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Daily Mail
a day ago
- Climate
- Daily Mail
Hurricane Erin's shocking link to one of the darkest days in American history
Storm Erin became the first Atlantic hurricane of the 2025 season, but the name was previously used during one of the darkest days in American history. Satellites of the previous Erin have resurfaced, showing it was poised off the coast of New York City on the same morning as the 9/11 terrorist attacks. As terrorist attacks were unfolding in New York City, the Pentagon and near Shanksville, Pennsylvania on September 11, 2001, a high-pressure system dominated New York City's skies, leaving them bright and clear while Hurricane Erin churned off the eastern coast. Weather satellite images captured both the hurricane and the smoke rising from Ground Zero, where the Twin Towers once stood. Prevailing north-to-south winds carried the smoke downward, linking the two events in a haunting snapshot. Forecasters predict the current Hurricane Erin, which formed on Friday, will stay well offshore as it passes the Bahamas early next week, with South Florida expected to see no direct impact. Erin, which has been gathering strength in the Atlantic all week, is projected to become a Category 4 storm by Monday at the latest as it approaches Bermuda. The hurricane is expected to turn northward before approaching the US coastline. The current storm's path offers a striking echo of history, recalling how the original Hurricane Erin lingered offshore during one of the nation's darkest mornings. A trough in the upper atmosphere steered the previous Hurricane Erin, which was advancing toward the East Coast, out to sea. By 5:00am on September 11, the storm was located roughly 500 miles off the coast of New York City. With the storm so far out at sea, it was the perfect, cloudless sky over the East Coast. There were no weather delays at Boston, Newark and Dulles airports where the hijacked planes took off. September 11 is discussed in Dr Joel N. Myers' book 'Invisible Iceberg: When Climate and Weather Changed History,' where he writes: 'There was a hurricane out in the Atlantic and a cold front had just gone through, it forced the hurricane to not come into New York, but out to sea... it makes you wonder if the attackers... studied the weather pattern. 'The weather played a role... It was clear where all 4 planes took off... so there was nothing that would cause... hours of delays.' Hurricane Erin never posed a landfall threat to the East Coast, as a cold front and stronger westerly winds aloft pushed the storm east and then northeast. However, Erin did generate large swells that eventually reached the coastline, which is what meteorologists have predicted with the current hurricane. The current storm is set to reach a Category 4 by Monday at the latest as it approaches Bermuda, which is when the US East Coast should start feeling its effects. Meteorologists said the first states Erin would likely hit are North Carolina and Virginia, where beachfront properties could be at risk. Rough surf, rip currents, coastal flooding, and beach erosion are all expected to be issues for residents and vacationers in the area as soon as Monday or Tuesday. As the storm moves over cooler ocean waters and encounters stronger wind shears, Erin is expected to drop to Category 2 strength as it travels along the New England coast next Thursday and Friday, with winds between 96 and 110 mph. Cooler water provides less energy for hurricanes, and wind shear can disrupt their structure, reducing their overall strength. However, states like Maine, New Hampshire, and Massachusetts are still projected to see heavy rain and wind later next week. 'North Carolina's Outer Banks, Long Island, New York, and Cape Cod, Massachusetts face a higher risk of direct and potentially severe tropical storm or hurricane conditions than much of the southern Atlantic, mid-Atlantic and northern New England coasts,' AccuWeather meteorologists said.
CBS News
3 days ago
- General
- CBS News
Newark Airport donating gate sign to Flight 93 National Memorial in Pennsylvania
The sign that marked the gate number for United Flight 93 at Newark Airport is getting a permanent home in Shanksville, Pennsylvania, where the plane crashed. This comes less than a month before we mark 24 years since the 9/11 terrorist attacks. Just before the North Tower was struck at 8:42 a.m., United Flight 93 out of Newark Airport's Gate A17 took off for San Francisco. About 45 minutes in, it was hijacked, believed to have been pivoted towards the White House. A group of passengers, having already known about the World Trade Center attacks, quickly plotted to regain control of the cockpit, which ultimately led it to crash into a field in Pennsylvania, killing all 40 passengers and crew members on board. "Common citizens right underneath this gate who thought they were gonna go about their ordinary day transformed into extraordinary heroes," said Adam Shaffer, the National Park Service's chief of interpretation, education and visitor experience. "What those numbers and letters reflect to us is such a powerful impact to what the human soul and condition for survival and preventing death and destruction of others," said Chief Thomas Wieczerzak with Newark Airport Aircraft Rescue and Firefighting. Port Authority lost 84 of its employees on 9/11, more than 30 of which were members of its police department. In 2002, Newark International Airport was renamed Newark Liberty International Airport in honor of those who died. The Gate A17 sign has been kept at the Port Authority administrative building since the construction of Newark Airport's new Terminal A. Port Authority is now donating the sign to the Flight 93 National Memorial. "Some of our employees are a little bit choked up this morning about the sign leaving. Its meaning is gonna stay with us forever," said Jon Gooda, United Airlines' vice president of Newark Airport operations. The sign will educate future generations of Flight 93 National Memorial visitors. "We need to remember every bit of it, every person's story from that day. And this is what's doing that," Wieczerzak said. The National Parks Service is still determining where and when exactly the sign will be displayed at the memorial.
