1780-1789 Atlantic hurricane seasons
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The decade of the 1780s featured the 1780-1789 Atlantic hurricane seasons. While data is not available for every storm that occurred, some parts of the coastline were populated enough to give data of hurricane occurrences. Each season was an ongoing event in the annual cycle of tropical cyclone formation in the Atlantic basin. Most tropical cyclone formation occurs between June 1 and November 30.
[edit] 1780 Atlantic hurricane season
The 1780 Atlantic hurricane season was extraordinarily destructive, and was the deadliest Atlantic hurricane season in recorded history with over 25,000 deaths. Three different hurricanes, all in October, caused at least 1,000 deaths each; this event has never been repeated and only in the 1893 and 2005 seasons were there two such hurricanes. The season also held the deadliest Atlantic hurricane of all time.
- On June 13, a hurricane "caused deaths and losses" on Puerto Rico.
- Louisiana experienced a hurricane on August 24, causing crop damage, flooding, and tornadoes.
- A hurricane hit Jamaica on October 5. It continued its direction, and hit Cuba. The storm caused an estimated 1115 deaths.[1]
- The Great Hurricane of 1780 existed in early to mid-October, causing a record 22,000 deaths in the eastern Caribbean Sea.
- A powerful hurricane in the Eastern Gulf of Mexico from October 17 to the 21st killed 2,000 people.
[edit] 1781 Atlantic hurricane season
I. Many ships were sunk and pushed ashore on Jamaica, caused by a hurricane that moved through the area on August 1.
II. On August 23, a hurricane hit near New Orleans.
III. 2,000 casualties are attributed to a hurricane that remained off the coast of Florida.
[edit] 1782 Atlantic hurricane season
A hurricane in the central Atlantic caused 3,000 deaths from September 16 to the 17th.
[edit] 1783 Atlantic hurricane season
I. Three ships were sunk caused by a hurricane that remained offshore of the East Coast of the United States on September 19.
II. Another tropical cyclone struck North Carolina and Virginia. Extensive damage was seen in North Carolina. Richmond saw violent northeast gusts for 24 hours, but no damage. Norfolk and Portsmouth reported a "25 foot tide" which caused damage (Pennsylvania Gazette October 29, 1783 and Ludlum 1963 p. 29).
[edit] 1784 Atlantic hurricane season
I. Jamaica was hit by a hurricane on July 30, causing 2 deaths from drowning and possibly many more.
II. On an unknown date, a hurricane hit Curacao; many ships were either damaged or destroyed.
[edit] 1785 Atlantic hurricane season
I. On August 24, an eastward moving hurricane hit St. Croix. It continued to hit Puerto Rico, Jamaica, and Cuba before last being seen on the 29th. It caused 142 deaths.
II. Delaware was hit by a hurricane on September 2, one of the few hurricanes in that state on record. It caused 181 casualties.
III. A hurricane on September 23-24 led to the "highest tide ever before known in Norfolk." It struck the lower Chesapeake Bay. Portsmouth experienced a strong northeast to northwest gale for 3 days. The storm in Virginia was noted in both the Virginia Gazette of October 1, and the New Jersey Gazette of October 1 (from Ludlum 1963 p. 30).
[edit] 1786 Atlantic hurricane season
I. When a hurricane moved through Barbados on September 2, many persons were killed in the ruins of their own houses.
II. A possible tropical cyclone led to a heavy rains in eastern Virginia mainly on October 5. According to George Washington, tides were "occasionally high" at Mount Vernon, with "high freshes." James Madison at Montpelier saw the Rapidan River overflow its banks. The center may have passed very near his location, as the winds shifted from southeast to southwest.
III. Seven deaths can be attributed to a hurricane that hit Jamaica on October 20.
[edit] 1787 Atlantic hurricane season
I. On September 2, a hurricane hit Belize, causing 100 casualties.
II. A hurricane hit Honduras on September 23, causing around 100 deaths.
[edit] 1788 Atlantic hurricane season
I. On July 24, the Founding Fathers reported another hurricane. George Washington reported from Mount Vernon a "very high northeast wind" the previous night, which sank ships and blew down tree. A "more violent and severe a hurricane than for many years." Madison at Montpelier reports a "great wind and rain." According to the Philadelphia Independent Gazette on August 8, the storm in Norfolk began from the northeast at 5 p.m. on the 23rd, then blew a "perfect hurricane" from the south at 12:30 a.m.. The tide was lower than in 1785. Alexandria also saw the winds switch from east-northeast to south, which caused the highest known tide in the Potomac (from Ludlum 1963, p. 30-31).
II. Martinique was hit by a hurricane on August 14. It continued, hitting Dominica, and later the Bahamas. It moved northward, and hit New England on the 19th. 600-700 people lost their lives because of this hurricane.
III. On August, 19, a hurricane made landfall in New Jersey and then "passed northward over eastern New York and western New England. There was considerable damage in Connecticut and western Massachusetts."
[edit] 1789 Atlantic hurricane season
No storms were seen this season.
