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Public Information Statement
National Weather Service Boston/Norton MA
909 AM EDT Mon Jul 16 2018
...Hurricane Preparedness Week In Southern New England...Day 1
The National Weather Service (NWS) Boston, MA has declared July
16th through July 20th as Hurricane Preparedness Week. Each day
this week we will highlight a different preparedness topic.
Any tropical system with a name in the Bahamas has the potential
to quickly become our business. There are two main source regions
for New England hurricanes, the Cape Verde Islands off the west
coast of Africa and the Bahamas. The Cape Verde storms can become
huge because they have a week or more to travel across the
Atlantic, and we know they are coming well in advance. Bahamas
storms tend to be somewhat smaller, but they can develop rapidly
and impact New England very quickly.
In mid-August 1991, a cluster of thunderstorms formed near the
Bahamas on a Friday afternoon when most emergency managers went
home for the weekend. It was not even a tropical depression yet,
but it quickly developed into major Hurricane Bob that Saturday.
By Monday, Bob had weakened to a Category 2, but had accelerated
and was in for breakfast and out for dinner, like many New England
hurricanes.
Do not concentrate on when the eye is going to make landfall. If
you do, you will be too late with your preparations. Our storms
often accelerate up the coast and when they do, become very
asymmetric. The important effects of the storm are shunted way out
ahead of the eye.
For example, even though the center of Hurricane Bob was still
off The North Carolina coast, coastal roadways in Rhode Island
were closed 12 to 14 hours in advance due to coastal flooding.
This was associated with tropical storm force wind gusts in the
outer rain band squalls. As another example, the eye of the 1938
hurricane moved from Cape Hatteras North Carolina to New Haven
Connecticut in 8 hours, at times racing north around 60 mph!
Unlike most storms, the 1938 hurricane did not weaken on its way
toward southern New England due to its rapid forward speed and
track.
So, remember a named tropical cyclone in the Bahamas should be
monitored. Your safety preparations should be completed, not
started, by the time the storm is at the latitude of North
Carolina. Do not focus on when the eye is coming ashore, because
nasty weather will be occurring 12 or more hours in advance of the
eye.
For more information on Hurricane Preparedness, visit:
http://ready.gov/hurricanes
$$
For the latest updates, please visit our webpage at
www.weather.gov/boston
You can follow us on Facebook at
www.facebook.com/NWSBoston
You can follow us on Twitter at
@NWSBoston
Office: OKX
