BOSTON — Do you remember the last time a hurricane hit New England? Well, in order to answer “yes,” you would have to be at least 33 years of age! August 19th, 1991 remains the region’s most recent event. That storm was hurricane Bob, a category 2 that did significant damage, especially to the Rhode Island coastline. Although it’s been nearly 34 years since the last one, New England is very overdue for it’s next.
Since record-keeping began in 1851, there have been 15 recorded hurricane landfalls in New England. That comes out to one landfall every 11-12 years on average. The longest period of time between two events was from 1896 to 1938, a margin of 42 years.
What this means is that we’re currently living through the second longest quiet period in our 174 years of record keeping. On average, we would have seen about three hurricanes in this window of time!
Fortunately, only the hurricanes of 1869, 1938, and hurricane Carol in 1954 have been major hurricanes (category 3 or higher) at landfall. Water along the Eastern Seaboard generally cools with northward extent, so storms weaken as they gain latitude.
No matter how long the drought may be though, it’s important to prepare for the worst as we get into late summer and fall months. It’s not a matter of if, but when the next storm strikes.
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