Web Sites | Books

Flooding from the 1938 New England Hurricane
http://www.nws.noaa.gov/er/nerfc/historical/sept1938.htm
This page from the National Weather Service's Northeast River Forecast Center explains what happened to all the rainwater that fell during the 1938 Hurricane, and lists the flood levels of several major rivers.

The September Surprise: The Great Hurricane of '38
http://www.intellicast.com/DrDewpoint/Library/1123/
Written by metereologist Joe D'Aleo, this site is well illustrated, but requires some weather knowledge. Overall, the site clearly explains the factors that contributed to the size and intensity of the storm.

The Long Island Express; The Great Hurricane of 1938
http://www2.sunysuffolk.edu/mandias/38hurricane/index.html
Compiled by Scott Mandia, a professor of physical science at Suffolk County Community College, this site presents the basic facts of the storm, summarized in a box on the front page, and many personal stories, from letters to newspapers, focusing on Long Island.

The Hurricane of 1938 - 60th Anniversary
http://www.gis.net/~wreidy/htdocs/images0998.htm
The New Haven Railroad Historical and Technical Association's Web site publishes images from The Devastation and Restoration of New England's Vital Life Line, "a photo booklet published by the New Haven and given as gifts in appreciation to the railroad's employees who rebuilt the system in an amazingly short time." Includes some amazing and scary photos.

The Great '38 Hurricane: A Woeful Wind
http://courant.ctnow.com/projects/cane38/index.stm
The Hartford Courant presents a collection of hurricane stories that ran in the newspaper in 1998, marking the 60th anniversary of the disaster. The site also offers photos, and video clips from a Connecticut public television documentary on the historic storm.

Hurricanes: Nature's Greatest Storms
http://hurricanes.noaa.gov/
This comprehensive site from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration focuses on recent, current and future weather events, rather than historic weather. Includes links to the National Hurricane Center, color satellite images of hurricanes, and 3-D weather visualizations.

NCDC: Historic Significant Events Imagery
http://www5.ncdc.noaa.gov/cgi-bin/hsei/hsei.pl?directive=welcome
The National Climatic Data Center organizes historical satellite images in this easy-to-search database.

NCDC: Hurricanes
http://lwf.ncdc.noaa.gov/oa/climate/severeweather/hurricanes.html
The National Climatic Data Center presents maps and special reports on landfalling hurricanes of the twentieth century.

Tracking El Niño
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/elnino/
A NOVA Online Adventure explores and explains El Niño, the most powerful force driving global weather.

Web Sites | Books

Hurricane: The Complete Historical Record of New England's Stricken Area, September 21, 1938. New Bedford, MA: Dean Publishing Service, n.d.

1938 Hurricane Pictures, with a brief story and 400 views of destruction in New Bedford and Vicinity. New Bedford, MA: Reynolds Printing, n.d.

Allen, Everett S. A Wind to Shake the Earth: The Story of the 1938 Hurricane. Boston: Little, Brown and Co., 1976.

Minsinger, William Elliott, ed. The 1938 Hurricane: An Historical and Pictorial Summary. East Milton, MA: Blue Hill Observatory, 1988.

Sheets, Bob, and Jack Williams Hurricane Watch: Forecasting the Deadliest Storms on Earth. New York: Vintage, 2001.

Newspapers all over New England documented the destruction in their localities. The local papers in Fall River, Massachusetts and Providence, Rhode Island also issued special picture booklets as supplements.