Cuba hurricane (1932)
| Category 5 hurricane ( SSHWS ) | ||
|---|---|---|
 |
||
| Emergence | 30th of October | |
| resolution | 14th November | |
|
Peak wind speed |
|
|
| Lowest air pressure | 918 mbar ( hPa ; 27.1 inHg ) | |
| dead | at least 3103 | |
| Property damage | $ 40 million (1932) | |
|
Affected areas |
Leeward Islands , Venezuela , Colombia , Jamaica , Cayman Islands , Cuba , Bahamas , Bermuda | |
| Season overview: 1932 Atlantic hurricane season |
||
The Cuban Hurricane of 1932, or Hurricane Ten, was a powerful later tropical cyclone during the Atlantic hurricane season of 1932 . It was the tenth tropical storm, the fifth hurricane and the fourth major hurricane in 1932 in the Atlantic Basin. It was one of the strongest hurricanes ever observed in November, devastating eastern Cuba and the Cayman Islands . It killed at least 3,103 people, one of the highest casualty rates for Atlantic hurricanes in the 20th century.
Storm course
The storm was first observed on October 30 as a weak tropical storm about 320 km east of Guadeloupe . On October 31, the system passed over the Leeward Islands as a tropical storm. On November 1, the storm intensified into a hurricane and turned on a southwestern orbit in the eastern Caribbean . It intensified steadily and slowed its forward speed. At the ? November the storm center passed only about 80 km north of Punta Gallinas , Colombia, with a strength that today corresponds to category 2 on the then non-existent Saffir-Simpson hurricane wind scale . Around this time, the direction of movement turned back to the west. As the hurricane slowly headed west over the southern Caribbean, it intensified continuously and became a major hurricane with winds of 185 km / h on the afternoon of November 5th. On the same day, an air pressure of 918 mbar ( hPa ) was measured by a ship east of Central America and south of Cuba , at which time the storm was possibly stronger than the official peak wind speed of 280 km / h. On the morning of November 6, the steamship San Simeon reported an air pressure of 964 mbar (hPa) when it was directly north of the hurricane center. At this point, the slowly moving hurricane began to curve north over the western Caribbean. The storm intensified again on November 8th as it approached the Cayman Islands and became a Category 4 hurricane on a northeast course.
Early on November 9th, the center passed Cayman Brac with winds of at least 215 km / h. That morning the hurricane hit land near Santa Cruz del Sur in eastern Cuba with full force, at least in category 4. Within a few hours the hurricane crossed the island and came back over water in the afternoon near Nuevitas , at which point it was still a strong Category 3 hurricane with sustained winds of 205 km / h.
The storm accelerated its forward speed and moved northeast towards the open Atlantic, weakening continuously. On November 12th, it passed near Bermuda as a Category 1 hurricane, and sustained wind speeds of 142 km / h were reported from Bermuda. Slowly weakening, the storm moved towards the North Atlantic and became extra-tropical on November 13 south of Newfoundland . There it was absorbed shortly afterwards by a major extratropical disturbance.
Effects
Less damage was reported from Venezuela and Colombia , which the hurricane passed to the north, and Jamaica also got off relatively lightly, although in some communities there were significant losses in banana trees . Providencia in Colombia suffered significant agricultural damage and around 36 houses were destroyed by waves.
The storm devastated the Cayman Islands, especially Cayman Brac, which was literally leveled by the storm surge. The tide reached a level that was reported to be ten meters above normal. Many houses and buildings were washed into the sea by the waves and many residents had to climb trees to escape the tides. 70 people died on the archipelago, all but one of them on Cayman Brac. The ship Balboa sank in the hurricane .
The damage was worst in Cuba. The city of Santa Cruz del Sur in the province of Camagüey was washed over by the high surf, the water reached 6.5 m above sea level. Few buildings remained in the area. In this coastal city alone, 2,870 people lost their lives in the storm and a total of 3,033 people died in Cuba. The damage was then estimated at $ 40 million US dollars (1932).
Weather records
In the HURDAT database of the National Hurricane Center , the storm is listed as a Category 4 light hurricane for which no air pressure is specified. For several years the NHC has been doing post-analysis for all cyclones since 1900 and according to these calculations the storm probably reached wind speeds of 260 km / h when it landed in eastern Cuba and the air pressure was 918 mbar (hPa) . If these calculations prove correct, the 1932 Cuba hurricane would be the latest Category 5 hurricane ever observed in the Atlantic Basin. It would beat Hurricane Hattie in the 1961 Atlantic hurricane season by six days and would also be the strongest hurricane in the Atlantic in November, a long way before Hurricane Lenny with 933 mbar (hPa). Such an upgrade would make the 1932 hurricane season the first of five total in which five storms reached the highest level on the Saffir-Simpson hurricane wind scale (alongside 1960 , 1961 , 2005 and 2007 ); it would also be the first season in which several storms of this strength reached over land - so far this has only been the case in the 2007 season.
Hurricane Paloma landed in the same location exactly 76 years later on the same day of the year . Paloma was a rare Category 4 hurricane in November.
Individual evidence
- ↑ Unisys: 1932 Unisys Archive . 1932. Archived from the original on March 11, 2007. Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. Retrieved November 14, 2008.
- ↑ a b c d e f g h i C.L. Mitchell: 1932 Monthly Weather Review (PDF; 7.4 MB) NOAA. 1932. Retrieved November 14, 2008.
- ↑ a b c d e f g h NOAA: HURDAT: 1932 Cuba Hurricane ( English ) 2007. Accessed November 14, 2008.
- ↑ a b c Christopher Landsea et al: Hurricane Vulnerability in Latin America and The Caribbean ( English , PDF; 764 kB) NOAA. 2003. Retrieved November 14, 2008.
- ↑ Cayman Islands
- ↑ Balboa
Web links
- NWS Monthly Weather Report 1932 (PDF, English; 7.09 MB)