Amherst and the Saxby Gale of October 1869

Prouty, Charles, "Paper mill in North Amherst," in Digital Amherst, Item #763, http://www.digitalamherst.org/items/show/763 (accessed October 5, 2013).

The 1869 Saxby Gale was a major hurricane that swept up the North Atlantic and devastated coastal areas of eastern Canada's Bay of Fundy on October 4-5, 1869. The storm was named for Lieutenant Stephen Martin Saxby, a naval instructor and amateur astronomer, who had - based on his detailed observations and calculations - predicted an extremely high tide and storm surge a week before the event occurred. Such accurate advanced predictions were rare at the time, and even after the event, the general population mostly dismissed the whole thing as more luck than science. 

Apparently, however, the impact of the Saxby Gale wasn't felt only in Canada. Right here in Amherst MA, a 36-hour storm hit the area on October 4, 1869 (144 years ago, yesterday and today). Although local newspaper accounts at the time don't connect the western Massachusetts storm to the hurricane raging in the Atlantic, these must have been one and the same storm system. Wind and heavy rains over the two day period flooded Fort River and much of the lowlands of East Amherst. North Amherst was also hard hit as dams at the paper and leather mills were torn away. 

By comparison, it's a lovely day out right now, with the lightest of breezes and trees in varying autumnal colors bathed in sunlight. So far, our fall has been unusually devoid of storms (knock on wood). Enjoy!