Hurricane Belle remains the #1 Tropical system for ENJ/NYC/Nassau County LI

[Stormlover74]

1955 was an exceptionally dry year up to that point, only about 15" for the first 7 months of the year, more than a quarter of the yearly rainfall fell during August

1955 0.77 3.01 3.71 1.97 2.64 2.52 0.51 10.86

NYC had 5.32" rainfall from Connie in a 24-hour span, devastating.

[CAT5ANDREW]

NYC had 5.32" rainfall from Connie in a 24-hour span, devastating.

April 15th 2007 NYC had nearly 8 inches in less than 24 hours.Tropical Storm Floyd dropped 15 inchs of rain over parts of NJ/SENY.

[Diego]

I believe so.Incredible when you consider we have not had a true Hurricane here in over 50 years yet 2 in 3 days hit then.

And Carol and Edna within 12 days of each other the previous year (Carol on Aug. 31 and Edna on Sept.11, though Carol appears to have had its greatest impact in NY over eastern LI - Montauk had wind gusts of 120mph, and a storm surge covered the Montauk Highway, but there was little impact west of Fire Island. Edna's path was a bit east of Carol's, and winds were not a big factor in New York, but some areas in Suffolk County had 9 inches of rain and Montauk Point was cut off at the height of the storm).

[nzucker]

April 15th 2007 NYC had nearly 8 inches in less than 24 hours.Tropical Storm Floyd dropped 15 inchs of rain over parts of NJ/SENY.

The Tax Day Nor'easter was 968mb over NYC, I believe...areas behind the low back towards PHL and Mt Holly saw a couple inches of snow from the deformation banding. We had almost 5" snowfall in Middlebury, VT; I woke up at 4am and looked out the window in shock, amazed that spring come come so late to Vermont, but when I got up at 10am the snow had already changed to rain due to marginal surface temperatures even though 850s stayed below 0C. The Adirondacks received 12-18" from the storm.

500mb was very interesting for this storm, looks like a displaced west-based NAO block with high heights bleeding across the entire Atlantic, and a massive ULL trapped underneath this sprawling ridge. Many parts of the Deep South saw their latest freeze on record in April 2007, killing vegetation that had leafed out during the milder days in the opening of the month. Anyway, here's the H5 map:

[SnowGoose69]

We were dam lucky with Isabel in 2003.Even though she made landfall down in VA,the winds here were SE at over 50MPH and were much stronger than I had anticipated.The Worst case scenario would be to have a High end CAT 2/low 3 make landfall in Monmouth County.If that ever happened God help anyone living near the ocean on the coast.The Belt Parkway would be under 15 feet of water.The Rockaways would be destroyed.There would be an evacuation unlike anything we have ever seen.Thankfully the setup to allow this to happen is extremly hard,to get.THe 1893 Storm wont happn in our lifetime.......at least I Hope not.

The models strongly were aiming at a NYC/LI hit for a long time on that one but the Euro deviated for a couple of runs one day to target the NC/VA border and within 24 hours all models joined it. I still have the image saved on my computer from UM Weather showing every single model with the exception of one driving the storm into an area from about Belmar to the Nassau/Suffolk border.

[tamarack]

April 15th 2007 NYC had nearly 8 inches in less than 24 hours.Tropical Storm Floyd dropped 15 inchs of rain over parts of NJ/SENY.

NYC got 6.32" on 8/12-13/1955 (Connie) and another 1.88" on 18-19 (Diane) for a total a bit over 8". The crush zone for those two storms was from the western part of SNE westward to the middle reaches of the Delaware. Most of that area got about the same as NYC from Connie to set the stage, then 6-14" from Diane.

Doria was probably #2 in my TS experience, with 5" rain and winds gusting past 60 in NNJ, though Bob (6.4" rain, gusts to 60 in Gardiner, Maine) was close. Doria's flooding was helped by nearly 4" rain from a wet trough the day before, but it had been dry up until then. 1st place for tropical action in my memory goes to Hazel. I was only 8, but Hazel probably gusted to 70 in NNJ, judging by windthrows and by the chopped leaves plastered to the siding of our house. That latter is a phenomenon I've only seen one other time, from a mid-June SE gale in Maine, and leaves are a lot tougher to tear up in Oct (in NJ, where most remain on the trees thru the month) than in June (in Maine, where leaves are still tender then.)

[Stormlover74]

I don't recall if it was David or Frederic in '79 but I remember the winds being pretty intense. I was only 4 and this was in south Jersey so I'm not sure what the effects were further north and east

NYC got 6.32" on 8/12-13/1955 (Connie) and another 1.88" on 18-19 (Diane) for a total a bit over 8". The crush zone for those two storms was from the western part of SNE westward to the middle reaches of the Delaware. Most of that area got about the same as NYC from Connie to set the stage, then 6-14" from Diane.

