Project Stormfury Established

Date: September 16, 1961 • Location: London, United Kingdom

The U.S. National Hurricane Research Project sought to weaken Hurricane Esther by seeding it with silver iodide, leading to the establishment of Project Stormfury.

The National Hurricane Research Project (NHRP) was initiated in 1955 by the United States Weather Bureau in response to the devastating 1954 hurricane season, which saw hurricanes Carol, Edna, and Hazel bring destruction and flooding to New England and the Mid-Atlantic States. Robert Simpson, a Weather Bureau meteorologist who had participated in Air Force hurricane reconnaissance flights as an observer, was appointed as the first director of NHRP and organized the Research Operations Base at Morrison Air Force Base in West Palm Beach, FL in 1956.