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On This Day in 1957: Destructive Hurricane Audrey Makes Landfall
June 26, 2023 at 03:59 PM EDT
By WeatherBug Meteorologist, Matt Mehallow
On this day in 1957, historic Hurricane Audrey became Category 3 hurricane before devastating parts of southern Louisiana and southeast Texas.
Audrey formed in the Bay of Campeche early on June 24th, 1957, then became a tropical storm later that afternoon. Reconnaissance aircraft investigated the system around Noon on June 25th, and found that Audrey had intensified into a minimal hurricane.
Hurricane Audrey slowly strengthened over the next day, obtaining maximum sustained winds of 90 mph about 200 miles east of Brownsville, Texas, around Noon on June 26th. Audrey then began rapidly intensifying and moving faster to the north, as it neared the northern Gulf Coast.
Audrey became a major hurricane with maximum sustained winds of 115 mph by Midnight on June 27th. Audrey continued to strengthen overnight, with maximum sustained winds reaching 125 mph during the morning of June 27th as it closed in on the southwest Louisiana coast.
Audrey roared onshore between Sabine Pass and Johnsons Bayou, La., around 7 AM CST on June 27, 1957 as a strong category three hurricane with maximum sustained winds of 125 mph and a minimum central pressure of 946 millibars.
Audrey weakened after landfall, but due to its brisk northward forward speed, it remained a hurricane with 90 mph maximum sustained winds as it pushes across southern Lousiana. The large eye of Audrey was still well organized through the early afternoon on June 27th, before the storm eventually weakened below hurricane intensity near Natchitoches, La., by the early evening.
Audrey did maintain strong tropical storm across northern Louisiana, before weakening further across Arkansas on June 28th.
More than 500 people died when Hurricane Audrey came ashore, a high death toll blamed on the incompleteness of evacuations when the storm suddenly increased its forward motion.
The loss of life from Audrey was the greatest of any tropical sytem in the United States since the New England Hurricane of 1938 and the deadliest hurricane since the 1928 Okeechobee Hurricane.
Hurricane Audrey was one of the most destructive June hurricanes on record and the first to occur that month since 1945. Hurricane Audrey remains the earliest major hurricane to make landfall across Louisiana and the United States. The damage from Audrey was estimated at more than $150 million.
Sources: weather.gov, nhc.gov
Image: Hurricane Audrey near landfall June 27th, 1957. (Wikimedia Commons)
Audrey formed in the Bay of Campeche early on June 24th, 1957, then became a tropical storm later that afternoon. Reconnaissance aircraft investigated the system around Noon on June 25th, and found that Audrey had intensified into a minimal hurricane.
Hurricane Audrey slowly strengthened over the next day, obtaining maximum sustained winds of 90 mph about 200 miles east of Brownsville, Texas, around Noon on June 26th. Audrey then began rapidly intensifying and moving faster to the north, as it neared the northern Gulf Coast.
Audrey became a major hurricane with maximum sustained winds of 115 mph by Midnight on June 27th. Audrey continued to strengthen overnight, with maximum sustained winds reaching 125 mph during the morning of June 27th as it closed in on the southwest Louisiana coast.
Audrey roared onshore between Sabine Pass and Johnsons Bayou, La., around 7 AM CST on June 27, 1957 as a strong category three hurricane with maximum sustained winds of 125 mph and a minimum central pressure of 946 millibars.
Audrey weakened after landfall, but due to its brisk northward forward speed, it remained a hurricane with 90 mph maximum sustained winds as it pushes across southern Lousiana. The large eye of Audrey was still well organized through the early afternoon on June 27th, before the storm eventually weakened below hurricane intensity near Natchitoches, La., by the early evening.
Audrey did maintain strong tropical storm across northern Louisiana, before weakening further across Arkansas on June 28th.
More than 500 people died when Hurricane Audrey came ashore, a high death toll blamed on the incompleteness of evacuations when the storm suddenly increased its forward motion.
The loss of life from Audrey was the greatest of any tropical sytem in the United States since the New England Hurricane of 1938 and the deadliest hurricane since the 1928 Okeechobee Hurricane.
Hurricane Audrey was one of the most destructive June hurricanes on record and the first to occur that month since 1945. Hurricane Audrey remains the earliest major hurricane to make landfall across Louisiana and the United States. The damage from Audrey was estimated at more than $150 million.
Sources: weather.gov, nhc.gov
Image: Hurricane Audrey near landfall June 27th, 1957. (Wikimedia Commons)