deaths direct, y deaths indirect. I'm giving a unified total otherwise it gets too confusing. -- 4jonah (talk) (please sign your comments with ~~~~)

There were duplicate entries for 1926 such as, in a single column, "1926 "IIII/II." In addition to being out of sequence, no other year did this so I have each one it's own listing. We should remove the remarks section. Does anyone attend this page anymore?4jonah (talk) 18:34, 24 December 2014 (UTC)

This table has more listed than the map does. Are we going to have 2 separate, inconsistent lists? Or is the table going to have only what's on the map?4jonah (talk) 21:18, 26 December 2014 (UTC)

Hey, guys. I have been slowly working through the transcript, but the southern states are going to bee pretty crazy. If anyone wants to help, or maybe has a better idea for how to format the transcript, please do so. Reywas (talk) 21:02, 16 February 2015 (UTC)

The worst hurricane anyone in my town remembers is Ike. In fact, being from southwestern Ohio, Ike is the only hurricane anyone in my town remembers. 162.158.75.189 02:36, 13 December 2021 (UTC)