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Attachment A
Summary of CAMILLE’S Forecasts and Warnings
On Thursday, Aug. 14, a Navy reconnaissance plane reconnoitering a tropical wave in the Caribbean encountered a fast-developing depression which reached storm intensity while the aircraft was still in the area. Advisory Number One on the new storm, to be known as Camille, was issued at 1 p.m. EDT that day by the Weather Bureau’s National Hurricane Center in Miami.
At that time, Camille was located near latitude 19.3 north and longitude 82.3 west or about 60 miles west of Grand Cayman or 408 miles south of Miami. Camille was moving west-northwestward at about 13 miles per hour with strongest winds about 60 miles per hour over a very small area near the center. A bulletin was issued at 3 p.m. Advisory Number Two was issued at 6 p.m. on Aug. 14, saying indications were that the storm would pass near the western tip of Cuba that night or early the next morning, moving northwestward at 10-12 miles per hour. It was forecast that the storm would go into the Gulf of Mexico.
Another bulletin was issued at 9 p.m. EDT on the 14th, indicating no important change.
At midnight Thursday, Aug. 14, Advisory Number Three was issued. It stated that Camille took a more northerly course. This was based on a Navy reconnaissance flight report. At that time, there was no significant change in intensity.
A bulletin was issued on Friday, Aug. 15 at 3 a.m. stating that Camille was “plodding” toward the Isle of Pines. At 6 a.m., on Friday, Aug. 15, Advisory Number Four was issued, stating that Camille was still heading toward extreme western Cuba with indications that hurricane force would be reached that morning and hit extreme western Cuba around noon or a little later. It forecast a slight turn to more northerly movement after Camille passed Cuba and would enter the Gulf of Mexico later that day. At 9 a.m. that day, a bulletin said Camille had become a full-fledged hurricane. An ESSA
reconnaissance plane found Camille had highest winds estimated at 90 miles per hour. Advisory Number Five, issued at noon Friday, Aug. 15, indicated that hurricane Camille was centered near latitude 21.2 north, longitude 83.9 west, or about 400 miles southwest of Miami. It stated that Camille would reach western Cuba around noon or a little later and precautions should be taken immediately for rapidly increasing winds reaching hurricane force by early afternoon and tides up to eight feet on Cuba’s southwest coast.
It forecast a turn to a more northerly course, and an increase in forward speed which would bring the. storm into the Gulf of Mexico by evening. It pointed out that small craft around the Florida keys should not venture far from shore and those around Western Cuba should be in safe harbor. A bulletin issued at 3 p.m. on Friday, Aug. 15, said that an ESSA reconnaissance plane reported steady intensification, and somewhat slower movement as it approached southwest Cuba coast. The eye of the hurricane was clearly in view of the weather radar in Havana, which was supplying regular reports to the National Hurricane Center. This bulletin said Camille, while still an immature young hurricane with a very small intense core, was nevertheless the most intense hurricane since Beulah of 1967. Maximum winds were at least 115 miles per hour and over water areas gale force winds extended outward into the eastern Florida strait area. At 6 p.m. on Friday, Aug. 15, Advisory Number Six was issued, stating that the storm was at latitude 21.5 north and longitude 84.4 west or about 270 miles southwest of Key West. This position was based upon Air Force reconnaissance, land-based radar, ship, and island reports. It said the hurricane was expected to enter the Gulf of Mexico early Saturday morning, Aug. 16 and proceed north over the eastern Gulf at a slightly increased forward speed. It stressed that all interests along the eastern Gulf of
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Historic Hurricanes (Treutel Book) Historic-Hurricanes-Of-Hancock-County-1812-2012-(131)
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