Hurricane Hazel - Meteorological History

Meteorological History

In early October 1954, a tropical wave moved off the coast of Africa and was spotted on October 5, roughly 80 km (50 mi) east of the island of Grenada. Sufficiently organized to be deemed a hurricane, the original hurricane hunter wind measurement of 110 km/h (70 mph) soon increased to 160 km/h (100 mph) at the centre, with a forward speed of 16 km/h (10 mph). Hazel moved westward and intensified from October 6 to October 9 in the Caribbean Sea without directly striking any land; at one point, it was moving "practically parallel" to the Venezuelan coast. After continuing on a westward track, it turned sharply to the north-northeast, heading for Haiti instead of Jamaica, contrary to meteorologists' predictions. On the whole, the storm proved to be very unpredictable, defying forecasts on multiple occasions.

On October 11, Hazel crossed Haiti as a Category 2 hurricane. It had lost some strength because of its passing over peaks as high as 2,400 m (8,000 ft). After passing through the Windward Passage between the islands of Cuba and Hispaniola, Hazel turned northwest toward the southeastern part of the Bahamas and East Coast of the United States, at a forward speed of about 27 km/h (17 mph). Hurricanes are generally expected to lose power after going north of Florida, since the temperature of the water is lower; however, by late October 14, just before it reached the Carolinas, hurricane hunter planes found the hurricane's winds to have accelerated to 220 km/h (140 mph), making it a Category 4 storm, and its forward speed had increased to 48 km/h (30 mph).

Hurricane Hazel made landfall near the North Carolina/South Carolina border as a Category 4 storm, on the morning of October 15. Hazel struck Myrtle Beach, South Carolina before moving north, becoming extratropical as it passed over Raleigh, North Carolina, still a strong Category 3 hurricane. Hazel accelerated to over 77 km/h (48 mph) upon landfall, and was centred over New York state and Pennsylvania by 4:30 p.m. EDT. Contrary to expectations, Hazel had not lost much intensity: winds of 160 km/h (100 mph) were measured in parts of Delaware, Maryland, New York, and Pennsylvania. Before leaving the United States, the storm had claimed 95 lives, of which the majority were drowning casualties.

Moving very rapidly, Hazel consolidated with a cold front and headed toward Ontario; by midnight, it was centred over downtown Toronto. The most rain fell around Brampton, as it was where the original storm and the cold front merged. Hazel had still retained intensity equal to that of a Category 1 storm, with gusts of over 150 km/h (93 mph), sustained winds as high as 124 km/h (77 mph), and rainfall in excess of 200 mm (8 in), after moving almost 1,000 km (620 mi) over land. Leaving Toronto, the storm slowed down considerably, from a maximum forward speed of 77 km/h (48 mph) to 18 km/h (11 mph) within the span of a day. Hazel's remnants continued north through Ontario; it passed over James Bay, and reached northern Quebec. Hazel fully dissipated on October 18, having caused 81 casualties in Ontario.