List of Delaware Hurricanes

[DelStormLover]

Hurricane list since 1851
OCT 1878 CAT1
AUG 1879 CAT2
AUG 1893 CAT1
SEPT 1893 CAT1
OCT 1894 CAT1
AUG 1933 CAT1
SEPT 1936 CAT2
SEPT 1944 CAT1
AUG 1953 BARBARA CAT1
OCT 1954 HAZEL CAT1
AUG 1960 DONNA CAT2
OCT 1985 GLORIA CAT1/2
AUG 1986 CHARLEY CAT1
SEPT 1999 FLOYD CAT1/TROPICAL STORM



ON AVARAGE DELAWARE GETS HIT BY A HURRICANE EVERY 14.5 YEARS.



*STORMS CATAGORYS MAY HAVE BEEN STRONGER IN OTHER AREAS.

[DelStormLover]

BUMP

[wxman57]

Interesting stats on Delaware. But I have a question. What do you qualify as a hurricane "hit"? I notice storms like Donna in '60, Gloria in '85 passed off to the east of Delaware a ways. The centers didn't pass over Delaware as far as I can tell. Did Delaware get sustained hurricane-force winds with such storms?

[Guest]

Well wxman57 the part about Gloria i can................Seeing how i lived there at the time (Ocean City, MD)...............Gust for sure but uncertain however about sustained.............Very close call...............OC.MD did Have sustained winds of about 80mph on the southern end of that town...............Which btw most of the damage was done on that end as well.............Kinda got better and better as you headed north in OC to the DEL line at its northern end....................Which from that i assume the winds werent as strong..................Most of the damage up that was was with the boardwalks of Bethany and Rehoboth Beach DE and some of the homes on the beach were damaged a few i think lost but nothing as far as i could tell or hear about from the winds other then a few damaged signs.................So i assume DEL is referiing to canes or storms that came close to DEL...............Only known storms or canes to hit DE with sustained hurricane winds were 33, 44 Donna and Hazel.................Btw there is no Record of a landfalling cane in DEL sence they have been keeping offical records....................Only state as well that hasnt other then west coast states!

[mitchell]

Yeah, those are hurricanes in which the center passed within 150 miles of Delaware. For example, Charley (1986) was well offshore and probably never even sustained trop. storm winds in DE. Historically, the Norfolk-Long Island Hurricane of 1819(?) did past directly over top of lower Delaware and if the newpaper articles regarding structural damage are to be believed, probably did contain sustained Hurricane force winds.

More recently, I was in Bethany Beach Delaware for tropical storm Doria in 1971 which passed directly overhead and was will organized enough to contain a distinct eyelike feature as it passed in the evening. This was a thrill for me: