Christopher Columbus Hurricane Encounter (credit: NOAA Hurricane Research Division)

DISCUSSION: As we look back to June 30, 1502, during his fourth voyage to the New World, Christopher Columbus and his fleet sought shelter from a hurricane. While his fleet survived, a Spanish treasure fleet heading for home fared far worst. During his previous voyages to the Caribbean, Columbus had learned of the terrible storms that frequented the area. The local Taino tribes related tales of these storms, certain signs of their approach, and their attribution of them to the anger of their god, Hurakan.  During future missions, Columbus would also go on to encounter other powerful tropical cyclones as well based on personal accounts which he wrote about and got saved through the years.  Hence, there are still definite indications of strong tropical cyclones which severely impacted the earlier travels of earlier settlers such as Christopher Columbus and others.

To learn more about other past historic weather events from around the world, be sure to click here!

©2017 Meteorologist Jordan Rabinowitz