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Preprints
https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2023-902
https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2023-902
23 May 2023
 | 23 May 2023

A major midlatitude hurricane in the Little Ice Age

John Dickie and Grant Wach

Abstract. An unusually severe hurricane struck Nova Scotia during the Seven Years’ War (1756–1763), causing exceptional damage to the ships of two naval fleets. Its impact was so much greater than that of modern storms that it warranted detailed study. Quantitative storm attributes were extracted from hourly entries in logs of multiple ships scattered by the hurricane. Wave height and wind data at multiple ship locations characterized storm intensity which was compared to storm surge calculated at two coastal sites. A comparison to modern Atlantic hurricanes suggests it was a major hurricane, likely Cat 4 intensity at landfall making it more powerful than any modern (post-1851) storm despite the colder climate of the Little Ice Age (LIA c1300–1850). Mean annual and multi-decadal climate trends did not capture the weather (days to weeks) that fueled this storm. Understanding its climatology and that of other major LIA midlatitude hurricanes can improve our understanding of natural variability and potential future impacts under warming oceans.

Publisher's note: Copernicus Publications remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims made in the text, published maps, institutional affiliations, or any other geographical representation in this preprint. The responsibility to include appropriate place names lies with the authors.
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Journal article(s) based on this preprint

08 May 2024
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A major midlatitude hurricane in the Little Ice Age
John Dickie and Grant Wach
Clim. Past, 20, 1141–1160, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-20-1141-2024,https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-20-1141-2024, 2024
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The requested preprint has a corresponding peer-reviewed final revised paper. You are encouraged to refer to the final revised version.

This article presents an interesting link between climate and weather patterns, and in...
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Wind and wave metrics were derived from historical naval logs of multiple ships dispersed by a...
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