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New England Weather

1788 Gale • August 19, 1788

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The Meteor of 1787

1794 Whirlwind

A VERY disastrous gale was experienced in the western portion of New England on the afternoon of Tuesday, August 19, 1788.

New York also suffered from its injurious effects.

During the forenoon the wind blew from the southeast, and the weather was very changeable, rain and sunshine alternating. About noon the wind changed to the south and became fresher, the sky darkened somewhat, and the rain increased, apparently settling down for a long storm. At about one o'clock, the wind suddenly changed, becoming more westerly, and the gale burst upon certain portions of four of the New England states. For about twenty minutes at a time the wind blew terribly. It continued with variable force all through the afternoon, its direction also being very changeable. At times it was extremely powerful, and as late as four o'clock it blew with great force from the northwest, in the neighborhood of Pittsfield, Mass.

The strong southerly wind brought in the tide at New Haven, Conn., to such a height that the wind forced the waves against Long wharf so fiercely that considerable damage was done to it, and several vessels there snapped the ropes that held them, but did not receive any material injury.

A considerable number of houses, barns and other buildings were blown down, and many more unroofed by the wind. Hundreds of acres of tall timber trees were broken off or torn up by the roots, apple-trees were destroyed, and fruit was blown from the trees that remained. Fields of Indian corn were levelled evenly with the ground, appearing in places as if they had been mowed with a machine. Grain was also destroyed, and in some gardens cabbages even were torn out by the roots. Great damage was done to fences, pole fences even not escaping, and stacks of grain were swept away. Roads were so blocked with the fallen trees that they were rendered impassable for a number of days, and many cattle and horses, and several persons were killed or more or less injured by the trees as they fell.

New Haven, Conn., not only suffered from the tide and the wind in the harbor, but fields of corn, and orchards with the fruit still on the trees were destroyed.

In Massachusetts, the gale wrought havoc in many towns. At Springfield, it wholly destroyed a number of dwelling houses and other buildings, orchards, forest trees, and crops of various kinds, and many cattle were killed by falling trees. The loss suffered by the inhabitants of that town alone amounted to a considerable sum. At Northampton, the wind blew hardest at about three o'clock when the gale came from the southwest for some twenty minutes with almost irresistible force. Three barns and several small houses were levelled with the ground, and several barns were unroofed, much damage also being done to crops and trees, but no human lives were lost. A child was killed in Hatfield, and at Whately, Conway and Ashfield several buildings were blown down, many horses and cattle being killed. It was the most terrific wind remembered by the people of Pittsfield, where several houses and barns were demolished, one of the barns belonging to the tavernkeeper, Mr. Wood. Across the street from the inn stood the barn of Doctor Foot, which was partly unroofed. Boards, shingles, and other fragments of the buildings that were destroyed mingled with branches of trees in the air, and were carried a considerable distance. No persons lost their lives there, but several head of cattle were killed by the falling trees. The wind was even more severe at Lanesborough than at Pittsfield. Many acres of fine timber trees were laid level with the ground, and a cow and horse were killed. In Petersham, Westminster, and the surrounding towns the gale was very disastrous, and at Deerfield and the towns northwest of it the wind was exceedingly strong.

Vermont also suffered considerably from the gale, buildings, fences, trees and crops being destroyed. At Dummerston, a young child, while fleeing through the woods to the house of the nearest neighbor, was killed by a falling tree. The trees also fell upon many cattle, which died from their injuries, while others were killed outright. Many buildings were unroofed, and some blown down. In some places acres of strong large oaks were swept away, root, trunk, and branch. The town of Putney also suffered severe losses, a number of barns being unroofed, and several cattle killed by falling trees. Scarcely a town in that vicinity escaped the fury of the gale.

In the state of New Hampshire, the wind was strong, and effective of much injury in many towns. At Sanbornton, several barns were unroofed, and nearly every shed was taken up and blown to pieces, one eighty feet in length being carried half a mile. Acres of strong oaks and great rock maples, two feet in diameter, were torn away by the roots, or broken off only a few feet from the ground, and carried along by the wind for many yards. Several young and finely growing apple orchards yielded to the fury of the wind, and were destroyed. A large number of cattle were killed by the trees in the woods, but no person was materially injured. In Hanover, the gale was said to have been beyond description. A new house belonging to Captain M'Clure and several other buildings were demolished. A sad result of the wind in that town was the destruction of a shed, in which were two men and fourteen horses, the men and animals being so badly bruised and otherwise injured that all of them soon after died. In one of the adjoining towns a number of great timber trees came crashing down upon several persons who were travelling through the woods injuring them fatally. Meredith, New Hampton, and towns around them had a large part of their crops, trees and fences destroyed by the wind, which was as furious there as in the other places named.

Source: Historic Storms of New England by Sidney Perley, 1891

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