RECONSTRUCTING THE TRAJECTORY OF THE AUGUST 1680 HURRICANE FROM CONTEMPORARY RECORDS BY D. WHEELER, R. GARCIA-HERRERA,J. M. VAQUERO, M. CHENOWETH, AND C.J. MOCK With historic data, including some of the earliest barometer observations in the region and mariners' logbooks, it is possible to track the intensity and path of a storm more than three centuries ago. zyxwvutsrqponmlkjihgfedcbaZYXWVUTSR TzyxwvutsrqponmlkjihgfedcbaZYXWVUTSRQPONMLKJIHGFEDCBA ropical hurricanes constitute a major element of the climatology of the North Atlantic and sur- rounding coastal areas. They have their origins in the tropical latitudes but are occasionally capable of sustaining their vigor as they recurve around the Atlantic subtropical anticyclone to eventually arrive on the coast of northwest Europe. The most impor- tant means by which such longevity is achieved is by undergoing extratropical transition (ET); that is, AFFILIATIONS: WHEELER—University of Sunderland, Sunderland, United Kingdom; GARCIA-HERRERA—Dto. Fi'sica de la Tierra II, Facultad de CC Fisicas, Universidad Complutense de Madrid, Ciudad Universitaruam Madrid, Spain; VAQUERO—Departamento de Fisica Aplicada, Escuela Politecnica, Universidad de Extremadura, Caceres, Spain; CHENOWETH—Elkridge, Maryland; MOCK—Department of Geography, University of South Carolina, Columbia, South Carolina CORRESPONDING AUTHOR: Dennis Wheeler, School of Applied Sciences, University of Sunderland, Priestman Building, Sunderland SRI 3PZ, United Kingdom. E-mail: dennis.wheeler@sunderland.ac.uk zyxwvutsrqponmlkjihgfedcbaZYWVUTSRQPONMLJIHGFEDCBA The abstract for this article can be found in this issue, following the table of contents. DOI: 10.1175/2009BAMS2649.1 In final form 8 January 2009 ©2009 American Meteorological Society they do not dissipate when they move toward higher latitudes and over colder oceanic waters and regions with higher wind shear (Hart and Evans 2001, here- after HE01). It has been estimated that around 46% of Atlantic tropical cyclones extend their life cycle by such means. Storms of this type have a significant impact on midlatitude weather and climate because they are usu- ally associated with intense rainfall, strong winds, and large waves. The Atlantic coast of the United States, Europe, and the Mediterranean are often affected by severe weather episodes associated with ET cyclones (Jones et al. 2003; Krichak et al. 2004). The most com- prehensive climatology of ET is that by HE01, which is based on the joint use of the National Hurricane Center (NHC) best-track database (Neumann et al. 1993; Jarvinen et al. 1984), the European Centre for Medium- Range Weather Forecasts reanalysis (ERA) (Uppala et al. 2005), and the National Climate Data Center daily rainfall dataset. The historical database of hurricanes is continuously updated through the North Atlantic hurricane databox (HURDAT; Landsea et al. 2004), but an important contribution to improving the record can be made through the reanalysis of premodern historical data and the recovery of overlooked data. Several efforts have shown recently that a notable body of such information exists in the form of archived documentary records, which can improve preexisting AMERICAN METEOROLOGICAL SOCIETY JULY 2009 BAH5- | 971