INTRODUCTION
Welcome to Tsunami (?) along the eastern seaboard of North America. The (?) does not question whether they occur in Atlantic waters as in the Pacific and other waters, for they occur in all waters around the world. The (?) refers to questions such as what was the initial cause that sent large and sudden waves crashing into North American shores, often with deadly results. Why have these events remained hidden from view until uncovered by much research in local histories and newspapers? Not knowing of the events helps to perpetuate the fiction that such waves do not occur along the North American shores and beaches. As events are uncovered, it becomes apparent that this is just not true! The primary objective of the Tsunami section on the homepage of the National Weather Service in Mt Holly, NJ, is AWARENESS, awareness that past events have occurred, even in the Mt Holly area of responsibility. This section will be dynamic, with additions being made as new information is uncovered with time. The set-up for these tsunami pages is in response to questions submitted by Steve Horvath, a student at Timberlane School of Hopewell Valley in Pennington, New Jersey. He asked very good questions for his independent study project on tsunami. Answering his questions here will lead to links for further study and information, and to known events which have impacted the shores from Newfoundland to Florida. Besides these known events, others have occurred, but exact dates have not been determined yet. A fellow NWS employee, Bill Christ, came across the after effects of a wave that hit Manasquan, New Jersey, during the pre-dawn hours in the early or mid 1970s. An older gentleman previously questioned by Bill remembered a wave in the 1930s that went ½ mile inland, also in Manasquan. This could be one of the two 1930s waves which will be discussed here, or, another one as yet unknown. A lady wrote to James F. Landers, leading tsunami expert, asking if he knew anything about a giant wave that suddenly came ashore as she and her family were on the beach in Coney Island during the mid 1940s, forcing everybody to run for their lives. A Skywarn member's father remembers that in the early 1940s, a sudden large wave played havoc with the Queen Mary as she was docking. Skywarn is a very important volunteer network that reports severe weather events to the NWS, giving us rapid and often the first known reports of severe weather, allowing us to issue warnings earlier and to quickly update forecasts if necessary. Whatever the cause of these events, they might never be discovered, since exact dates are not known, making research very difficult. The events might not have even been reported! YOU CAN HELP!! Have you ever seen any sudden onslaught of large waves, especially in fair weather? Have you always had an interest in "tidal waves", and snipped articles from your local newspaper when you ran across them? NWS would like to know! We can tell you what they are. Maybe you can tell us WHEN they happened. If you didn't know before who to contact to report these waves, the contact is US. Verified reports will be added to the Mt Holly pages, with acknowledgment given to the person submitting the report. Harry G. Woodworth (ret.) / e-mail: [email protected]