Isaac's Storm - Erik Larson [110]
26 One of its French chefs: Eisenhour, 4.
27 “A child’s white hearse”: City Directory: Advertisement, J. Levy and Brothers.
28 The crests of the waves: Author’s observation of how tropical storms influence the surf off Galveston.
29 Isaac knew the low-pressure center: Cline, “Address.”
30 “If we had known”: Cline, “Cyclones,” 13.
31 The northeast wind brought: The locations of the planing mill, bulk coffee roaster, and the many livery stables are set out in the Fire Insurance Map for Galveston.
32 “Only one-tenth of an inch”: Cline, “Special Report,” 372.
33 “The usual signs”: Ibid., 372.
34 “Such high water”: Ibid.
35 Isaac’s concern: Cline, “West India Hurricanes.”
PART I: THE LAW OF STORMS
The Storm: Somewhere, a Butterfly
To reconstruct the origins and early travels of the Galveston hurricane, I relied on books and papers by the twentieth century’s most significant hurricane researchers, among them William Gray, Christopher Landsea, R. H. Simpson, Richard Anthes, Kerry Emanuel, and the two Pielkes, Roger junior and senior (see Sources). I found the Pielkes’ Hurricanes, published in 1997, to be especially useful. My description of how an easterly wave cycle might be perceived by the crew of a ship is based largely on an extended conversation with Hugh E. Willoughby, head of the Hurricane Research Division of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. I also included, indirectly, the observations of researchers I interviewed in 1998 for a Time magazine article on intense hurricanes yet to come, among them Landsea; Gray; Pielke junior; Mark DeMaria, chief of technical support for NOAA’s Tropical Prediction Center; Jerry Jarrell, director of the Tropical Prediction Center; and Nicholas K. Coch, self-styled “forensic hurricanologist,” Queens College, New York.
1 Three children died: Galveston News, Aug. 13, 1900.
2 “The air near the surface”: Garriott, “Forecasts,” 321.
3 Springfield, Illinois, reported: Galveston News, Aug. 13, 1900.
4 In August, mean temperatures: Bigelow, “Report,” 47, 51, 54, 68, 70, 84, 125, 135.
5 From mid-July: Galveston News, July 14, July 15, Aug. 10, 1900.
6 Ten billion joules: Galveston News, Sept. 1, 1900.
7 Crickets swarmed: Ibid.
8 Others became massive: For excellent descriptions and illustrations of clouds, see International Cloud Atlas.
9 Ships directly in the path: Author interview, Hugh Willoughby, Hurricane Research Division, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
10 “Brown is the new color”: Galveston News, Aug. 2, 1900.
11 Every day an ad: Galveston News, Aug. 1, 1900.
12 “But suppose”: Zebrowski, 264.
13 “Could a butterfly”: Ibid., 263.
14 “One simulated storm”: Ibid., 265.
15 “Add a little glitch”: Ibid., 266.
Washington, D.C.: Violent Commotions
In this chapter, I relied heavily on the memoirs of Isaac and Joseph Cline, and on two fine histories of weather and the weather service, David Laskin’s Braving the Elements and Donald Whitnah’s A History of the United States Weather Bureau.
1 As a hobby: Cline, Storms, 14–17.
2 In fall, at acorn time: Joseph Cline, Heavens, 44.
3 Isaac’s uncle swore: Ibid., 8.
4 Stories circulated: Ibid., 10–11. “As I look back on it now,” Joseph wrote of the wild man, “it was a soul-sickening spectacle to see a human being, if one could call him that, in such a pitiable plight.”
5 Another turned Boyd’s Pond: Ibid., 13.
6 The law of convenient epiphany: Cline, Storms, 23–24.
7 He read everything: Ibid., 23.
8 his greatest dream was to write: Ibid., 23.
9 “I first studied to be a preacher”: Ibid., 26.
10 The president of: Ibid., 27.
11 A marker showed: Ibid., 30.
12 But mainly: Ibid., 30.
13 “Meteorology has ever been: Laskin, 138.
14 Mark Twain, merciless: Ibid., 146.
15 In 1881, police: Whitnah, 46–47.
16 Complaints also rose: Ibid., 46–53.
17 The assault got personal: Ibid., 53.
18 “You will cheerfully”: Frankenfield, 4.
19 Isaac led them: Cline, Storms, 32.
20 At Fort Myer, Isaac took apart: Ibid., 33.
21 The word madman: National Archives: Administrative.