Micro-Climate Blog: Hurricanes and History

By Marcy Rockman, Lifting Rocks Climate and Heritage Consulting, for the SHA Climate Heritage Initiative

The 2024 hurricane has been an unusual one. Predicted in the spring to be highly active with large numbers of large storms, there was an unexpected lull mid-August to mid-September, and then a roar back to life with Hurricane Helene, Hurricane Milton, and others that have followed. Along with immediate and deeply needed practical approaches to disaster preparedness and recovery, the variability of this season should raise our attention to questions of how our society handles long-term risk, tracks longer-running patterns and changes in those patterns, and incorporates memory and experience into our planning for the future.

Which is why this recently released compilation of historic hurricane tracks by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) is a fascinating resource for research. To which, of course, archaeology should be added. Together these allow consideration of clusters and lulls in hurricane strikes, and consideration of which are remembered, which have been forgotten (a process called landscape learning), and what the effects of both have been on how and where we live now. 

In exploring these questions, I’ve long been inspired by the work of Nicholas Laracuente in the archaeology and hurricane history of Pensacola, FL. Between 1559 and the mid-18th century, European settlers endured several clusters of hurricanes, moving around the bay to find safer locations and letting the Spanish crown know of their struggles. But the area was geopolitically important and pressure to stay was strong. Thus his historical archaeological work allows us to see with a long-term perspective some of the tensions between local environmental experience and other forces that shape our lives.  

Featured Link: https://coast.noaa.gov/digitalcoast/tools/hurricanes.html

For a listing of all blog posts in this series, visit our Climate Heritage Initiative page.

Photo credit: Screenshot of ca. 150 years of hurricane tracks across the panhandle of Florida listed in the NOAA tool, at link above.