"The greens and commons of New England will never be the same. Picture postcard mementos of the oldest part of the United States are gone with the wind and flood. The day of the 'biggest wind' has just passed and a great part of the most picturesque America, as old as the Pilgrims, has gone beyond recall or replacement…" Associated Press, September 22, 1938.

Those who survived the hurricane have extraordinary stories to tell. Everett S. Allen titles one such book of vignettes A Wind To Shake The World, The Story of the 1938 Hurricane. The author captures the essence of shock and despair and at times, humor and irony in the many stories from the three New England states that suffered this freak of nature. The book is available at your public library or be sure to check the internet used books sites for this gem of a book. In the preface he writes:

"For two years, I have forced myself -- and countless others -- to see again the sick color of sky and sea on that day, to hear the scream of the wind, which was everywhere. To confront anew the shocking, instant obliteration of what had always been assumed permanent and mile upon mile of man's work reduced to rubble. And I have forced myself and others to see man himself, face down and weaving like weed in the roiling shallows or open-mouthed and still, half-buried in the damp sand. I have made people weep by asking them to remember what for many of them remains their most terrible day."

September 10th, 1938 is the first day the weather disturbance was tracked as a tropical storm. The winds began to intensify to hurricane level on September 15th and within four more days, grew to a category 5 - the highest and most intense and deadly level. One wonders if we should be thankful that on the day of landfall the storm was at category 4, and as it hit land was reducing to category 3? The death of this storm occurred on the 22nd of September after leaving in its wake close to 700 deaths from the tri-state area and beyond. Diana Rosenberg, a well-known astrologer from New York said that her family summer home on Long Island was destroyed and some of their documents were blown hundreds of miles north to the state of New Hampshire.

Please note that many of our worst storms have companion events in the day-to-day world. On September 21st 1938, Adolph Hitler gained his first foothold in the Sudentenland.

In addition to the extreme loss of life, the abundant stately elm trees and white church spires, the pillars of many New England communities fell and while the steeples could be replaced, the trees never returned to their original splendor. A disease killed off the remaining trees - the Dutch Elm disease.

Overall, a six-state area experienced economic difficulties for many years due to the record flooding and many mill towns in New England were inundated.

It is well known that there was little advance warning of this storm. Even with advanced warning, the numbers of the death and destruction would be only somewhat lower. The wind and water traveled at record speed from the first storm sighting in New Jersey and when it reached the southern New England shores six hours later it took many by surprise. The storm is sometimes referred to as "The Long Island (New York) Express". Many details can be found at the related website: http://www2.sunysuffolk.edu/mandias/38hurricane/

When you think back to the year of 1938, communication was mostly by radio - no television, no cable, no computers. There were working telephones, but the suddenness of the onslaught caught people in a survival mode. The flooding of the metropolitan (downtown) area in Providence also came as a surprise, catching many people going home from their work in the late afternoon. Trolley cars and busses were submerged and others rescued people floating in the waters from second story windows of office buildings. The storm surge flooded the city to about 20 feet. Many years later, after two lesser hurricanes to land, the City of Providence built a Hurricane Dam. Since the time of building, the dam has been closed only once.

Every summer the people in the New England area wonder if this is the year the next 'big storm' will hit. Wondering about the same thing myself led to me study astrometeorology. The future and long-range weather forecasting hold that date.

CHART INFORMATION

CANCER INGRESS, June 22, 1938
The birthchart for the summer season has a potential for severe weather. Observe the 4th house ruler, Venus, it is with Pluto. Venus and Pluto are conjunct the 7th angle - a disturbing potential for very intense and possibly destructive wet weather when combined with other factors. The ruler of the ascendant is Saturn and it is with the Moon, an indication of a damaging moisture event to 'the place' - the horizon. The nodes hover at the meridian.

Lunation chart - Last Quarter Moon, September 17, 1938 (Moon approaching Perigee)
Quarter moon charts always carry the element of crisis and shock (Sun square to the Moon) and this chart is no exception. The power of the Moon, the wettest indicator, sitting on the local ascendant indicates a very wet weather event. Days later, crossing the 4th house angle at zero Virgo triggered the chart and in poured the water. Notice the array of planets in the 4th house of this quarter moon chart - there are 2 sets of powerful wind and water conjunctions (please refer to the planet/sign key). Whether Leo or Virgo signs are used to analyze this chart from the 4th house cusp, the rulers are in very powerful alignment. See the Sun sitting with Neptune for the moisture and Mars with Mercury as the fierce wind. The Moon sits on the ascendant as though beckoning the water to rise. Jupiter sits at the midheaven encouraging the event to greater magnitude.

Wind Chart - Mercury in Virgo, September 10, 1938
In my study of wind charts, this chart remains a classic setup for destructive winds. Whenever you see Mars and Mercury together, beware of an intense and fast moving wind. Mars conjunct Mercury on the meridian squared by Uranus on the 7th, and sesquisquare Saturn brought in the woeful winds. The nodes, once again, show up on the angles.

Landfall Chart - 3pm September 21, 1938
Unlike earthquakes, hurricanes have no exact moment when they strike. Even though we think of these great storms as 'roaring in like a freight train', the truth is we now have many early warning systems in place to help avoid major loss of life. However, back in 1938, when this storm literally flew up the coast from Hatteras, all lines of communication came down as the surprise storm battered everything in its path. Word finally got out to the world via cable from NYC, across the Atlantic to France and back to Orleans, Massachusetts. Telegraph was used to get a message from New Jersey to London and also short-wave radio got the news out to surrounding areas. The obvious things we can take from the 3pm landfall chart are the surprise element of Uranus in the 4th house and the Saturn in square to the ascendant. The Moon at zero Virgo triggers the wind chart and the 4th cusp of the lunation chart (quarter moon).

FALL INGRESS CHART - Sun in Libra, September 23, 1938
Two days after the horror, the fall season overview chart gravely reflects the Saturn in the 4th house as a time of damaged land, separations, reconstruction efforts and gloom. A trine to the ascendant indicates a cooperativeness of the people trying to make an effort to rebuild. The stellium in the 9th house is about the nation waking up to news of this major disaster and the history of the storm begins to be recorded.

State of Rhode Island, Founding Chart at Newport - May 8,1639, 9:42am EST, 41n29 71w19

Rectified by M. Penfield

Penfield's rectified chart was on fire! Transits alone told much of the story. Transiting Uranus on the Sun, Saturn resting on the midheaven, Pluto compromising the ascendant, Mars square Venus, Neptune square the nodes, Node conjunct Neptune and more. Solar arc direction has the Moon conjunct the Sun, Saturn opposite Mars and the node with the 4th cusp. Although not perfected, secondary progressed Mercury was in square to the natal Sun.

Other charts and locations and interesting correlations: Please note there was a solar eclipse on May 29, 1938 at 7:31 Gemini. The Penfield 1790 'entering the Union' chart of Rhode Island gives a Sun at 8 Gemini. The state of Connecticut chart has 8 Gemini on the asc, and New Bedford, Massachusetts has an 8 Gemini Venus. The landfall chart has Mars at 8 degrees of Virgo, triggering the eclipse.

Helio aspects on day of landfall include a Mercury square Neptune by one degree. Mars opposite Jupiter by four degrees, Mercury square to earth by three degrees, Venus square to Uranus at zero degrees and Jupiter quincunx Pluto at zero degrees.

Helio aspects to Geocentric positions include Jupiter opposition Moon exact and Saturn quincunx Mercury exact on day of landfall.

Declination locations were extremely powerful. The parallels found the Moon was with Mercury, Mars, Saturn and Neptune. The Sun was at the equator, or zero declination.

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