Hurricane Carla Texas coast

Sept 11, 1961

Cyndia ClaypooleMartha Tullis

Hurricane Carla - development

• “A tropical depression developed in the western Caribbean Sea on September 3 from a disturbance in the Intertropical Convergence Zone.

“It moved northwestward, becoming Tropical Storm Carla on the 5th and Hurricane Carla on the 6th.” (1)

Carla reached Category 5 on Sept 11, but weakened very slightly to Category 4 as it made landfall southwest of Houston, Texas, later that day.

(1) Wikipedia page on Hurricane Carla (no authors cited); http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hurricane_Carla last accessed 10/30/09

“Hurricane Carla, a very large storm, 1730 EST, September 10, 1961 at approximately

26' N., 95' W.”Figure 6 from Gordon E. Dunn and Staff. “The Hurricane Season of 1961.” Monthly Weather Review. March

1962. http://docs.lib.noaa.gov/rescue/mwr/090/mwr-090-03-0107.pdf, accessed 10-31-09

Hurricane Carla –basic stats Wikipedia page on Hurricane Carla (no authors cited); http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hurricane_Carla last accessed 10/30/09,

and Gordon E. Dunn and Staff. “The Hurricane Season of 1961.” Monthly Weather Review. March 1962. http://docs.lib.noaa.gov/rescue/mwr/090/mwr-090-03-0107.pdf, accessed 10-31-09

• When: Sept 6 – 16, 1961• Where: clipped Yucatan, landfall on Sept 11,

halfway between Galveston and Corpus Christi, Texas• Winds: 175mph sustained just before landfall• Tornados: 26 reported, one in Galveston (8

fatalities)• Category: 5; landfall in Texas as a strong Category 4 • Min pressure: 931 millibars (NWS reported needle below scale)

• Storm Surge: tides 16.6 feet; high water line 22 feet • Cost: 45 fatalities (Texas-34, LA–6; KS–5; MO -1)

$325,000,000 property & crop damage($2B in 2005 USD)

Hurricane Carla, 1961 path North through Texas

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/40/Carla_1961_track.png; last accessed 10/29/09

Carla followed I-35 through Austin, Waco, Dallas-Ft. Worth, and N to Oklahoma; then NE to AK, MO, IL,

Chicago, MI, and Canada

Hurricane Carla brought a young Dan Rather tothe attention of CBS News for his live reports

from the Galveston seawall (http://www.cbsnews.com/video/watch/?id=678659n&tag=related;photovideo

Hurricane Carla, waves breaking over Galveston seawall

(http://www.cbsnews.com/video/watch/?id=678659n&tag=related;photovideo -- interview with Dan Rather, accessed 10/29/09)

Hurricane Carla was monitored by 3 weather radar; Galveston and Brownsville, TX, Lake Charles, LA

• First live radar image of a hurricane broadcast on TV. There was concern that showing the weather radar image would incite mass panic. (http://www.cbsnews.com/video/watch/?id=678659n&tag=related;photovideo -- interview with Dan Rather, accessed 10/29/09)

In 1961, 9 of 10 American households had a TV.* 350,000-500,000 people evacuated ahead of Carla; largest ever weather-related evacuation at that time. *James L. Baughman, “Minow’s Viewers: Understanding the Responseto the “Vast Wasteland” Address .“ FEDERAL COMMUNICATIONS LAW JOURNAL. Vol 55, Number 3 (2003): 449-458. http://www.law.indiana.edu/fclj/pubs/v55/no3/Baughman.pdf

Notes: Early Weather satellites; Television Infrared Observation Satellites

• More on weather satellites:• TIROS-1 (A)- launched April 1, 1960, suffered electrical system failure on June 15 1960• TIROS-2 (B)- launched November 23, 1960, failed January 22, 1961• TIROS-3 (C)- launched July 12 1961, deactivated February 28, 1962

• http://nasascience.nasa.gov/missions/tirosThe TIROS Program (Television Infrared Observation Satellite) was NASA's first experimental step to determine if satellites could be useful in the study of the Earth. At that time, the effectiveness of satellite observations was still unproven. Since satellites were a new technology, the TIROS Program also tested various design issues for spacecraft: instruments, data and operational parameters. The goal was to improve satellite applications for Earth-bound decisions, such as "should we evacuate the coast because of the hurricane?".

IROS proved extremely successful, providing the first accurate weather forecasts based on data gathered from space. TIROS began continuous coverage of the Earth's weather in 1962:

• Tiros 2… The spacecraft was 42 inches in diameter, 19 inches high and weighed 280 pounds. The craft was made of aluminum alloy and stainless steel which was then covered by 9260 solar cells. The solar cells served to charge the nicad batteries. Two television cameras were housed in the craft, one low-resolution and one high-resolution. A magnetic tape recorder for each camera was supplied for storing photographs while the satellite was out of range of the ground station network. In addition, an infrared horizon sensor for attitude control, a direction indicator for picture orientation, two infrared radiation experiments, and a magnetic orientation control experiment were included.

• TIROS-2 Stats: Launch Date: November, 23, 1960; Operational Period: 376 days; Launch Vehicle: Three-stage Delta; Launch Site: Cape Canaveral, FL

The craft was spin-stabilized and space-oriented (not Earth-oriented). Therefore, the cameras were only operated while they were pointing at the Earth when that portion of the Earth was in sunlight.

TIROS-3 was also credited with the discovery of Hurricane Esther. Launch Date: July 12, 1961 operational 230 days