Hurricane Ione
| Category 4 major hurricane (SSHWS/NWS) | |
September 19, 1955, weather map, featuring Ione
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| Formed | September 10, 1955 |
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| Dissipated | September 21, 1955 |
| Highest winds |
1-minute sustained: 140 mph (220 km/h) |
| Lowest pressure | 938 mbar (hPa); 27.7 inHg |
| Fatalities | 7 direct |
| Damage | $88 million (1955 USD) |
| Areas affected | Leeward Islands, North Carolina, Virginia, Newfoundland |
| Part of the 1955 Atlantic hurricane season | |
Hurricane Ione /aɪˈoʊn/ was a strong, Category 4 hurricane that affected North Carolina in September 1955, bringing high winds and significant rainfall. It came on the heels of Hurricanes Connie and Diane, and compounded problems already caused by the two earlier hurricanes. Spawned by a tropical wave which left the African coast on September 6, the system became a tropical depression in the tropical North Atlantic, before turning northwest and developing into a hurricane. After turning back to the west east of the Bahamas, Ione turned northwest and northward, moving across eastern North Carolina before moving east-northeastward out to sea. Ione caused $600 million (2005 USD) in damage, much of it to crops across North Carolina. As a result of Ione's impacts seven people lost their lives.
A tropical wave moved through Cape Verde on September 6 and on September 11 Ione developed into a tropical depression. Ione remained weak for the next few days, and then began to steadily intensify as it moved north of the Lesser Antilles, reaching hurricane strength on September 15. Conditions were favorable for additional development, and Ione peaked with winds of 140 miles per hour (230 km/h) on September 18 while north of the Bahamas.
Drier and cooler air gradually became entrained in Ione's circulation, and the storm weakened into a Category 2 hurricane at the time of its Wilmington, North Carolina, landfall on September 19, which made Ione the third hurricane to hit the state in six weeks and fourth in 11 months. Ione was the first tropical cyclone to be observed on the Cape Hatteras radar during landfall and was one of the first observed to make small-scale oscillations within its track. The storm weakened to a tropical storm over land but restrengthened to a Category 2 hurricane over the northwestern Atlantic. Ione continued northeastward and became an extratropical cyclone on September 21. The extratropical storm crossed over Newfoundland and was last seen on September 24 moving across the North Atlantic.
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