Wikipedia page for Hurricane Gloria is absolutely laughable!
Posted by Gianmarc on 7/3/2010, 1:29 pm
Now I know why Wikipedia has become the laughing stock of internet research. Just look at these moronic statements on the Wikipedia page for Hurricane Gloria:

"Gloria became the strongest recorded hurricane to strike the U.S. East Coast so far north, a distinction it still holds."

LOL! Yes, that would be true, if only it weren't for the fact that a cat 3 (borderline 4) storm struck the area in 1938 and a cat 3 storm struck the area in 1821, a storm that submerged lower Manhattan in a 13 foot storm surge despite hitting at a time of extremely low tide, flooding Canal Street. (Can you even IMAGINE such an event occurring in TODAY'S Manhattan? As Fred has noted, the damage/expense would be exponentially more devastating.)

And this statement: Gloria "was the first major storm to affect New York and Long Island directly since Hurricane Donna in 1960"

Sorry bud, Cat 1 hurricanes are not "major storms." And even cat 1 might be generous, as the NHC itself records the following in the section on Gloria from their summary of the 1985 hurricane season: "Sustained wind speeds generally remained below hurricane force to the west of the center as it accelerated toward Long Island."

And just for kicks, here is what a "major storm" apparently looks like according to Wikipedia, a visible sat snap shot of Gloria as the storm made its final approach on the Long Island shore. LOL!! . . .



Many Nor'easters have looked more impressive!

Every summer we have a thread or two on this board in which folks bemoan the state of ignorance among people in the northeast about their vulnerability to a catastrophic hurricane strike. That threat is quite real as most of us here know, but is it any wonder at all that northeasterners laugh at us when we try to help them understand that after they've been told that they experienced a "major storm" and "the strongest storm ever to hit that far north" in Hurricane Gloria???

It is frightening to think that Wikipedia is the place so many people turn to for quick info on topics such as this. To think that they will look up Hurricane Gloria--people who actually lived through it as I did and remember full well what its impact was (extremely localized/minimal)--and come away from it actually believing that that was both a major storm and the most powerful EVER to hit their area in recorded history, is disturbing. My father insists to this day that Hurricane Wilma was "at least a cat 3" when it hit his neighborhood on the EAST COAST OF FLORIDA!! That is the kind of dangerous ignorance that Wikipedia posts such as this perpetuates.

I don't have a Wikipedia account and I have never made an entry or edited an entry on there, but I think this might be a call to action for all of us here on this board: given the fact that the vast majority of people invest credibility in Wikipedia as a source of reliable information about hurricanes and their recorded impacts, shouldn't we put the broad collection of knowledge that this board possesses to practical use by taking the initiative to edit ignorant posts like this that can only serve to perpetuate the denial and skepticism that exists up in the northeast? I am not at all under the impression that an edit to a Wikipedia entry will turn that tide, but it sure wouldn't hurt.
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Wikipedia page for Hurricane Gloria is absolutely laughable! - Gianmarc, 7/3/2010, 1:29 pm
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