Online Encyclopedia
List of notable tropical cyclones
This is a list of notable tropical cyclones in chronological order, subdivided by basin and reason for notability. It does not include tropical storms which may have caused destructive inland flooding, but whose names are not retired for that reason alone; the sole exception is Tropical Storm Allison, which caused so much flood damage that its name was retired.
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North Atlantic Basin
Retired names
North Atlantic hurricane names are retired due to the notoriety of the storm to which they are attached. See tropical cyclone#Naming_of_tropical_cyclones.
- Hazel, 1954 - killed 1,000 in Haiti, caused heavy damage in the Carolinas and Canada.
- Connie, 1955 - caused extensive flooding in New England.
- Diane, 1955 - struck the same area five days after Connie, and the two storms killed over 400.
- Ione, 1955 - third storm to strike the same area, causing further damage to North Carolina.
- Janet† 1955 - struck Grenada and Belize, killing over 500.
- Audrey, 1957 - killed 390 in Texas and Louisiana.
- Gracie, 1959 - killed 22 in South Carolina, Virginia and Georgia.
- Donna, 1960 - impacted every U.S. state on the east coast, killing 50 and causing $1 billion damage.
- Carla, 1961 - large hurricane that caused damage in Texas as far inland as Dallas.
- Hattie, 1961 - hit British Honduras, destroying [[Belize City] and killing 400.
- Flora, 1963 - killed over 7,000 people in Haiti and Cuba.
- Cleo, 1964 - killed over 150 in the Caribbean, then struck Miami, Florida.
- Dora, 1964 - only hurricane on record to strike Jacksonville, Florida.
- Hilda, 1964 - damaged New Orleans, Louisiana, killed 38.
- Betsy, 1965 - caused $1.42 billion ($8 billion in 2000 dollars) damage and killed 76 in Louisiana.
- Inez, 1966 - killed 300 in Jamaica, Haiti, Cuba and Mexico.
- Beulah, 1967 - dropped almost 30 inches of rain on Beeville, Texas.
- Camille†, 1969 - one of the strongest storms ever recorded, killed 143 along the U.S. Gulf coast.
- Celia, 1970 - killed 20 people after hitting Corpus Christi, Texas.
- Agnes, 1972 - caused flooding that killed 122 in the United States and $3.1 billion damage.
- Carmen, 1974 - caused $150 million damage in the United States.
- Fifi, 1974 - killed 8,000 in Honduras.
- Eloise, 1975 - killed 76 from Hispaniola to Florida and northwards.
- Anita, 1977 - struck Mexico near the Texas border, killing 10.
- David , 1979
- Frederic, 1979 - caused from $1 to $3 billion damage on the U.S. Gulf coast.
- Allen, 1980 - one of the strongest hurricanes ever, spawned a tornado that alone caused $100 million damage.
- Alicia, 1983 - struck Galveston, Texas then Houston, killing 22 and causing $2 billion damage.
- Elena, 1985 - caused $1.25 billion damage in Florida and Mississippi.
- Gloria, 1985 - hit New York's Long Island, among other areas, causing $900 million damage.
- Gilbert†, 1988 - strongest hurricane ever recorded, killed 318 and caused $5 billion damage.
- Joan, 1988 - killed 148 in Nicaragua and 68 in other nations.
- Hugo, 1989 - caused $7 billion damage and killed up to 56 in the Carolinas.
- Diana, 1990 - killed 96 in Mexico.
- Klaus, 1990 - a weak storm that burst a dam in Georgia, killing 4.
- Bob, 1991 - struck New England and the Canadian Maritimes, killing 18.
- Andrew†, 1992 - costliest American natural disaster ever at $26.5 billion and over 23 deaths.
- Luis, 1995 - damaged the British Virgin Islands, Barbuda, and St. Martin.
- Marilyn, 1995 - caused much damage to St. Thomas.
