Weather History: Hurricane Gloria 1985
On Sept. 27, 1985, Hurricane Gloria, the strongest hurricane to hit the United States coastline so far north, made landfall on Cape Hatteras, N.C.
A Category 4 storm at its strongest, Gloria brought a storm surge of 8-12 feet to the Outer Banks as a Category 2 storm.
The Diamond Shoal Light House on the Outer Banks recorded a 120-mph wind gust. Norfolk, Va., recorded 5.65 inches of rain and a 92-mph wind gust.
This was the first of three total landfalls that Hurricane Gloria would make along the U.S. coastline.
Ten hours later, the eye of the storm crossed over Fire Island, Long Island, crossed the Long Island Sound and slammed into Connecticut as a Category 1 hurricane. The storm eventually made its way toward Maine.
Gloria deluged the Eastern Seaboard with precipitation, soaking Virginia to Scranton, Pa., to Hartford, Conn. Allentown, Pa., recorded 7.85 inches of rain from this storm.
Gloria was a large storm, measuring about 300 miles in diameter. It also had one of the longest tracks on record, moving thousands of miles during its 16-day lifespan.
Gloria's peak central pressure was 919mb, making it the lowest pressure hurricane never to reach Category 5 status until Hurricane Opal in 1995.
Eight deaths were directly contributed to the storm, and the storm cost an estimated total of $1 billion.
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