{"id":213998,"date":"2022-08-17T11:02:43","date_gmt":"2022-08-17T09:02:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=213998"},"modified":"2022-08-17T11:02:44","modified_gmt":"2022-08-17T09:02:44","slug":"the-53rd-anniversary-of-hurricane-camillea-category-5-at-landfall-and-one-of-the-most-devastating-storms-in-us-history","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=213998","title":{"rendered":"The 53rd Anniversary of Hurricane Camille\u2026A Category 5 At Landfall and One of The Most Devastating Storms in US History"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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Paul Dorian<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Hurricane Camille on August 16, 1969. Image captured by NASA\u2019s ATS III satellite.<\/mark><\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

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Overview<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

1969 was a remarkable year and will be long remembered as the year when man first walked on the moon, the Miracle Mets shocked the sports world, and the Woodstock Festival took place in upstate New York.\u00a0 It will also be remembered as the year when a major hurricane \u2013Hurricane Camille \u2013 struck the United States as a category 5 storm and the second most intense tropical cyclone on record (only the 1935 Labor Day hurricane had a lower central pressure at landfall).\u00a0 Hurricane Camille made landfall in Mississippi and wreaked havoc from the Gulf States to as far inland as the Mid-Atlantic with widespread flooding, record rainfall, and it cost the lives of several hundreds of people along its path of destruction.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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A chart by NOAA from 1969 with the path of Hurricane Camille; Credit NOAA<\/mark><\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

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Development stage<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The first satellite image was taken on April 1, 1960 (TIROS) and weather forecasters knew that one of the best uses of this newly introduced tool would be the ability to monitor tropical waves out over the open waters of the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans.\u00a0 Indeed, with the usage of satellite imagery, forecasters first noted a tropical wave off of the African coast as early as August 5th<\/sup>, 1969, and this wave moved westward out over the open tropical Atlantic.\u00a0 Satellite imagery then showed the system crossing over the Leeward Islands by the 10th<\/sup>\u00a0of August still with no apparent circulation, but that began to change a few days later.\u00a0 By the 14th<\/sup>\u00a0of August, Air Force reconnaissance aircraft sent into the disturbance picked up a central pressure of 999 millibars along with 55 mph surface winds, and satellite imagery showed much more in the way of circulation with numerous bands of heavy rainfall.\u00a0 It was at this point that the tropical system inherited its name of \u201cCamille\u201d having reached tropical storm status.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Camille did not remain a tropical storm for long as it had favorable conditions for intensification by the middle of the month of August in 1969.\u00a0 The storm moved slowly northwestward, and its central pressure continued to drop. By August 15th<\/sup>, Camille had reached hurricane status as it headed towards Cuba with winds gusting up to 115 mph. Camille passed over western Cuba as a category 1 hurricane and produced 92 mph winds and 10 inches of rain.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

By the 16th<\/sup>\u00a0of August, Camille had passed Cuba and pushed over the warm waters of the Gulf of Mexico which helped to continue its intensification.\u00a0 Another Air Force reconnaissance aircraft was flown into the eye of Camille at this time and a central pressure of 908 millibars was recorded using dropwindsondes.\u00a0 <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hurricane Camille was now headed right towards the northern Gulf coastal region in a north-northwestward direction at 14 mph and it was being called a \u201csmall but dangerous\u201d storm by the US Weather Bureau.\u00a0 Hurricane watches on this day were put up stretching over 400 miles from Biloxi, Mississippi to St. Marks, Florida.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Hurricane watches were in effect on August 16th across a wide portion of the northern Gulf coast as Camille crossed over the warm waters of the Gulf of Mexico; Source NOAA\/NWS<\/mark><\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

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Landfall<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

On August 17th<\/sup>, Hurricane Camille reached category 5 status and was located about 250 miles south of Mobile, Alabama.\u00a0 Gulf states were now in crisis mode in preparation for landfall in what had become a monster hurricane.\u00a0 The last Air Force reconnaissance aircraft readings were made on the afternoon of the 17th<\/sup>\u00a0and a central pressure of 901 millibars was measured along with a maximum surface wind gust of over 200 mph. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

There was only one other time that a central pressure had been measured this low, in the 1935 Labor Day hurricane which ended up crossing over the Florida Keys between Miami and Key West.\u00a0 As landfall approached in the northern Gulf coastal region, the easterly winds ahead of Camille generated a storm surge through the marshes of southeastern Louisiana. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Meteorologists warned that \u201cnever before has a populated area been threatened by a storm as extremely dangerous as Camille\u201d. A mass evacuation emptied the coastal towns all along the Gulf coast and those that stayed likely perished during the storm (there were rumors of \u201churricane parties\u201d, but there weren\u2019t any survivors to recall them).\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The track of Hurricane Camille along with updated wind speeds; Courtesy NOAA, ESRI, Earthstar Geographics<\/mark><\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