- Opal, 1995 - killed 59 in Guatemala, Mexico and the United States, causing $3 billion damage.
- Roxanne, 1995 - hit same area of Mexico as Opal, killing 14 and causing $1.5 billion damage.
- Cesar, 1996 - flooded Central America.
- Fran, 1996 - killed 26 and caused $3.2 billion damage after striking Cape Fear, North Carolina.
- Hortense, 1996 - killed 21 from floods.
- Georges, 1998 - killed 533 in Hispaniola, caused $5.9 billion damage in the United States.
- Mitch, 1998 - killed about 11,000 in Honduras and neighboring countries, more than any storm in over 200 years.
- Floyd, 1999 - flooded eastern North Carolina, killing 77 in multiple states and causing $6 billion damage.
- Lenny, 1999 - killed 17 in the Lesser Antilles.
- Keith, 2000 - killed 70 in Central America.
- Allison‡, 2001 - flooded Texas and caused $5 billion damage and 41 deaths.
- Iris, 2001 - devastated Belize.
- Michelle, 2001 - killed 17 in Honduras, Belize, Cuba and Jamaica.
- Isidore, 2002 - killed 7 and caused $330 million damage over Yucatan and the United States.
- Lili, 2002 - killed 13 in the Caribbean and caused $860 million damage to the United States.
- Fabian, 2003 - did serious damage to Bermuda, killing 8
- Isabel, 2003 - a large storm that hit Washington, D.C. and other northeast areas.
- Juan, 2003 - first strong hurricane to hit Halifax, Nova Scotia in over 100 years.
In addition, Charley, Frances, Ivan, and Jeanne of 2004 are likely to be retired by the WMO in early 2005, and should any more major landfalling hurricanes form in 2004 and have their names retired, a record would be broken for most hurricane names retired in one season (currently four, set in 1955 and 1995).
Unnamed but historically significant
- The Great Colonial Hurricane of 1635 - First recorded hurricane to hit New England
- The Great Hurricane of 1780 - Deadliest Atlantic hurricane on record.
- The Great September Gale of 1815
- Galveston Hurricane of 1900 - Deadliest natural disaster in American history.
- The Great August Gale - A surprise hurricane which struck Canada.
- Labor Day Hurricane of 1935† - struck the Florida Keys, strongest storm to ever hit the United States.
- The Great New England Hurricane of 1938 - Killed 600.
- 1943 Surprise Hurricane - First intentional flight into a hurricane
- The Perfect Storm of 1991
Longest-lived Atlantic tropical cyclones
Six storms have lived longer than twenty days:
- Hurricane Ginger in September 1971 lasted 27.25 days.
- Hurricane Inga in September 1969 lasted 24.75 days.
- Hurricane Kyle in October 2002 lasted 22 days.
- Hurricane Carrie in September 1957 and Storm 9 of 1893 in September 1893 lasted 20.75 days.
- Hurricane Inez in September 1966 lasted 20.25 days.
Canadian Hurricanes
- Hurricane Juan, 2003
- The Perfect Storm, 1991
- Hurricane Hazel, 1954
- Great August Gale , 1934
Others
- Tropical Storm Ana - First North Atlantic tropical system ever recorded to develop in April (2003).
- Tropical Storm Odette - First tropical system to develop in December (2003) in 115 years.
- Tropical Storm Peter - Second tropical system to develop in December (2003) in 115 years.
South Atlantic
- Catarina, 2004 - first positively observed hurricane in the south Atlantic Ocean
Eastern Pacific
Longest-lived Eastern Pacific Tropical Cyclone
- Hurricane John 1994
Western Pacific
Named
Unnamed
- The Great Hong Kong Typhoon , 1937
- The Typhoon of 1944 , 17-18 December, three US destroyers lost
Australian Hurricanes
Notes
†: a very severe hurricane (category 5 at landfall on the Saffir-Simpson Hurricane Scale)
‡: a tropical storm, not a hurricane