Yes I still have it, and squirm every time I see myself standing there in my short-short tennis shorts and tube socks. A sailboat that had been anchored in the Sampit River ended up stranded next to the Georgetown Rice Museum. Our TV station lost power and we had no generator. The weakening storm then turned northward and moved through the mountainous terrain of Virginia and West Virginia, still producing wind gusts of 40 to 55 mph east of the storm's center. By the morning of September 10th the system displayed enough organization on satellite imagery that it was classified as a tropical depression, the eleventh one of the 1989 Hurricane Season. What was I thinking? As a Pittsburgh native and Penn State graduate in Meteorology, Tropical Weather was not my top priority since I never had a personal encounter or experience with those kinds of storms growing up. Last Updated: September 21, 2014, Forecasts Hugo's powerful winds damaged over 4.5 million acres of forestland in South Carolina. Bulls Bay just north of Mt. Sorry, this is a written account of my experience, video not included. Hurricane Hugo deposited a large number of exotic birds at lakes in Western North Carolina as the eye disintegrated. Hazardous Weather Outlook In my weather log I went with a forecast of winds 25 to 35 mph with gusts to 60 mph, but it was still hard to fathom damaging winds could occur with a landfalling hurricane all the way up in the North Carolina foothills. Hurricane Hugo: Storm of the Century. The following series of three-hourly surface maps were hand-analyzed in September 2014 using archived surface observations from NWS and FAA airports and buoys operated by NOAA/NDBC. Video interviews with meteorologists and emergency management personnel who remember Hugo very well. We moved from the bedrooms into the hallway, where there were no windows. The stoplight wasn’t working or course but we had someone directing traffic. Science and Technology, Office Programs Besides direct damage to human structures, power, and transportation networks, Hugo had an impact on the natural world as well. Long Beach, NC: A 200-foot section of the 800-foot long Long Beach Pier collapsed around 1 a.m. on September 22nd. MYRTLE BEACH, S.C. (WBTW) — Midnight Sept. 22 marks 31 years since Hurricane Hugo made landfall in South Carolina as a Category 4 hurricane. Mariners Weather Log, Spring 1990. Holden Beach and Yaupon Beach, NC: At least 25 beachfront homes were damaged, and in some places 50 feet of beach was lost according to the Wilmington Star-News. Mobile Weather Particularly hard hit were peaches, soybeans, cotton, pecans, and pine plantation forests. My yard was a rubbish heap with huge 75 year-old pine trees laying all around the house. A National Weather Service publication focusing on marine weather events. Widespread power outages lasted weeks in some remote locations. * The NWS ER Technical Attachment Hurricane Hugo in the Charleston Area by John F. Townsend lists the minimum pressure for the NWS office in Charleston as 943.2 mb or 27.85 inches
These two storms were only three weeks apart. NOAA Weather Radio Amazingly only one death in Charleston was directly attributable to Hugo. Hugo's eye filled with clouds on visible satellite imagery and a clear eye was not discernable again until September 20th. It was a National Guardsman with an M-16 machine gun. Figuring the worst of the storm would hit around 5am, I decided to head in around 2am. So they, too, had to be "safe" in the hallway with us. (10.5 to 12.5 microns). Hugo's destruction wasn't limited to just South Carolina; Hugo also devastated the Caribbean Islands of Guadeloupe, St. Croix, and Puerto Rico, and even seven hours after its final landfall still produced hurricane-force winds across the western Piedmont and foothills of North Carolina.