Since the Atlantic Hurricane Database began keeping track of every system in 1851, New England has been hit by over 100 tropical or post-tropical systems. Prior to 1851, at least 30 systems were observed in New England, dating back to the early 1600s, as recorded by meteorologists at the time. Furthermore, paleotempestology has shed light on tropical cyclone activity that most likely occurred in the region prior to recorded history.
Over the past five or six years, I have created multiple projects to keep a record of weather events in New England. These projects were created to fill what I saw as gaps in New England weather history coverage. The first project was the New England tornado database. This database keeps track of every single tornado to touch down in New England. The database dates back to 2008.
My next project was the New England Snowstorm Hall of Fame. Many people love to measure snow that falls outside their house and compare snowfall totals to past storms. I decided to create what I called the "Definitive New England Snow Stick" for all of New England. I took the maximum amount of snow reported in New England during many notable storms and placed them on a 6 foot ruler based on that snowfall. When I put the "stick" online, I changed the name to the New England Snowstorm Hall of Fame.
A year after I created the New England hall, I decided to go all in and make a hall of fame for all of the United States. This was quite a task that took weeks of digging up reliable snowfall totals for over 80 snowstorms and counting. The American Snowstorm Hall of Fame is updated every spring to induct the latest season's notable storms.
This past summer, I began my most ambitious project yet. I decided to compile the complete history of tropical cyclone activity in New England. Initially, I was going to make a list of all landfalls in New England history. What I ended up doing was meticulously combing through every single hurricane season season 1851 to find every cyclone that either made landfall in New England or came close enough to effect New England without making a landfall.
On top of this, I decided to include cyclones that became post-tropical when they struck New England. Even more, I combed several historic records to find tropical events that struck New England prior to 1851, dating back to the Great Colonial Hurricane of 1635. After getting back to 1635, I took it one step further. I discovered something called "paleotempestology". I found three academic studies performed in New England that found evidence of tropical activity dating all the way back to 150 AD!
Over a month later, I had finally completed the list. What I had created was, by far, the most complete record of tropical activity in New England. After completing the list, I decided to do a write-up on what I had learned about tropical activity in New England. I had initially planned to write several pages, maybe up to ten. When I hit page 10, I was still in the 1600s. I realized I was not writing a simple summary, but a book.
I've been working on this book since late summer 2022. Now, in the middle of spring 2023, I am ready to announce that "Tropical New England: Documenting 2,000 Years of Tropical Cyclone Activity in New England" will be released by the end of April. I'm very excited to share with you what I truly believe is the most comprehensive and complete record of these storms in New England that you will find anywhere.
This book will be released in the form of an e-book that can be downloaded. Before the release, I will share some snippets and previews, so stay tuned! (The first paragraph of this post is an excerpt from the book's introduction).
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