Since we are now in the very heart of Hurricane Season which is now from mid-August to mid-October  I thought I would give a brief overview a few recent past(relatively) past

Tropical Systems that have affected the Mid-Atlantic Region like we experienced with Hurricane Irene last year.

Hurricane Isabel - 2003

 Hurricane Isabel made landfall on September 18th near Drum Inlet near North Carolina's Outer Banks as a strong Category 2 Hurricane with maximum sustained winds of 105mph and which at one point on September 11th hit Category 5 status making it the strongest Hurricane in the Atlantic Basin since Hurricane Mitch in October of 1998.

After landfall although however weakening, Isabel’s wind field continued to expand as hurricane warnings were issued for most of the North Carolina and Virginia coastline, including the Chesapeake Bay. Isabel’s large eye pushed ashore just after the noon hour on September 18th near Drum Inlet along North Carolina’s Outer Banks. Isabel was the worst hurricane to affect the Chesapeake Bay region since 1933. Storm surge values of more than 8 feet flooded rivers that flowed into the Bay across Virginia, Maryland, Delaware, and Washington, D.C. Isabelle brought tropical storm force gusts as far north as New York State as it moved inland. The most intense hurricane of the 2003 season directly resulted in 17 deaths and more than 3 billion dollars* in damages. The large wind field toppled trees and cut power to more than four million customers.

Hurricane Floyd - 1999

 Hurricane Floyd once a Category 4 Hurricane made landfall in North Carolina near Cape Fear on September 16 as a Category 2 hurricane with maximum sustained winds of 105 mph. 

Floyd continued north-northeastward along the coast of the Mid-Atlantic into New England, where the storm became extra-tropical on the 17th. The remnants of Floyd merged with a large non-tropical low on September 19.

While wind gusts of 120 mph and storm surges of 9 to 10 ft were reported from the North Carolina coast, Floyd will be most remembered in the United States for its rainfall. The combination of Floyd and a frontal system over the eastern United States produced widespread rainfalls in excess of 10 inches from North Carolina northeastward, with amounts as high as 19.06 inches in Wilmington, North Carolina and 13.70 inches at Brewster, New York. These rains, aided by rains from Tropical Storm Dennis two weeks earlier, caused widespread severe flooding that caused the majority of the $3 to 6 billion in damage caused by Floyd. These floods also were responsible for 50 of the 56 deaths caused by Floyd in the United States. Floyd also caused damage in the Bahamas, with one death reported.

Hurricane Gloria

Hurricane Gloria once a powerful Category 4 Hurricane with maximum sustained winds hit Cape Hatteras, North Carolina on

September 26th as a Category 2 Hurricane with winds of 105 mph.

However this very large Hurricane affected much of the accelerated rapidly north- northeasterly paralleling the east coast and just

10 hours after hitting the Cape Hatteras, Gloria made a second and more significant landfall near Long Beach, Long Island, N.Y.

where sustained winds of 85 mph were reported with wind gusts in the category 3 range of 115 mph.

In the mid-Atlantic region wind gusts were reported at 90 mph at the Chesapeake Bay Bridge Tunnel and 80 mph at Ocean City, New Jersey.

Over 2 million people were left without power from North Carolina all the way to Maine.

For Long Island and New England Hurricane Gloria remains as one of if not the most powerful Hurricane to hit that area since the Great New England Hurricane of 1938.

 So we shall see in the next 2 months and as we do every year will a Hurricane/Tropical System affect our area? Only time will tell.......