The last time we had a Hurricane Erin, it was on 9/11
The last time a hurricane was named Erin, it was poised off the coast of New York City on the same morning as the 9/11 terrorist attacks.
On this episode, AccuWeather Founder & Executive Chairman Dr. Joel Myers will look back at the tragic events of September 11th and how it changed our country and world forever.
Tropical Storm Erin has formed in the Atlantic, and is expected to become a hurricane. The last time we had a hurricane named Erin was on 9/11.
A high pressure system controlled New York City's weather on that tragic day, Sept. 11, 2001, as Hurricane Erin loomed off the coast to the east. Weather satellite images showed both the hurricane and the smoke rising from Ground Zero, where the Twin Towers once stood. The prevailing wind between the two systems was north to south, which caused the smoke to drift southward.
This satellite image shows both Hurricane Erin off the Northeast coast and the smoke rising from New York City on Sept. 11, 2001. (NASA / AccuWeather)
That infamous day is discussed in Dr. Joel N. Myers' book "Invisible Iceberg: When Climate and Weather Changed History" Of the weather that day, he said, "There was a hurricane out in the Atlantic and a cold front had just gone through, it forced the hurricane to not come into New York, but out to sea... it makes you wonder if the attackers... studied the weather pattern. The weather played a role... It was clear where all 4 planes took off... so there was nothing that would cause... hours of delays."
"In most cases we've talked about... the weather was on the side of the United States... in this case, unfortunately, it was not," he added.
The names of Atlantic hurricanes are recycled every six years, unless a storm is so severe that it must be retired. While the name Erin was also used for tropical storms during the 2007, 2013 and 2019 seasons, it has not been used for a hurricane since 2001.
Hurricane Erin wasn't the only weather tie-in to the disaster. The night before the terror attack, a haunting short film captured thunderstorms viewed from the Twin Towers.
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