This document summarizes several notable weather events from 1962, including: - Typhoon Karen devastated Guam in November 1962, destroying thousands of homes and buildings but causing relatively few deaths due to early evacuation warnings. - Britain experienced its third coldest winter on record from December 1962-January 1963 with heavy snowfall and freezing temperatures that caused over 120,000 deaths. - A storm in February 1962 caused massive flooding in northern Germany, especially Hamburg, destroying homes and killing over 300 people. - Several typhoons and tropical storms in Asia caused extensive damage and loss of life, including Typhoon Wanda which killed 434 people in Hong Kong.

1. 5 Weather Stories from 1962
By Donald Dale Milne
https://www.roadtrip62.com/5-weather-stories-from-1962.htm
As I noted on a previous Roadtrip-'62 ™ page, three Tiros weather satellites were launched by the United States in 1962. This gave a total of six in orbit
and their benefits began to be felt this year. Information from the Tiros satellites was used to help land the Mercury space capsules. It was also used to analyze
the origins and progress of hurricanes by sending data to hurricane warning centers in San Juan, Puerto Rico, Miami, Florida, and New Orleans, Louisiana. Data
also allowed meteorologists, for the first time, to determine that the reason hurricanes dissipated upon landfall was because of their loss of the heat source of
open water, not because of friction caused by structures and vegetation. This was the beginning of our current constant, 24-7 information from weather satellites
that blanket the world.
Technicians mount a TIROS weather satellite to the upper stage carrier (Public domain photo from NASA)

2. Out in the Pacific Ocean, nearly half the island of Guam was devastated by Typhoon Karen in November, 1962. Approximately 7,000 homes over 500
commercial buildings were destroyed, communications came to a halt, and the island's power and water systems shut down for several months before they could
be repaired. It was the most powerful tropical cyclone to strike the island of Guam, with winds of 185 mph. But despite the extensive damage, only 11 people
were killed. This was largely due to the fact that the island had three days notice of the storm’s approach. Buildings were boarded up, emergency supplies were
distributed, and all personnel on the island were ordered to evacuate to typhoon-proof shelters. Some evacuated to Wake Island. Naval ships left port to rest far
out to sea and Air Force planes stationed on the island were relocated. You can see more of the aftermath of Typhoon Karen in this YouTube video at
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S9ODr1tmMnI .
Aftermath of Typhoon Karen in Guam, 1962

3. Great Britain experienced its third coldest winter ever beginning in December 1962, known as The Big Freeze. Going all the way back to 1659, only the
winters of 1683–84 and 1739–40 are recorded as being colder! Over the winter of The Big Freeze, over 120,000 people died; something seldom seen in modern
developed countries. Snows began on December 12-13 and on December 29-30 a blizzard covered southwest England and Wales with drifts up to 20 feet deep
in places. And because the temperatures stayed so low, the snow cover lasted for more than two months in some areas. By January, 1963 it had been cold for so
long that the sea froze for a mile off shore at Herne Bay, Kent. It also froze 4 miles out to sea from Dunkirk. And the upper reaches of the River Thames froze
over thickly enough that someone drove a car across it at Oxford!
Storm flood in Hamburg, Germany, February 1962 (Public Domain photo by Gerhard Pietsch.)

4. In February 1962, the North Sea flooded low coastal areas of Germany, destroying the homes of about 60,000 people and killing 315 people in the City
of Hamburg alone. A windstorm with peak speeds of over 120 mph pushed water against the coast, leading to a water surge that dikes could not withstand. Sea
dikes were breached in some 50 locations. The winds also pushed the water upstream on the rivers Elbe and Weser, which led to widespread flooding away from
the coast. Hamburg, on the river Elbe, but 60 miles away from the coast, suffered the worst. Authorities requested help from any sources they could, including
Germany’s NATO allies. The situation was so bad that Hamburg’s Police Senator even requested help from the German Army, ignoring the German
constitution's prohibition on using the army for "internal affairs". This prompted adding a clause to the constitution which allowed using the army during
disasters, though it was not added until 1968.
Storm track map of Typhoon Wanda at 6-hour intervals, 1962 (Public domain image by Supportstorm, from Wikimedia Commons.)

