Meteorological history 1944 Great Atlantic hurricane

map plotting track , intensity of storm, according saffir–simpson scale

the origins of 1944 hurricane can traced tropical wave first identified east of lesser antilles on september 4. on next few days, disturbance traversed west-northwestward without producing significant weather hint @ tropical cyclogenesis. on september 7, area of low pressure, albeit disorganized, formed in association tropical wave east of barbados. following day, barometric depression became more well-defined, prompting weather bureau in san juan, puerto rico issue advisories on tropical disturbance. result of sparseness of available surface observations east of lesser antilles, reconnaissance flight dispatched investigate storm late on september 9; flight reported disturbance had strengthened newly-formed fully-fledged hurricane. due seemingly rapid development of storm, atlantic hurricane reanalysis project concluded storm began earlier , weaker system; thus, hurdat—the official track database hurricanes in north atlantic dating 1851—lists tropical cyclone having begun tropical storm winds of 50 mph (80 km/h) @ 06:00 utc on september 9.

after formation, tropical cyclone gradually intensified moved west-northwestward, reaching threshold hurricane intensity @ 06:00 utc on september 10 while north of virgin islands. strengthening continued thereafter, , september 12, storm reached intensity equivalent category 3 hurricane on modern-day saffir–simpson hurricane wind scale. later day, cyclone strengthened further category 4-equivalent , given moniker of great atlantic hurricane weather bureau in miami, florida. concurrently, tropical cyclone began curve , accelerate towards north. @ 12:00 utc on september 13, hurricane reached peak intensity maximum sustained winds of 145 mph (230 km/h), , 5 hours later, ship documented minimum barometric pressure of 933 mbar (hpa; 27.55 inhg). storm s pressure may have been lower @ time unknown whether or not observation took place in eye, though 909 mbar (hpa; 26.85 inhg) pressure suggested meteorologist ivan ray tannehill considered low.

the hurricane began gradually weaken after reaching peak intensity on september 13. in morning hours of september 14, storm passed east of cape hatteras , eastern virginia small powerful hurricane winds of 125 mph (205 km/h). afterwards, cyclone curved further towards northeast , continued accelerate; @ 02:00 utc on september 15, hurricane made landfall near southampton in eastern long island winds of 105 mph (165 km/h). storm crossed island , long island sound before making second landfall 2 hours later near point judith, rhode island weaker storm winds of 100 mph (160 km/h). after crossing rhode island , massachusetts, tropical system transitioned extratropical cyclone off coast of maine on september 15; these extratropical remnants continued track towards northeast , across canadian maritimes before last noted merging extratropical cyclone off of greenland @ 12:00 utc on september 16.