Last Hurricane to hit Washington D.C.

[mrelet]

When was the last time a Hurricane hit Washington, D.C? That is, the sustained winds were still at Hurricane force in the metro area of Washington. What was the name?

 

[francesca]

It looks like Hurricane Isabel (2003) was still a Category 1 hurricane when she hit DC.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hurricane_Isabel

 

[mrelet]

Thanks for the post, francesca. But I looked up Isabel and Hurricane Isabel was Tropical Storm Isabel at the point in it’s journey of 38.6 N Lat; 78.9 W Long.

http://www.nhc.noaa.gov/2003isabel.shtml?#TABLE3

Since Washington, D.C. is at 38 53 N Lat; 77 02 W Long, that’s a Distance between 38 53' 0"N 77 3' 0"W and 38 36' 0"N 78 54' 0"W of 101.7119 statute miles.

http://jan.ucc.nau.edu/~cvm/latlongdist.html

Isabel was traveling east to west, and 101 miles east is outside of metro D.C. So darned close.

I think the last Hurricane might have been Agnes. Anybody know for sure?

 

[RWF7437]

Why don't you Google Huricane Information Center ?

 

[mrelet]

Thanks, RWF7437, I did scan the FAQ at Huricane Information Center and found that no hurricane ever hit Wash, D.C. in recorded historical times (1851 and later). The closest were Isabel (2003) and Floyd (1999) that hit Norfolk, VA and Hazel (1954) that hit Baltimore, MD.

http://www.aoml.noaa.gov/hrd/tcfaq/E24.html

 

[TerryScan]

Hmm, I started with mrelet's link and surfed to:

http://hurricane.csc.noaa.gov/hurricanes/viewer.html

A search at this site yields 6 hurricanes from 1876-1896.