Hurricane Ethel (1960)
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| Category 5 hurricane (SSHS) | ||
|---|---|---|
| Formed | September 14, 1960 | |
| Dissipated | September 17, 1960 | |
| Highest winds |
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| Lowest pressure | 981 mbar (hPa; 28.98 inHg) | |
| Fatalities | None reported | |
| Damage | $1 million (1960 USD) $7 million (2008 USD) |
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| Areas affected |
Southeast Louisiana, Mississippi Gulf Coast | |
| Part of the 1960 Atlantic hurricane season |
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Hurricane Ethel formed in the Gulf of Mexico on the morning of 14 September 1960, rapidly intensified into a potentially catastrophic Category 5 hurricane, and weakened back to a tropical storm before making landfall near Biloxi, Mississippi the next evening. Because of the rapid weakening, the storm caused little damage and no deaths.
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[edit] Storm history
Soon after Tropical Storm Ethel formed north of the Yucatán Peninsula on the morning of September 14, a Marine Automatic Meteorological Observing System buoy in the central Gulf of Mexico began to record gale-force winds. Ethel developed rapidly into a full-fledged hurricane by midday and into an intense hurricane by the evening.
Reconnaissance aircraft reported a central pressure of 972 mbar and flight-level winds of 160 mph (260 km/h). Despite a central pressure typical of a Category 2 hurricane, the extreme winds justify rating Ethel a Category 5, the highest level on the Saffir-Simpson Hurricane Scale.
Ethel maintained Category 5 intensity only briefly; cool, dry air entrained into the circulation of the storm overnight. The hurricane consequently weakened even more dramatically than it had intensified the previous day. Ethel diminished to a minimal hurricane by dawn, skirting just east of the mouth of the Mississippi River. Ethel diminished further to a tropical storm and crossed the uninhabited Chandeleur Islands, the Chandeleur Sound, and the Mississippi Sound to make landfall in Biloxi, Mississippi on the afternoon of September 15. Keesler Air Force Base recorded a minimum pressure of 981.4 mbar, representative of a minimal hurricane; however, no sustained winds of hurricane force were recorded.
The center of Ethel moved northward through eastern Mississippi into northwestern Alabama on September 16, weakening into a tropical depression. The depression continued into middle Tennessee until it dissipated in Kentucky on the afternoon of 17 September.
[edit] Impact
Despite reaching Category 5 intensity, Hurricane Ethel caused only minimal damage in the United States and was not retired. Minor coastal flooding occurred as far eastward as Saint Marks, Florida, and several inches of rain fell in this general area. Because rain storms of this magnitude occur regularly in the Deep South, Ethel caused little flood damage.[citation needed] Hurricane force winds were reported in Plaquemines Parish, Louisiana, including Venice which reported sustained winds of 90 mph (140 km/h) and gusts of up to 104 mph (167 km/h). While moving past Louisiana, the hurricane produced a storm surge of 7 feet (2.1 m) in Quarantine Bay.[1]
Throughout its path, Ethel spawned six tornadoes, all of which occurred in Florida and Alabama.[2] An F0 tornado in Clarke, Alabama destroyed a barn, damaged a house, and uprooted a few trees. An F2 tornado in Talladega possibly spawned by Ethel damaged numerous commercial buildings and houses along its 1/4 mile path. The tornado turned several cars over, broke windows, knocked power lines down, and injured two people.[3]
Damages totaled approximately $1 million (1960 USD) (roughly $6 million in 2005, adjusted for inflation). Only three other Category 5 hurricanes were not retired since recycled name lists began in the Atlantic basin in 1954. The 1964 Atlantic hurricane season therefore reused the name "Ethel."
[edit] See also
[edit] External links
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