The Lost Tropical Storm

To follow up on James’ post about possible subtropical storm development over the southeastern Gulf of Mexico, from a historical perspective.

If you look at the Monthly Weather Review hurricane season article for 1952, you will only find six named storms (Able, Baker, Charlie, Dog, Easy and Fox). But there was a seventh one, and most unusually, it occurred in February. It is now included in the official records.

The unnamed tropical storm struck South Florida on the evening of February 2nd. The storm formed in the northwestern Caribbean on the 1st, moved across Key West then made landfall near Cape Sable. It passed over Miami early on the 3rd.

It would go on to be a powerful coastal storm along the East Coast, racing northeastward and reaching the Maine coast on the evening of the 4th. Winds were sustained to 59 mph at the Weather Bureau Office in Miami, with gusts to 68 mph. The barometer bottomed out at 29.66 inches there.

It is still the only named tropical cyclone to strike the U.S. in February.

Category: Tropical