Weather Whys; Hurricane Gloria

This is Weatherwise. In mid-September 1985, a weather disturbance brewed in the tropical Atlantic. It followed the traditional path of tropical systems in that ocean, moving west and north. The system strengthened as it moved, becoming a hurricane on September 22. As usual, meteorologists at the National Hurricane Center in Coral Gables, Florida, kept a careful watch on the storm because it was not only curving northwest toward the eastern seaboard but was also strengthening. By midnight on the 25th, its maximum sustained winds topped 150 miles per hour. The storm was called Gloria. As it approached the east coast, the public grew increasingly concerned. The media flocked down to Coral Gables and awaited every official word on what had been dubbed the Killer Storm of the Century. The director of the National Hurricane Center at the time, Neil Frank, gave literally hundreds of live interviews every day.

Residents of coastal regions fled inland and the nation as a whole held its breath as the storm drew near. But Gloria turned northward and weakened as she moved over colder waters. She skirted the Carolina coasts with winds at a still respectable 130 miles per hour. By the time she made landfall in Connecticut on the 27th, her winds had dropped to an even 100 miles per hour. And like most hurricanes, she didn't last long after moving over land. Otherwise is produced with the assistance of the Cooperative Institute for Mesoscale Meteorological Studies, the Oklahoma Climateological Survey, and the School of Meteorology, all at the University of Oklahoma, and is made possible by a grant from the National Science Foundation. Our writer is Christine Harbor, our editor is Brian Walkie, and our executive producer is Karen Hope. For WeatherWise, I'm Drew Barlow.