5. Another severe storm of 1962 was Tropical Storm Harriet, which hit Nakhon Si Thammarat Province of Thailand in October 1962. It wiped out entire
villages, leaving over 10,000 people homeless and approximately 935 dead, according to the Thai Meteorological Department. Another storm of the same type
and strength would hit the same area of Thailand in 2019. Elsewhere in Asia, Typhoon Wanda hit Hong Kong on September 1, killing 434 and leaving over
80,000 homeless. And in August 1962, the Dongchun River in Sunchon, South Korea burst a dike during a storm and the resulting wall of water killed 163
people.
One of the worst weather events in the United States was the Ash Wednesday Storm of March 7, 1962, which affected the coast from Florida to New
England. Another was the Columbus Day Storm of October 12, 1962, which ravaged Oregon and Washington. You can read more about both events on our
National Headlines from 1962 page at https://www.roadtrip62.com/5-national-news-headlines-from-1962.htm . Hopefully, neither you nor Roadtrip-'62 ™ will
encounter any of these disastrous weather events as we travel to our next destination.
Damaged new Buick in debris from Mineola, Texas tornado, 1962 (photo from an online auction)

6. Visit ROADTRIP-'62 ™ ( https://www.roadtrip62.com/index.htm )for more articles.
Or visit us on Facebook https://www.facebook.com/pages/Roadtrip62/119235794845685 ,
Pinterest https://www.pinterest.com/roadtrip62/ ,
or Flickr https://www.flickr.com/photos/67972937@N07/page1 .
Author of Roadtrip-'62TM ( https://www.roadtrip62.com/ ), Donald Dale Milne
If you haven’t heard of nor Roadtrip-'62 ™ , my name is Don Milne and I'll be your travel guide on this virtual tour of the U. S. of A. First, I suppose
you're wondering why nor Roadtrip-'62 ™ is different from other travel sites? There's a very simple answer: everybody else travels only in space, but we also
travel in time! That's right, we don't just go somewhere, we also go somewhen. And the when is 1962. We'll try to see what's left today from 1962, by driving as
if it were 1962. We will drive on highways as they were in 1962, try to eat only at restaurants that existed in 1962, try to stay only at motels that existed in 1962,
try to buy gas and sundries, play the music, see only the sites across America, and just generally live in America as it was in 1962!
What we will do is enjoy the FUN of cross-country driving. And the fun of cross-country travel is all the differences from our everyday life! We'll talk
about politics, food, great inventions, how people lived, television, and more. We'll get to see some of the people that made our history; that made this country
great. We'll stumble across unexpected pleasures, like one trip I made through Cherokee, North Carolina where I just happened to be in town as the 1996
Olympic Torch procession came through on it's way to Atlanta, Georgia. You really never know what you'll find when you travel!

7. 1962-style US-23 signs
Now, let's see where we'll be going! We're going to drive the US-numbered routes of 1962. Because we'll be using the roads of 1962, that means we
won't be on freeways very much. There weren't many freeways in 1962, as the country had just begun building the Interstate system,, so we'll travel mostly the
two-lanes through every little town on the way. Sometimes even where there was a freeway, I'll go back on the old road just to see what was there. Anyway, even
if there was a freeway in 1962, it was only there for a couple of years and things had not changed much. Sometimes a "business route" ran through a town on the
old route, because there were no services at the freeway interchanges yet.
Just in case you're asking why 1962, it's because I remember 1962. I traveled on my first freeway as a boy with my dad about that time, and fell in love
with both travel and freeways. But, besides my own memories and the fact that it was a time largely before interstate freeways, 1962 is just cool...wait and see!
And I'm writing this virtual tour just because I like to drive. I like to go places, see things, and just drive for the joy of driving! I decided I want to talk about it, to
share the fun with others. I'll be doing the driving on our Roadtrip-'62 ™, but if you see anything you like, I encourage you to get out on the road and enjoy it in
person. This virtual roadtrip may be fun, but there's nothing like the real thing!