The town was again destroyed in 1902, when the volcanoMount Pelée erupted, killing 28,000 people. The entire population of the town, as well as people from neighboring villages who had taken refuge in the supposedly safe city, died, except for three people—a young girl, Havivra da Ifrile, a prisoner by the name of Louis-Auguste Cyparis (known also by various other names), who later toured the world with the Barnum and Bailey Circus, and Léon Compère-Léandre, who lived at the edge of the city.[4][5][6]
Legend has it that the town's doom was forecast by loud groaning noises from within the volcano, but the mayor of the town had it blocked off to prevent people from leaving during an election. This story appears to have originated with one of the island's newspapers,[which?] published by a political opponent of the governor. Actually, there was considerable eruptive activity in the two weeks prior to the fatal blast, but since the phenomenon of the pyroclastic flow (French: nuée ardente) was not yet understood, the danger was perceived to be from lava flows, which, it was believed, would be stopped by two valleys between the volcano and the city.
Climate
Temperature record
On 6 October 2010, Saint-Pierre recorded a temperature of 36.5 °C (97.7 °F), which is the highest temperature to have ever been recorded in Martinique.[7]
Climate data of Saint-Pierre
Saint-Pierre has a tropical monsoon climate (Köppen climate classificationAm). The average annual temperature in Saint-Pierre is 27.3 °C (81.1 °F). The average annual rainfall is 1,864.6 mm (73.41 in) with August as the wettest month. The temperatures are highest on average in August, at around 28.3 °C (82.9 °F), and lowest in January, at around 25.7 °C (78.3 °F). The highest temperature ever recorded in Saint-Pierre was 36.5 °C (97.7 °F) on 6 October 2010; the coldest temperature ever recorded was 18.5 °C (65.3 °F) on 3 February 2005.
Climate data for Saint-Pierre (1991–2020 averages, extremes 2004−present)
Georges Hébert (1875–1957), French naval officer who witnessed the destruction by the volcano on the island in 1902, and went on to develop a physical training method from his experience