Doria was probably #2 in my TS experience, with 5" rain and winds gusting past 60 in NNJ, though Bob (6.4" rain, gusts to 60 in Gardiner, Maine) was close. Doria's flooding was helped by nearly 4" rain from a wet trough the day before, but it had been dry up until then. 1st place for tropical action in my memory goes to Hazel. I was only 8, but Hazel probably gusted to 70 in NNJ, judging by windthrows and by the chopped leaves plastered to the siding of our house. That latter is a phenomenon I've only seen one other time, from a mid-June SE gale in Maine, and leaves are a lot tougher to tear up in Oct (in NJ, where most remain on the trees thru the month) than in June (in Maine, where leaves are still tender then.)

[KEITH L.I]

Was in southern Brooklyn for Belle..some strong wind gusts and heavy rain..in and out very quickly..Gloria was the big one for Long Island..I was in York PA at the time and missed it..but my parents who lived south of Montauk Highway in Babylon had 2 trees come down on their house and had no power for a week.Bob was pretty fierce,even though it's center went 100 miles to my east..strong tropical force winds..loss power for 24 hours

[KEITH L.I]

Connie and Diane in Aug., 1955?

Tropical Storm Henrie just missed us..2 days before Gloria

[LongIslandHurricanes]

What kind of a track did this have, Unc? Did it have an ocean track and slammed into the area near JFK, or did it track just inland? Also, didn't Donna track over Suffolk County? I know its eye was huge-- like 100 miles wide and covered all of Long Island.

Doria

[LongIslandHurricanes]

Tropical Storm Henrie just missed us..2 days before Gloria

I do believe Henri made landfall in the Hamptons as a TD or STS

[Wannabehippie]

I was in florida with my parents visiting my grandparents when Belle hit. When we got home we found a tree down in our front yard. Blown down by a northerly wind (Our house faced almost due south) if it had been an easterly breeze, a car of ours parked in the driveway would have been crushed. but it wasn't. Years later that was my first car.

I remember Belle in Smithtown as my first memorable storm --period. My sis has told me the ice storm the year or so before was unreal (I think '74), but Belle really for me into it. Just branches down in Smithtown everywhere after the storm. Whereas the much derided Gloria did fell many more trees and cause social impacts (like school) far more than any storm since I remembered. Since Gloria, it's been the great ear of blizzards that have wreacjed havoc...BUT nothing comapres to Belle and Gloria--maybe I'm biased like Josh, but I just love the raw power of the tropical systems...and maybe I'm a bit spoiled the past decade with more than my share of KU storms, including some of the top blizzards of all time. In all this time NOTHING has compared with the onslaught of a tropical storm. I pray our luck at least returned

[tamarack]

I don't recall if it was David or Frederic in '79 but I remember the winds being pretty intense. I was only 4 and this was in south Jersey so I'm not sure what the effects were further north and east

I was only 4 when the 11/1950 Apps Gale blew thru, and it's my oldest wx memory, and also vies with 12/31/62 as the strongest winds I've experienced. Old memories can be good ones.

I've no idea what David or Frederic did in the MA, as I was living in N.Maine by then (where Belle's ET remains dumped 4-6" rain in a few hours and caused major flooding of small/medium watercourses.)

[A-L-E-X]

Doria

Just close enough to the water to maintain her strength and still hit us

[A-L-E-X]

I do believe Henri made landfall in the Hamptons as a TD or STS

I remember we had a couple of days of rain before Gloria hit and it reminded me of reading old accounts of 1938 and it had rained for days prior to that one hitting too.

[HurricaneJosh]

I remember we had a couple of days of rain before Gloria hit and it reminded me of reading old accounts of 1938 and it had rained for days prior to that one hitting too.

I remember Henri made landfall on the E tip of Long Island as a minimal (35-kt) TS a few days before Gloria, and in Huntington, there was no rain and essentially no wind. It was a Don-like landfall-- i.e., you would never in a million years have guessed a cyclone was landfalling on the Island.

I remember not really paying much attention to it, because at that time, Gloria was major, strengthening 'cane approaching the Bahamas, and TV weathermen were starting to hint that it might come up the East Coast. Less than three days later, we got hammered.

[A-L-E-X]

I remember Henri made landfall on the E tip of Long Island as a minimal TS a few days before Gloria, and in Huntington, there was no rain and essentially no wind. It was a Don-like landfall-- i.e., you would never in a million years have guessed a cyclone was landfalling on the Island.

I was so young when this made landfall but I remember them telling us at school that Gloria was coming and I looked out the window and it was raining and I asked if that was from Gloria, and I was told no.... lol. On the TV News (which is all we had back then), I remember someone saying the pre-Gloria rain was from a stalled out front?

[A-L-E-X]

I remember Henri made landfall on the E tip of Long Island as a minimal (35-kt) TS a few days before Gloria, and in Huntington, there was no rain and essentially no wind. It was a Don-like landfall-- i.e., you would never in a million years have guessed a cyclone was landfalling on the Island.

