The Perfect Storm

                Hurricane Grace is considered to have been, "the perfect storm."  This was one storm that was sucked into the nor'easter  and sunk the Andrea Gail, as seen in the movie, The Perfect Storm.  This perfect storm produced winds at 85 knots.   A buoy of off the cost of Nova Scotia recorded wave heights at 100 ft.  The storm caused a reported 13 deaths, 6 of which were the crew members of the Andrea Gail.  Another one of these deaths was from a helicopter that ran out of gas and crashed. Another boat sank off of Staten island that caused two deaths, while two other people were swept off in waves.  One other was thrown off of a bridge to their death.  The final death was from a traffic accident that was caused by the storm.  This perfect storm caused 200 million dollars worth of damage, much of which was on the coasts.  

To see an animation of the perfect storm click HERE.

Here is the track of the perfect storm.

Hurricane Ike

      On September 4, 2008, Cuba was hit by its costliest storm in history.  What was the name of this monster?  Hurricane Ike. Hurricane Ike started as a tropical storm on September 1st in the Cape Verde islands. In the early morning of September 4th, Ike became a category 4 hurricane with wind speeds at a maximum of 145 mph and pressure of 935 mbar, making it the most powerful storm to hit the Atlantic of 2008.  Ike made two landfalls.  The first of these landfalls was a category 4 and the second was a category 1, that landed two days from the first day.  Ike made it's final landfall near Galveston, Texas on September 13, 2008.  The winds of Ike extended 120 miles from the center of the hurricane.

Below is a satellite image of Hurricane Ike covering half of Cuba, as a category 4 storm.

Ike was said to have caused at least 195 deaths. This monster of a hurricane had a total of $37.6 billion in damages.

Above is a map showing the intensity of hurricane Ike.

To see an animation of the formation and deformation of Hurricane Ike click HERE.