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Public Information Statement
National Weather Service Boston/Norton MA
712 AM EDT Mon Jul 6 2026
...HURRICANE PREPAREDNESS WEEK IN SOUTHERN NEW ENGLAND...
Determine your risk...
The National Weather Service (NWS) Boston, MA has declared July
6th throughJuly 10th as Hurricane Preparedness Week. Each day
this week we will highlight a different preparedness topic.
Hurricanes are not just a coastal problem. Their impacts can be
felt hundreds of miles inland. Hurricanes such as Irene and Sandy
reminded us that significant impacts can occur without it being a
major hurricane. Hurricane Preparedness Week is your time to
prepare for a potential landfalling tropical storm or hurricane.
When living in New England, any tropical system in the Bahamas
has the potential to quickly become our business. There are two
main source regions for New England hurricanes, the Cape Verde
Islands off the west coast of Africa and the Bahamas. The Cape
Verde storms can become huge because they have a week or more to
travel across the Atlantic, and we know they are coming well in
advance. Bahamas storms tend to be somewhat smaller, but they can
develop rapidly and impact New England very quickly.
In mid-August 1991, a cluster of thunderstorms formed near the
Bahamas on a Friday afternoon when most emergency managers went
home for the weekend. It was not even a tropical depression yet,
but it quickly developed into major Hurricane Bob that Saturday.
By Monday, Bob had weakened to a Category 2, but had accelerated
and was in for breakfast and out for dinner, like many New
England hurricanes.
Never concentrate on when the eye is going to make landfall. If
you do, you will be too late with your preparations. Storms often
accelerate up the coast and when they do, become very asymmetric.
The important effects of the storm are shunted way out ahead of
the eye.
For example, even though the center of Hurricane Bob was still
off the North Carolina coast, coastal roadways in Rhode Island
were closed 12 to 14 hours in advance due to coastal flooding.
This was associated with tropical storm force wind gusts in the
outer rain band squalls. As another example, the eye of the 1938
hurricane moved from Cape Hatteras North Carolina to New Haven
Connecticut in 8 hours, at times racing north around 60 mph!
Unlike most storms, the 1938 hurricane did not weaken on its way
toward southern New England due to its rapid forward speed and
track.
So, remember a named tropical cyclone in the Bahamas should be
monitored. Your safety preparations should be completed, not
started, by the time the storm is at the latitude of North
Carolina. Do not focus on when the eye is coming ashore, because
nasty weather will be occurring 12 or more hours in advance of
the
eye.
For more information, visit: http://ready.gov/hurricanes
$$
For the latest updates...please visit our webpage at
www.weather.gov/boston
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www.facebook.com/us.nationalweatherservice.boston.gov
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@NWSBoston
