September 2, 1775: Independence Hurricane

Sometimes when we research these shows we learn stuff that doesn’t have a lot to do with history—not directly—but is interesting nonetheless, and does have some historical impact. Hurricanes would be one of those things. On the east coast of the US, we pretty much take them for granted as a weather phenomenon. They’re definitely scary and destructive, and oftentimes the damage comes after the storm, when all that rain that came down starts looking for somewhere to go. Now, I (Claude) knew that the west coast doesn’t get hurricanes, though they often get the remnants of tropical storms. That’s because the water is shallower in general. The Atlantic Ocean is very deep, and even near the shore it gets deep quickly. The water warms up a little more near the coast and that gives the storm extra power. In Europe, hurricanes are a genuine rarity, because the water is both deep and colder (Europe is farther north than you probably think), and I’m sure they came as a big surprise to the first mariners making their way westward to the New World. But the Independence Hurricane was huge, even for a hurricane, and it did a bunch of damage in the Colonies before weakening, then it picked up strength again and did huge, lasting damage further north in Canada. The post September 2, 1775: Independence Hurricane appeared first on 250 and Counting.