Follow up to “Our Most Powerful Hurricane,” 1949, SLR/IRL

Aurthur Ruhnke, post hurricane 1949. Archives of Sandra Thurlow.

The following is a follow-up to my recent post “Our Most Powerful Hurricane,” about the Hurricane of 1949 that devastated Stuart, Florida. It proved to be very popular and my brother Todd relayed more  notes that I would like to include. The original post can be found at the bottom of the page.

Hurricane season runs from June 1st through November 30th.

Paths of hurricanes 28, 33, and 49, shared by Todd Thurlow.

Notes:

Jacqui,

Attached is the National Weather Bureau 1949 year-end summary of the hurricane season. It is very interesting to read.

MONTHLY WEATHER REVIEW 339 NORTH ATLANTIC HURRICANES AND TROPICAL DISTURBANCES OF 1949, Richmond T. Zoch

mwr-077-12-0339 Hurricane 1949

It’s hard to believe that the official reports still reflect a Cat 4 storm at 135mph for the “49 storm with the higher wind speeds being reported. That storm sounds more like a Cat5. The ’28, ’33 and ’49 storms took almost identical paths. See http://bit.ly/2fy4hww

Quotes from the attached report:
“The strongest wind occurred, as usual, some distance to the right of the center in the vicinity of Jupiter and Stuart, Florida. The anemometer failed at Jupiter Lighthouse after reaching a velocity of 153 m.p.h. The observer reported that winds were somewhat stronger thereafter, but he felt unable to make a reliable estimate of the peak strength.”

“The water of the lake rose 12 feet or more at places on the southeast and east side of the lake, but the levees held and there was no flooding from the lake.”

Todd Thurlow, http://www.thurlowpa.com

Blog post Our Most Powerful Hurricane: https://jacquithurlowlippisch.com/2017/09/24/our-most-powerful-hurricane-st-lucie-riverirl/

1949 Hurricane Aurthur Ruhnke, Thurlow collection.
Newspaper articles from the archives of Sandra Henderson Thurlow. Note Sally Eaton is Sally Schwartz. 🙂

 

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