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Hurricane Camille made landfall on August 17th<\/sup>\u00a0at about 10:30PM (CT) passing over Clermont Harbor, Waveland and Bay St. Louis in the state of Mississippi.\u00a0 In 1969, it was only the second category 5 storm to make landfall in the US in the record-keeping era. Numerous weather stations that were supposed to record pressure and winds were destroyed during the storm and many of the records are only estimates and range up to 200 mph in wind gusts.\u00a0 <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Maximum surface winds were calculated to be near 201.5 mph near the center of Camille on the afternoon of August 17th. The highest actual measurement on a wind instrument of 172 mph was found on an Esterline Angus wind speed recorder and was before the instrument gave out due to a paper jam.\u00a0 Maximum sustained winds will never be known for certain. Catastrophic flooding took place from Louisiana to Florida with the tide reaching a maximum of 24.2 feet above mean sea level in some spots.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Photo of the flooding from the University of Colorado\/CIRES 30th<\/sup>\u00a0anniversary retrospective<\/mark><\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

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Devastation far inland with catastrophic flooding in Virginia<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Camille weakened to a tropical depression as it passed through northern Mississippi and into western Tennessee.  It then took a turn to the northeast through central Kentucky and then eastward through extreme southern West Virginia and southern Virginia.  By the 19th of August, atmospheric conditions were coming together for extreme rainfall and local geographic features were enhancing chances for catastrophic flooding in the eastern slopes of the Blue Ridge Mountains \u2013 but few were prepared for what was about to take place.  Specifically, the remains of Camille were moving into an area where there was tropical air in place along with an existing backdoor cold front at the surface and an intensifying jet streak aloft. In this part of Virginia, there is a narrow valley with steep ridges and an upsloping wind amplified rainfall amounts. The combination of this extremely unstable atmosphere and local geographic features was resulting in historic and deadly flooding conditions. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Rainfall amounts were disastrous across the northern Gulf coast and in the eastern slopes of the Blue Ridge Mountains, Credit NOAA<\/mark><\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

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Rainfall amounts of more than 26 inches occurred in the mountain slopes between Charlottesville and Lynchburg, Virginia in a 12-hour period.\u00a0 Nelson County, Virginia recorded 27 inches of rain with reports that the rain was so heavy there were birds drowning in trees.\u00a0 [A post-storm \u201creanalysis\u201d by NOAA suggests over 30 inches of rain fell in as little as eight hours in some spots].\u00a0 Survivors recall a night between the 19th<\/sup>\u00a0and 20th<\/sup>\u00a0of August that was filled with thunderstorm after thunderstorm and lightning so fierce \u201cit was like daylight and the lightning didn\u2019t flash; the sky just literally stayed lit\u201d.\u00a0 A total of nearly 3800 landslides were calculated within Nelson County, Virginia alone using LiDAR scans and 123 of the 153 fatalities in the state during this storm took place in this particular county. After Camille, the landscape had changed so much that topographical maps were obsolete.\u00a0 To this day, hillsides still remain bear with exposed rock where mudslides ravaged and stripped the forest away.\u00a0 The rainfall tripled the state of Virginia\u2019s record and has not been broken since. (Credit to\u00a0Jason Elliott (NWS, Sterling, VA<\/a>) for much of the information on Camille and its impact on Nelson County, Virginia).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Hurricane Camille was the second most intense landfalling hurricane in the US in terms of central pressure, Credit NOAA<\/mark><\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

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Final Notes<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hurricane Camille will always be remembered as one of the most devastating storms in US history and one of only four category 5 hurricanes to strike the US.  In addition to the Hurricane Camille and the 1935 Labor Day hurricane, there have been two other category 5 hurricanes to make landfall in the US and both took place after 1969.  Hurricane Andrew struck the southeastern part of Florida in August of 1992 and Hurricane Michael made landfall in October of 2018 across the panhandle region of Florida. In the case of Michael, category 5 status did not come until months later when a \u201creanalysis\u201d by NOAA increased its winds by 5 mph at landfall near Mexico Beach and Tyndall Air Force Base, Florida compared to the original operational estimate and this increase pushed the storm into category 5 territory.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Meteorologist Paul Dorian
Arcfield
arcfieldweather.com<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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via Watts Up With That?<\/mark><\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

August 17, 2022<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The 53rd Anniversary of Hurricane Camille\u2026A Category 5 At Landfall and One of The Most Devastating Storms in US History<\/a><\/blockquote>