Source: https://weather.com/storms/hurricane/news/2025-09-11-9-11-hurricane-erin-missed-us-east-coast
A haunting satellite image captured both the tragedy of Sept. 11, 2001, and a hurricane that lurked offshore. By Jonathan Erdman September 11, 2025 Visible satellite image of Hurricane Erin off the East Coast and a zoomed inset of smoke pouring from the Twin Towers in New York City on Sept. 11, 2001.(NASA)On Sept. 11, 2001, as terrorist attacks were unfolding in New York City, at the Pentagon and near Shanksville, Pennsylvania, a hurricane was hovering off the Northeast seaboard.In one of the most chilling weather images ever taken, both Hurricane Erin — about 500 miles east-southeast of New York — and the smoke plume from the World Trade Center Twin Towers about two hours after the first tower was hit were captured in a NASA satellite image.The Weather That MorningThe previous day, a cold front swept through the East with rain and thunderstorms. That left crystal clear, cool weather on the morning of Tuesday, Sept. 11, accompanied by light northwest winds.Hurricane Erin was never an East Coast landfall threat, as the cold front and increased westerly winds aloft gave a final east, then northeast shove to Erin. Erin did generate large swells which eventually reached the East Coast.The Sept. 11, 2001, morning surface and upper-air weather depiction. Path history of Hurricane Erin is also shown, with red corresponding to hurricane intensity, and purple corresponding to Category 3 intensity.(Hurricane track data: NOAA/NHC)What If ...Whether a Hurricane Erin East Coast strike would have thwarted, or merely delayed, the hijackers' plans to carry out the worst terrorist attack on U.S. soil will likely never be known.Two of the four hijacked planes on Sept. 11, 2001, took off from Boston's Logan Airport, and one each took off from Newark-Liberty and Dulles Airports.It's fair to assume that a significant number of flights to and from the major Northeast hubs would've been canceled if Hurricane Erin had threatened the East Coast in September 2001.Some of those airports may have even been forced to close for a while.Northeast HurricanesAccording to NOAA's database, 11 hurricanes have tracked within 60 nautical miles of New York City in records dating to the 1850s. Seven of those were in September.Among them was Hurricane Gloria in September 1985 and the infamous Long Island Express in September 1938.In the years after the Sept. 11 attacks, several hurricanes hit the Northeast, some in September:Isabel (2003) hammered the Washington, D.C., metro area, among others.Irene (2011) triggered storm surge flooding just below the destructive threshold for New York CitySuperstorm Sandy (2012) triggered massive storm surge flooding in New York City, New Jersey and elsewhere.As we saw with Sandy, all you need is a strong enough area of high pressure aloft over the western Atlantic Ocean to steer the hurricane into the East Coast, rather than allowing it to "recurve" safely out to sea.Strange CoincidenceAlmost exactly 10 years after the attacks, Hurricane Katia was spinning in almost the same location on Sept. 9, 2011. As with Erin, Katia made a hard-right turn before reaching the East Coast. Then almost exactly 20 years after the attacks, Hurricane Larry was also spinning in a similar location, a bit farther east than both Erin and Katia. Locations of Hurricanes Erin, Katia and Larry on Sept. 11, 2001, Sept. 9, 2011, and Sept. 10, 2021, respectively. (Track data: NOAA/NHC)Jonathan Erdman is a senior meteorologist at weather.com and has been covering national and international weather since 1996. Extreme and bizarre weather are his favorite topics. Reach out to him on Bluesky, X (formerly Twitter) and Facebook.
Archived URL: https://weather.com/storms/hurricane/news/2025-09-11-9-11-hurricane-erin-missed-us-east-coast
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