The Atlantic hurricane season begins June 1 and lasts until November 30, but historically the date of greatest hurricane activity is September 9. A hurricane has never blown through Vermont on exactly September 9, but according to David Ludlum’s Vermont Weather Book, several other September dates have brought us hurricanes — or hurricane weather.

Of the three hurricanes Ludlum calls first rank, two belong to September. He considers the New England Hurricane of 1938, which blew from Brattleboro to Vergennes on September 21, second only to the 1927 flood as a Vermont weather disaster. It brought winds and rains that damaged forests and caused floods all over the state.

The second of Ludlum’s first rank hurricanes, the Great September Gale of September 23, 1815, missed Vermont but caused serious rain and flooding in the southern part of the state. Altogether Ludlum mentions 20 tropical storms and hurricanes in his chapter on the subject, and I can personally remember two more — Hugo in 1989 and Floyd in 1999. Of these 22, nine occurred in September.

But Vermont is not famous for its hurricanes. What has September brought to hurricane hotspots? All the record-holders have, in fact, occurred in September. The deadliest, for example, hit Galveston, Texas on September 8, 1900. Early estimates said about 6,000 people died. Later the figure was raised to 8,000, and now some speculate that more like 10,000-13,000 may have died.

Hurricane Andrew, which occurred in August, is often listed as the costliest hurricane. But experts have pointed out that if inflation, wealth increases, and coastal population changes are taken into account, the Great Miami Hurricane of September 20, 1926, would have been more than twice as costly as Andrew.

The most intense hurricane as measured by the barometric pressure at sea level is usually listed as the unnamed hurricane that hit the Florida Keys on September 2, 1935. But Hurricane Gilbert of September 14, 1988, had an even lower pressure. By the time it hit land, however, it had weakened considerably. Either way, the record holder belongs to September.

So September is a month that bears watching as far as hurricanes are concerned, whether you live in Vermont or one of the better known hurricane hotspots.

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