But, TV stations back then didn't yet have the technology currently available today to show the full path or strength of a storm. Hurricane Carla, which formed during the 1961 Atlantic hurricane season, was the first tropical cyclone that forecasters could track all the way to the coast using weather radar. However, as Carla grew over the Gulf of Mexico back in September 1961 and strengthened into a major hurricane, people were slow to evacuate. (NOAA)įor more than 60 years, Hurricane Carla has been the benchmark for landfalling hurricanes in Texas - even the devastating Hurricane Harvey in 2017 failed to match Carla's intensity. A National Weather Service technician monitors Hurricane Carla on a WSR-57 radar on Sept.