I remember not really paying much attention to it, because at that time, Gloria was major, strengthening 'cane approaching the Bahamas, and TV weathermen were starting to hint that it might come up the East Coast. Less than three days later, we got hammered.

Josh, were you here in 1996 when Edouard teased us? That was so disappointing-- I actually canceled a vacation so I could be here to see that!

[HurricaneJosh]

I was so young when this made landfall but I remember them telling us at school that Gloria was coming and I looked out the window and it was raining and I asked if that was from Gloria, and I was told no.... lol. On the TV News (which is all we had back then), I remember someone saying the pre-Gloria rain was from a stalled out front?

I added more to my post. I just don't remember the wx before Gloria-- it's a blank in my mind. I just remember it was cloudy and grey when Henri brushed the Island three days earlier.

The night before Gloria it was very still, I remember. And the morning of the cyclone, it was warm and very windy-- even before the rain started (around 8 or 9 am). Landfall was at 12 noon with the wind peaking just around the arrival of the center. It moved really fast.

[A-L-E-X]

The models strongly were aiming at a NYC/LI hit for a long time on that one but the Euro deviated for a couple of runs one day to target the NC/VA border and within 24 hours all models joined it. I still have the image saved on my computer from UM Weather showing every single model with the exception of one driving the storm into an area from about Belmar to the Nassau/Suffolk border.

That one was so disappointing-- I was on WWBB at the time and remember anticipating my first internet hurricane landfall. I imagine Josh was ready to come back home for this one too lol.

[HurricaneJosh]

Josh, were you here in 1996 when Edouard teased us? That was so disappointing-- I actually canceled a vacation so I could be here to see that!

Nope-- I moved to CA in 1992. Totally missed that disappointment, thank God.

[A-L-E-X]

Nope-- I moved to CA in 1992. Totally missed that disappointment, thank God.

I hated 1995 and 1996.... 1995 was the first season I ever got interested in fully tracking hurricane and tropical storms and I remember I made a photocopy of a tracking map and tracked every single tropical storm and hurricane that year and even jotted down the 6 hour intensities of each one. We got teased by Felix and that really set the pattern that year. Everything recurved around 70 W!

[Stormlover74]

I remember after the rain stopped we were playing outside...the wind was almost as intense then as the storm pulled away

I added more to my post. I just don't remember the wx before Gloria-- it's a blank in my mind. I just remember it was cloudy and grey when Henri brushed the Island three days earlier.

The night before Gloria it was very still, I remember. And the morning of the cyclone, it was warm and very windy-- even before the rain started (around 8 or 9 am). Landfall was at 12 noon with the wind peaking just around the arrival of the center. It moved really fast.

[uncle W]

In 1996 I was in Florida when Bertha hit the Carolina's then passed over the city...It was supposed to hit Florida at first but it turned northward...

[HurricaneJosh]

I remember after the rain stopped we were playing outside...the wind was almost as intense then as the storm pulled away

In Huntington, we had the maximum winds around 12 noon, right as the center was reaching the South Shore. The house rattled and we lost a very large tree-- it came crashing down in a spectacular display. We had a lull around 12:30 pm, when it stopped raining and the sky brightened. Sometime after 1 pm, the sky darkened again and it drizzled-- that was what was left of the backside. Then an hour or two later, it cleared out completely and it was this brilliantly sunny, very windy afternoon. Like you, I remember those post-center winds were quite strong, although where I was, the max winds definitely preceded the center.

[A-L-E-X]

I remember after the rain stopped we were playing outside...the wind was almost as intense then as the storm pulled away

But we never got any rainfall on the backside

[HurricaneJosh]

But we never got any rainfall on the backside

We had drizzle (see above).

[HurricaneJosh]

By the way, I observed 28.51 in (965 mb) on my aneroid barometer in Gloria's eye, at 12:30 pm. I was very proud of that.

[A-L-E-X]

By the way, I observed 28.51 in (965 mb) on my aneroid barometer in Gloria's eye, at 12:30 pm. I was very proud of that.

Wow, I was addicted to barometers-- but I didnt get my first one until a couple of years after Gloria.

What kind of winds did you get, Josh?

[HurricaneJosh]

Wow, I was addicted to barometers-- but I didnt get my first one until a couple of years after Gloria.

What kind of winds did you get, Josh?

I had a very, very primitive wind gauge which was a hydraulic system that did not have a recording capability. (Remember, this was 25 years ago. ) It was attached to the TV antennae on our roof, and a tube led down the side of the house, along the drainpipe, and in through my window to the indicator. (Bless my dad for putting up with my crazy wx nerdiness. )

Anyhoo, the red fluid in the hydraulic system left some traces which suggested we had some gusts to around hurricane force-- and that seemed about right: I'd say my location-- a mile from the beach, on the North Shore-- had max gusts in the 60-70-kt range. Of course the winds were much stronger on the South Shore, further E.