1938 Atlantic hurricane season

Infobox hurricane season
Basin=Atl
Year=1938
Track=1938 Atlantic hurricane season summary.jpg
First storm formed=August 8, 1938
Last storm dissipated=November 10, 1938
Strongest storm name=Hurricane Four
Strongest storm pressure=938
Strongest storm winds=140
Average wind speed=
Total depressions=
Total storms=8
Total hurricanes=3
Total intense=1
Fatalities=701
Da

five seasons=1936, 1937, 1938, 1939, 1940 The 1938 Atlantic hurricane season officially began on June 16, 1938, [Associated Press. [http://www.thehurricanearchive.com/Viewer.aspx?
] Retrieved on 2008-06-06.] and lasted until October 31, 1938. [Galveston Daily News. [http://www.thehurricanearchive.com/Viewer.aspx?
] ] These dates conventionally delimit the period of each year when most tropical cyclones form in the Atlantic basin.

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torms

Tropical Storm One

Infobox hurricane small
name=Tropical Storm One
category=storm
type=tropical storm
formed=August 8
dissipated=August 9

---

highest winds=60 mph (110 km/h)
lowest pressure=Unknown pressureThe first storm of the season formed in the area of Antigua in early August and moved generally westward. Falling just short of hurricane strength, Storm One brushed Puerto Rico and made landfall in the Dominican Republic, dissipating over the mountains of Hispaniola. Some of the smaller islands sustained damage but the only other effects were squally weather.

Hurricane Two

Infobox hurricane small
name=Hurricane Two
category=cat2
type=hurricane
formed=August 10
dissipated=August 15

---

highest winds=100 mph (160 km/h)
lowest pressure=Unknown pressureThe first hurricane of the season formed southeast of Barbados on August 9 and moved west-northwest at a high rate of speed, strengthening into a hurricane as it passed south of Jamaica. Becoming a Category 2 storm while southeast of Cozumel, Storm Two nicked the northern tip of the Yucatan peninsula, but caused little effect, perhaps because of the storm's small size. The hurricane curved more to the northwest as it entered the Gulf of Mexico, weakening shortly before it reached the coast. Storm Two made landfall near Cameron, Louisiana as a minimal hurricane, causing moderate flooding of lowlands and $250,000 in damage (1938 dollars, $3.4 million in 2006 dollars). The storm dissipated over east Texas.

Hurricane Three

Infobox hurricane small
name=Hurricane Three
category=cat2
type=hurricane
formed=August 23
dissipated=August 28

---

highest winds=100 mph (160 km/h)
lowest pressure=<979 millibarsThe third storm of the season was discovered as a strengthening tropical storm in the central Caribbean Sea on August 23. The storm became a hurricane shortly after discovery and maintained a steady northwest track, steadily strengthening. Storm Three became a Category 2 storm a day later and maintained that intensity until landfall on the Yucatan peninsula near present-day Tulum. The storm weakened inland to a Category 1 and it began to curve more to the west as it crossed the Gulf of Mexico. Storm Three made landfall as a tropical storm near Ciudad Madero and dissipated inland.

This storm caused tremendous flooding on the Yucatan peninsula and killed nine people.

Hurricane Four

Infobox hurricane small
name=Hurricane Four
category=cat5
type=hurricane
formed=September 10
dissipated=September 21

---

highest winds=160 mph (257 km/h)
lowest pressure=<938 millibarsBy far the most significant hurricane of the 1938 season, Hurricane Four, better known as the New England Hurricane, was a Cape Verde-type hurricane that caused great destruction across the northeastern United States.

The storm formed from an African wave in early September and tracked westward across the Atlantic. At first, the storm was slow to strengthen, remaining a tropical storm for five days during its westward traverse. It finally became a hurricane as it crossed 45W several hundred miles east of the Leeward Islands. The storm continued to steadily strengthen and began to take a more northwesterly course. The "Long Island Express", as it was nicknamed, peaked as a Category 5 hurricane on the Saffir Simpson Hurricane Scale while just east of the Bahamas with winds reaching a sustained convert|160|mi/h|km/h|abbr=on. Following its peak, on September 20, the storm turned due north and accelerated. It made landfall on September 21 with one of the highest forward speeds ever documented for a tropical cyclone.

The hurricane struck central Long Island with sustained winds of convert|115|mi/h|km/h|abbr=on, devastating the island and causing severe damage to other New England states such as Connecticut, Rhode Island and Massachusetts. Nearly 700 people died in the storm (682) and damages came to over $300 million, $4.5 billion in 2007 dollars.

Tropical Storm Five

Infobox hurricane small
name=Tropical Storm Five
category=storm
type=tropical storm
formed=October 11
dissipated=October 17

---

highest winds=60 mph (95 km/h)
lowest pressure=996 millibarsThis storm formed from a disturbance off the north coast of Honduras on October 11 and almost immediately crossed into Belize, heading north up the Yucatan peninsula and into the Gulf of Mexico, where it began to move erratically. In the central Gulf on October 13, it made a rather sudden turn to the east, toward Florida. However, a couple of days later, Storm Five slowed down and began to turn back toward the west northwest, at which time it began to accelerate, weakening along the way. The system finally made landfall along the north Texas coast near Freeport with winds of only convert|40|mi/h|km/h|abbr=on. No significant impact was reported.

Tropical Storm Six

Infobox hurricane small
name=Tropical Storm Six
category=storm
type=tropical storm
formed=October 17
dissipated=October 20

---

highest winds=45 mph (70 km/h)
lowest pressure=Unknown pressureTropical Storm Six was a weak storm that took a somewhat unusual southwesterly course. It formed near Bermuda on the 17th of October, brushing by the island on its afforementioned southwesterly path, on which it remained for the two days. On October 19, it hooked back northeast across the northern Bahamas and dissipated the next afternoon.

Tropical Storm Seven

Infobox hurricane small
name=Tropical Storm Seven
category=storm
type=tropical storm
formed=October 23
dissipated=October 24

---

highest winds=45 mph (70 km/h)
lowest pressure=Unknown pressureForming in the Gulf of Mexico on October 23, the seventh storm of the season took a swift northeasterly course. The winds never rose above convert|45|mi/h|km/h|abbr=on and the storm impacted a remote section of northwestern Florida the next day near modern day Keaton Beach. It moved back over water near the south Georgia coast and became extratropical soon after as it encountered a frontal trough.

Tropical Storm Eight

Infobox hurricane small
name=Tropical Storm Eight
category=storm
type=tropical storm
formed=November 6
dissipated=November 10

---

highest winds=70 mph (110 km/h)
lowest pressure=Unknown pressureThe final storm of the 1938 season formed off the coast of Hispaniola on November 6 and quickly moved onshore near Barahona. The storm continued northwest into the Bahamas, during which time it reached its peak intensity of convert|70|mi/h|km/h|abbr=on; near-hurricane force, before curving back to the southwest while crossing Andros Island. Now in a weakening trend, the storm crossed central Cuba on November 9 and dissipated in the Western Caribbean the following day. No one is reported to have died in the storm and damage to the Caribbean islands is unknown, but the Florida coast suffered $100,000 worth of beach erosion.

See also

*List of tropical cyclones
*List of Atlantic hurricane seasons

References

External links

* [http://www.aoml.noaa.gov/general/lib/lib1/nhclib/mwreviews/1938.pdf Monthly Weather Review]