Fox News
26-05-2025
- Politics
- Fox News
Viral video of Biden wearing Trump hat reportedly left Kamala Harris fuming
Former Vice President Kamala Harris was angry over former President Biden donning a Trump 2024 hat during an event in September 2024, which quickly went viral on social media at the time, according to Jake Tapper and Alex Thompson's new book. "What is he doing?" the former vice president asked her team in response to the video, according to the book. "This is completely unhelpful. And so unnecessary." A video of the former president donning a Trump 2024 hat went viral in September 2024. A video of Biden at the Shanksville Fire Station in Pennsylvania showed the president taking the Trump 2024 campaign hat from a Trump supporter and putting it on top of his own hat, in what the White House said at the time was a friendly gesture of unity. According to the book, "Original Sin: President Biden's Decline, Its Cover-up, and His Disastrous Choice to Run Again," that was the last time Harris would do a public event with Biden prior to the election. "But it was not the last time that Biden did something unhelpful," the authors wrote. The former president also called Trump supporters "garbage" during a campaign call for Harris. "Donald Trump has no character. He doesn't give a damn about the Latino community," Biden said. "Just the other day, a speaker at his rally called Puerto Rico a floating island of garbage. "The only garbage I see floating out there is his supporters. His demonization of Latinos is unconscionable, and it's un-American," the former president said. Harris attempted to distance herself from the remarks. "I strongly disagree with any criticism of people based on who they vote for," Harris said. "You heard my speech last night and continuously throughout my career. I believe that the work that I do is about representing all the people, whether they support me or not." The book also revealed that the former president recorded several 2024 campaign videos that were ultimately deemed "unusable" due to his missteps. In one case, Biden's team sought to film a video for the campaign for ads on television in a high school gym where people could ask questions like they would at a town hall meeting. "The campaign was trying to make it look like the president was out there taking off-the-cuff questions from voters in public," the book said. "But the event was closed to reporters, and the campaign had the full list of questions that people would ask." However, Biden had so much "trouble" getting through the questions that his team decided to scrap the footage. While some attributed challenges to poor lighting in the gym, the book said that others identified Biden as the real problem.
Daily Mail
20-05-2025
- Politics
- Daily Mail
Exact moment of Kamala Harris' blistering split with Joe Biden revealed in bombshell new book
was furious after Joe Biden put on a hat endorsing Donald Trump for president during her presidential campaign. A new book by CNN 's Jake Tapper and Axios' Alex Thompson details the struggles the Biden-Harris team had with each other as Biden dropped out of the 2024 presidential campaign and ultimately endorsed Harris to take his place After Biden dropped out of the race in July, the Harris campaign distanced themself from the president even as he was anxious to get on the road and help her win according to Original Sin: President Biden's Decline, Its Cover-Up, and His Disastrous Choice to Run Again. But one event in particular reportedly incensed Harris and her team who were running neck and neck with former President Trump in the latter part of the campaign. Biden met with a group of volunteer firefighters as part of his presidential duties during a commemoration of the 9/11 terror attacks in Shanksville, Pennsylvania. The president got into a conversation with an elderly man wearing a Trump 2024 hat and autographed the hat when he was asked. When someone in the hat shouted that Biden should put on the hat, he obliged, earning applause and cheers from the crowd. The Trump team couldn't believe it. 'Thanks for the support, Joe!' the Trump campaign playfully wrote on social media, sharing photos of the moment. 'What is he doing?' Harris asked her team, according to the book. 'This is completely unhelpful. And so unnecessary.' The Harris campaign decided they would no longer campaign with Biden in the future, as they were trying to emphasize her leadership qualities and push the president into the background. No matter how hard they tried to sideline Biden, he continued making news that the Harris campaign considered unhelpful. In October, Biden told supporters 'we got to lock him up,' when talking about former President Donald Trump, at a time when Trump and his supporters were accusing Biden and Harris of 'lawfare' to remove him from the presidential race. Later that month, Biden also referred to President Trump's supporters as 'garbage,' which the campaign famously branded as an insult to working class Americans. 'That's terrible. Remember Hillary? She said 'deplorable.' And then she said 'irredeemable,' right?…' Trump asked at a rally as he paraded into the event in a Trump brand garbage truck. 'That didn't work out. 'Garbage' I think is worse, right?' The Harris team struggled mightily with Biden from the very beginning of the race. When Biden made his decision to drop out of his reelection campaign he told Harris he wanted to wait a week before endorsing his vice president. The president phoned Harris to inform her of his decision and said he wanted Harris to run in his place. But when the president's team emailed her a draft of Biden's planned statement, she grew alarmed after it contained no endorsement of her for president, Tapper and Thompson write. According to the book, Harris spoke with Biden to express her concern, but the president explained he wanted to wait to endorse her until his official announcement in the Oval Office the following week. The president's aides Mike Donilon and Steve Ricchetti reportedly explained they and the president wanted Biden's statement to stand on its own. But Harris wouldn't budge. 'That open airtime will be filled with speculation about why you're not endorsing your own vice president. It will cripple our ability to get off to a strong start,' she told Biden. They later conceded to Harris' wishes. Biden would announce his departure from the race and he would endorse Harris in a separate statement later in the afternoon. Twenty-seven minutes after Biden dropped his bombshell announcement he followed up by endorsing Harris. 'My very first decision as the party nominee in 2020 was to pick Kamala Harris as my Vice President. And it's been the best decision I've made. Today I want to offer my full support and endorsement for Kamala to be the nominee of our party this year,' he wrote. Even though Biden endorsed Harris, there were many on his team who did not think she could actually win, the book notes. Harris was notoriously protective of her personal political brand and frequently turned down requests from the president's team to assist the president. Original Sin confirms Harris was distrustful of the president's team as she felt they were setting her up for failure by assigning her politically toxic issues for her to handle such as the migrant crisis.
