Long-lived Storms
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Although they can raise a ruckus, hurricanes don't usually stick around too long. It only takes a day or so for a typical hurricane to make landfall and dissipate into a weaker tropical storm. But tropical storms or hurricanes can last for days and days, as long they stay over open water. Hi Iım Dave Thurlow for the Weather Notebook.

This summer we got a taste of longevity with Hurricane Alberto. Alberto was born on August 4th, and lived for 19 days before it was swept away by another, non-tropical, storm. During this long life, Alberto did a complete loop across the North Atlantic. It became a hurricane three different times, weakening over cool pockets of ocean water, and then regenerating as it passed over the warmer waters that keep tropical storms alive. Alberto ended up as the longest-lived tropical system ever seen in the Atlantic during August.

But Alberto was a mere spring chicken compared to the all-time Atlantic survivor. Back in 1971, Hurricane Ginger amazed tropical weather watchers. Ginger lasted a full 30 days, from September 5th to October 5th. Ginger was born east of the Bahamas, and at first moved northeast, away from the U.S. But instead of shuffling off for good, Ginger did an about-face by moving back toward the west. It took two full weeks to get there, but Ginger made it all the way to the North Carolina coast as a minimal hurricane. But still, 10 inches of rain and 10 million dollars in damage were left behind as Ginger slunk out to sea to die over some colder water on October 5th. It was the end of Ginger, but only the start of her fame as the Grande Dame of hurricanes.

Please visit mountwashington.org for weather education information and more. The Weather Notebook is funded by Subaru: the beauty of all wheel drive. Special thanks go to Consulting Producer Jay Allison.