Esther was the fifth tropical cyclone, named storm, and hurricane of the 1961 Atlantic hurricane season. It was one of four simultaneous hurricanes, along with hurricanes Betsy, Carla, and Debbie, in 1961, the only other such occasions were in 1893 and 1998. Esther also made Esther the first hurricane to be discovered by satellite imagery, although not the first to be imaged by one.
About Hurricane Esther in brief
Hurricane Esther was the fifth tropical cyclone, named storm, and hurricane of the 1961 Atlantic hurricane season. Esther developed from an area of disturbed weather hundreds of miles west-southwest of the southernmost Cape Verde Islands on September 10. By September 11, the system attained tropical storm status, before reaching hurricane intensity on the following day. On September 13, Esther curved westward and deepened into a major hurricane. The storm remained a Category 3 hurricane for about four days and gradually moved in a west-northwestward direction. Esther strengthened into a Category 5 hurricane with sustained winds of 160 mph on September 18, making it a Category 4 hurricane. It made landfall in southeastern Maine, before weakening to a tropical depression and becoming extratropical over southeastern Quebec. The remnants persisted for about 12 hours, before dissipating early on September 27. Esther also made Esther the first hurricane to be discovered by satellite imagery, although not the first to be imaged by one. In New York, strong winds led to severe crop losses and over 300,000 power outages. High tides caused coastal flooding and damage to a number of pleasure boats in Massachusetts. There were also seven deaths reported when a United States Navy P5M aircraft crashed about 120 miles north of Bermuda. Esther was one of four simultaneous hurricanes, along with hurricanes Betsy, Carla, and Debbie, in 1961, the only other such occasions were in 1893 and 1998.
It continued to weaken while approaching New England and fell to Category 3 intensity on September 21. Esther then executed a large cyclonic loop, until curving northward on SeptemberÂ25. It then rapidly weakened to a Tropical storm, before emerging into the Gulf of Maine. It was later estimated that the system could have attained hurricane status by this date, although the National Hurricane Center later noted that it could have reached Category 5 status by September 16. Esther weakened slightly while passing well north of the Lesser Antilles. On the next day, the hurricane passed about 375 miles north of Puerto Rico. Esther continued moving to the northwest toward the east coast of the United States, influenced by a cold front that exited the coast of Delmarva. It passed about 150 mi east of Cape Hatteras while turning to the north-northeast while gradually weakening while gradually turning up the coastline. It later dissipated about 150 miles east of Delva, passing about 150 mi east of the Delva coast, and passing about 120 mi east of Cape Hantas later that day. It has now been incorporated into HURDAT, which has been officially incorporated into the Atlantic hurricane reanalysis project, with a minimum pressure of 919 mbar with winds of 919 mph and a minimum pressure of 917 mbar. It also caused about USD 6 million in damage, totaling about USD million.
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This page is based on the article Hurricane Esther published in Wikipedia (as of Nov. 21, 2020) and was automatically summarized using artificial intelligence.
