I am in the process of tracking down what I believe to be a spurious fact in this thread.
I’ve made some progress, but am in need of some assistance as my capacity for complete research while at sea is understandably limited.
I’ve e-mailed the author of The Perfect Storm for his reference for the cite in his book.
I’ve discovered that the reference for the cite in Isaac’s Storm is:
Pielke, Roger A., Sr. The Hurricane. London: Routledge, 1990
I’m interested in obtaining a copy of page 3 of this book. If it has a Notes/Sources section, I’d be interested in obtaining copies of this too.
Additionally, the author of Isaac’s Storm admits that upon reviewing his final manuscript, Mr. Hugh Willoughby of the Hurricane Research Division called this cite an urban legend!!
I’m interested in contacting Mr. Willoughby, so I can assertain how he debunked this fact. An e-mail address would be great. This is all the info I’ve been able to track down for Mr. Willoughby:
Hugh E. Willoughby
director of the Hurricane Reasearch Division
NOAA’s Atlantic Oceanographic and Meteorological Laboratory
Virginia Key, Florida
I wish to continue tracking this cite back through to its genesis and also document its debunking as a UL. All assistance will be recognized and gratefully appreciated. Feel free to e-mail me with any additional information you may uncover.
As always, I’ll keep the TM abreast of my progress.
*Doctor:
I am a chief petty officer stationed aboard the USS Dwight D. Eisenhower, currently deployed to the Mediterranean Sea and Indian Ocean. Much of my off duty time is spent reading. When I come across what I feel is a spurious fact I quite often try to track down the sources of the “fact” to discover whether or not it is true.
While reading Erik Larson’s Isaac’s Storm recently, I came across this paragraph:
"Camille's rain fell with such ferocity it was said to have filed the overhead nostrils of birds and drowned them from the trees."
I came across a similar statement in Sebastian Junger's The Perfect Storm, just a week earlier.
I am trying to backtrack the cites of this "urban legend" (as you called it according to the Notes section of Mr. Larson's book) to its genesis. I'm at Roger A. Pielke Sr.'s book The Hurricane and am actively researching his sources. I'm also attempting to contact Mr. Junger to see if he used the same reference material as Mr. Larson.
If you have a moment or two, could you answer a few questions concerning this trivial matter?
1) Have you come across this "fact" before? If so where?
2) Is this a popular misconception which is accepted as fact?
3) Do you know where this misconception originated?
4) Did you, or possibly one of your colleagues, debunk this statement? Was research conducted to prove, or disprove, this statement?
5) Do you have any other resources which would help me in my research?
I would like to thank you in advance for any information you may be able to provide.*
I received the following information from the author of The Perfect Storm today:
“… Without going into my files - which are
elsewhere - I believe that curious detail of birds drowning, came from an article in Harper’s Magazine in the mid- to late-eighties. It was an article entirely about hurricanes and the hurricane center down in Florida.
I can’t remember who wrote it…and now that I think of it, it may well have been in the New Yorker rather than Harpers. …”
The rest of his e-mail was quite polite and equally helpful.
So there it is from the horse’s mouth! I did requery him as to his use of the book The Hurricane to rule out the possibility of the same cite being used for both books. I am now attemping to access Harper/New Yorker back issues to see if these authors could have used it.
I have tracked down Mr. Pielke, Junior!! I’ve e-mailed him for his father’s address so as to query the senior Pielke as to his references used for his The Hurricane.
Got the following reply from Roger, Jr. a respected meteorologist in his own right (a member of the Environmental and Societal Impacts Group of the National Center for Atmospheric Research):
*Scott-
Thanks for your email. My father is cc’ed on this message and perhaps he can provide further insight on the claim. For what its worth, sounds like a “weather myth” to me!
The comment that birds died from the excessive rainfall rates associated with Camille in Nelson County, Virginia was communicated to me by an ecologist at the University of Virginia. Camille had rainfall of over 30 inches in less than 6 hours just to the south of the University. The
possibilty that this can really occur needs to be confirmed, but apparently dead birds were found underneath trees after the storm, and their deaths were attributed to the high rainfall rates. Birds can be pretty dumb, so they might not seek shelter from the rainfall. There were only light winds with the event in Nelson County, so winds did not cause them to die. I quess the only way to test this would be to place birds under a stream of water with the same rate of fall as found in such excessive rainstorms! However, I am not proposing that!
With Best Regards
Roger (Sr)*
He doesn’t know us very well!
So this is where we stand.
The initial quote from The Perfect Storm has been traced via its author to a magazine article in The New Yorker which I’m still trying to get a hold of.
The initial quote from Isaac’s Storm has been traced back to it’s source, The Hurricane the author of which says he got the information from an ecologist at UVa. Though I’m not calling Mr. Pielke wrong, I still have doubts. Namely: How did they know the birds drowned? The phrase “[The] birds died from the excessive rainfall rates associated with Camille…” doesn’t say they drowned, froze to death, died of shock, were electrocuted, etc.
I’ve still two irons in the fire though.
One, Dr. Willoughby called these quotes an “urban legend.” I’ve e-mailed him for supporting evidence; and,
Two, the New Yorker article I’ve yet to track down.
I’ve put a lot of work in on this today. I think I’ll hit my rack and start anew tomorrow.
Incidentally, Chief, if you ever need to find another book which is unavailable, all you need to do is go to your friendly local library’s interlibrary loans office. For a nominal fee - sometimes (like at my university) for free - they will search worldwide catalogues for the item and borrow it for you.
If your friendly local library doesn’t have an ILL office, grab a university student and request that he or she do so at their university library, which almost certainly does.
Of course, this may be more difficult in the Mediterranean Sea than it is on the continent, but at least you have this for future reference.
Love, Matt McLauchlin
McLennan-Redpath Interlibrary Loans
McGill University Libraries