Transcript The Storm of the Century

The Storm of the Century
March 12 – March 15, 1993
By: Kimberly Cooke
The “Storm of the Century”
 Occurred from March 12-15, 1993
 One of the most intense nor’easters to ever
strike the Eastern United States
 Affected 26 states
 Affected 50 percent of the US population
 On the Saffir-Simpson hurricane scale it
would have been a category 3
Statistics
 At one point, the storm covered 1/3 of the United
States
 Peak wind speeds of 144 mph (New Hampshire)
 27 tornados touched down
 270 deaths were attributed to the storm over land
with 48 more missing at sea
 2-3 inches per hour snowfall rates were common
 Total of $3 - $6 billion in damages
Storm Track
March 12, 1993
 A newly formed
cyclone moves into
the Gulf of Mexico
and intensifies
rapidly
 Turned
northeastward and
the center of low
pressure makes
landfall
March 13, 1993
 Made landfall in
northwest Florida
 6 inches of snow fell
on the Florida
Panhandle
 3-4 meter storm surge
 15 tornadoes touched
down
 Widespread moderate
to heavy snows
extended from
Alabama to New York
March 14, 1993
 More than a foot of
snow fell from
Alabama to Maine
 70 record lows were
reported in the storm’s
aftermath
 74 record lows were
reported the next
morning
Snowfall Totals
Records Set by the Storm
WIND GUSTS
Mount Washington, NH
144 mph
Franklin County, FL
110 mph
Dry Tortugas, FL
109 mph
Flattop Mountain, NC
101 mph
PRESSURE
White Plains, NY
961.1 mb
Philadelphia, PA
962.4 mb
New York, (JFK)
962.4 mb
Dover, DE
963.0 mb
Records Set by the Storm
SNOWFALL TOTALS
Mt. Mitchell, NC
50 in.
Grantsville, MD
47 in.
Snowshoe, WV
44 in.
Syracuse, NY
43 in.
LOW TEMPERATURES
Burlington, VT
12° F
Mount LeConte, TN
10° F
Asheville, NC
2° F
Birmingham, AL
2° F
Overall
 The storm affected nearly 100 million
people
 Virtually paralyzed the eastern third of the
United States
 25 percent of the United States’ airplane
flights were canceled in a two day time
period