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The Greatest Hurricane
09/23/2002
Listen in RealAudio 
Sixty-seven years ago, the greatest hurricane ever to make landfall in the United States,
struck at our southernmost border. The Florida Keys Hurricane of 1935 was a rare
Category 5, the strongest classification. A "Cat 5" brings winds in excess of 155 miles
per hour. Hi, I'm Bryan Yeaton from the Mount Washington Observatory and this is The
Weather Notebook.
The Keys Hurricane predated the naming of tropical storms, so unlike Camille,
Andrew, Hugo and others, this, the Keys Hurricane had no common name to retire to
the Hurricane Hall of Fame. But even without a name its credentials are impressive.
The central pressure in this storm, something which indicates a storm's intensity, was
the lowest ever recorded by that time: 26.35 inches of mercury. To get an idea of how
low that is, check your barometer at home: 26.35 inches isn't even on the scale.
One of the real tragedies of the Florida Keys Hurricane came about when a train was
dispatched from Miami to rescue hundreds of World War I veterans stranded by the
rising sea water at a construction camp on Matecumbe Key. The train's return to the
Florida mainland turned to disaster when it met the hurricane head on, killing 405
people.
This incensed a local resident, who was one of the first rescuers on the scene. He
soon set loose a narrative entitled "Who Murdered the Vets," aimed straight at the U.S.
government for building a road in such a hurricane vulnerable area. His name was
Ernest Hemmingway.
The Weather Notebook is produced with from support from Subaru, and the National
Science Foundation.
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