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Hi, I'm Bryan Yeaton and this is The Weather Notebook.

Imagine a fine September morning at a beach on Long Island late summer 1938. It's been raining off and on for a few days, but now the sun is poking through the clouds. The forecast is for more rain, so you're trying to get in a quick swim. If somebody told you at that point that a hurricane was coming, you'd probably have told them that Long Island doesn't get hurricanes--at least there hadn't been one in recent memory. Well, what will later be called the Great Hurricane of 1938 is actually now charging up the coast toward you at 60 miles an hour.

It was the surprise storm of the century. Forecasters had tracked the storm off the Bahamas but thought it had turned to sea east of Cape Hatteras. There were no ships down the coast to warn of the storm's approach and back then, no satellite pictures. But by late afternoon on September 21st, when the forty-foot waves hit Long Island and chimneys started blowing away -- that forecast quickly changed.

A storm surge inundated much of the Hamptons resort area along with downtown Providence, Rhode Island. But nobody realized the full extent of the disaster initially since the damaged areas were cut off from communication. Finally, two days after the hurricane had struck, this incredible story found its way into the venerated New York Times.

Today's contributing writer is Bob Henson of Boulder, Colorado. The Weather Notebook is a production of the Mount Washington Observatory and is supported by Subaru. For more on the 1938 Hurricane, floods and other weather events, go float to our website at mountwashington.org. Special thanks today Executive Engineer Sean Doucette, Producer Margaret Landsman, and Assistant Producer Doug Sanborn.