Woolly Adelgid and Hurricane Gloria

Provided and copyright by: Steve Kluge, Fox Lane High School
Summary authors & editors: Steve Kluge

On September 27, 1985 Hurricane Gloria moved quickly up the eastern coast of the U.S., making landfall first at Cape Hatteras and 10 hours later on Long Island, New York. Coming before the age of widespread and economical digital sensors, the above barogram was made on a rotating drum barograph in a classroom at Fox Lane High School in Bedford, NY, as the storm center passed some 30 miles (48 km) east of the school's location in southeastern NY state. The pressure recorded here is consistent with pressures recorded at Kennedy Airport on Long Island. The steep pressure gradient, accompanied by high winds, was responsible for carrying the Hemlock Woolly Adelgid (Adelges tsugae) pest across the Long Island Sound into the forests of New England, where it has been especially destructive to indigenous hemlocks. This invasive insect is thought to be a native of Asia and is an insidious pest of both eastern hemlock and Carolina hemlock.

Related Links:

• Fox Lane High School Geoscience
• More on Hurricane Gloria (1985)
• Hemlock Woolly Adelgid
• More About the Wooly Adelgid