1938 New England hurricane
The 1938 New England Hurricane was an extremely damaging and highly deadly Atlantic tropical cyclone which struck Long Island, Connecticut, Rhode Island, Massachusetts, Maine, New Hampshire and Vermont with strong winds of Category 4 hurricane level. The hurricane didn't curve out to sea like hurricanes usually do. The 1938 storm caused over 300 million in property damage (1938 USD) and killed between 682 and 800 people. Tropical cyclones were not given human names at the time, so the 1938 storm had a number instead.
| Category 5 major hurricane (SSHWS/NWS) | |
 Weather map from September 21, 1938 featuring the storm | |
| Formed | September 10, 1938 |
|---|---|
| Dissipated | September 22, 1938 |
| Highest winds | 1-minute sustained: 160 mph (260 km/h) |
| Lowest pressure | 938 mbar (hPa); 27.7 inHg |
| Fatalities | 682 to 800 direct |
| Damage | $306 million (1938 USD) |
| Areas affected | Bahamas, New Jersey, New York, Connecticut, Rhode Island, Massachusetts, Vermont, New Hampshire, Maine, southwestern Quebec |
| Part of the 1938 Atlantic hurricane season | |
1938 New England Hurricane Media
Surface weather map depicting the hurricane's first landfall on Long Island.
A postcard view of flooding from the hurricane at Buzzards Bay station
Damage in Island Park, Rhode Island
Water levels of the 1815 and 1938 hurricanes are marked at Old Market House, Providence
Flooding in Bushnell Park in Hartford, Connecticut in the aftermath of the hurricane; the Travelers Insurance Co. building appears in the back
Tobacco barn in Connecticut, 1938, by Sheldon Dick
Aerial photo of Marchmont in Winchendon Springs, Massachusetts taken during the summer of 1938.
Devastated landscape around Marchmont on September 23, 1938
Damage done to pine forests in Wolfeboro, New Hampshire, 1938, by Peter Roome
