Good evening everyone. Over the past few days, I’ve been reading a book that I received from Rick Schwartz of MidAtlanticHurricanes.com about the hurricane history of the Middle Atlantic States called, “Hurricanes and the Middle Atlantic States: A Surprising History From Jamestown to the Present.” So far I’ve read about 40 pages, but already I’m intrigued by this work. Schwartz, a former resident of nearby Edison, New Jersey, began following hurricanes from the age of 12 when Hurricane Doria threated the Garden State during the course of the 1967 Atlantic Hurricane Season. Schwartz sheds light on the fact that although the Mid-Atlantic, which covers, Virginia, Maryland, Pennsylvania, Delaware, and New Jersey, is often overlooked when it comes to hurricanes, and surprisingly, gets its far share of impacts from tropical storms and hurricanes.

As a matter of fact, Schwartz indicates in his book’s preface that there have been a total of 60 named storms that either were tropical storms or hurricanes that trekked to within a 100 miles of the Mid-Atlantic coast of the United States since 1954. During the long period from 1886 to 2003, there have been a total of 75 hurricanes, or what was left of them, passed through, or close to Maryland. Delaware, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania each had similar numbers while Virginia has had more such impacts. Some notable storms have passed through this area of the United States coastline: Camille (1969), Agnes (1972), Belle (1976), David (1979), Gloria (1985), Hugo (1989), Bertha (1986), Fran (1986), Floyd (1999), and Isabel (2003). Schwartz also noted thanks to his discussion with Herbert Saffir, one of the co-authors of the Saffir-Simpson Scale, who passed away last November, that if a powerful hurricane along the lines of Andrew or Katrina came ashore in the Mid-Atlantic, there would be tremendous devastation since the building of homes in this region aren’t held to the same standards as they are in Florida, or along the Gulf Coast.

Now, in just the short time I’ve been reading this, I’ve already found this to be a great resource of information. Some of you may know about the historic hurricanes page that I maintain on the site. Well, every season, I’m looking to add to it not only with entries for powerful storms from a particular year that I’m covering such as 2005, but also passed storms from long ago. This book makes reference to a number of such storms. Books like these always has some tidbit of information that I never knew before. Take for instance the Hurricane of 1609, which had an impact of sorts on the fledgling colony of Jamestown, Virginia, the first colony established in North America. This maelstrom scattered many of the ships that left Great Britain for the outpost in the New World back in June of that year. This would become the basis for the legendary British playwright and poet, William Shakespeare’s play, “The Tempest”. Shakespeare, who had been an investor in the Virginia Company, which supported the Jamestown colony, had heard of the plight of the ships affected by the hurricane.

I’m looking forward to reading more of the book, and intend to have a full book review of it. So, keep your eyes peeled for it.