The 1928 hurricane that devastated the City of Lake Worth. And when does Hurricane Season begin?

From the National Oceanographic & Atmospheric Administration (NOAA):

“The Atlantic hurricane season is officially from 1 June to 30 November. There is nothing magical in these dates, and hurricanes have occurred outside of these six months, but these dates were selected to encompass over 97% of tropical activity. When the Weather Bureau organized its new hurricane warning network in 1935 it scheduled a special telegraph line to connect the various centers to run from June 15th through November 15th. Those remained the start and end dates of the ‘official’ season until 1965, when it was decided to start at the beginning of the month of June and run until the end of November.”

The map below is a more modern one showing the path of that terrible storm. Interstate 95 didn’t exist in 1928. Would the Herbert Hoover Dike that surrounds Lake Okeechobee survive a storm this strong? Almost a direct strike:

When it struck: Wind speed 130 miles per hour, 929 millibars of pressure, category 4.

This storm is called the 1928 Hurricane. Hurricanes weren’t given people’s names until later on. Pictures below show the local Lake Worth aftermath. This is the storm that killed thousands near Lake Okeechobee and remains the 2nd deadliest storm in American history.


Read more about the 1928 Okeechobee Hurricane at Wikipedia.