1971 Atlantic hurricane season

Storms born north of 25°N

The National Hurricane Center's review for 1971 listed 12 named storms and five hurricanes, and noted that seven of the named storms formed north of 25°N. From 6 to 14 September a band of convection stretched from the Gulf of Mexico into the central Atlantic, resembling an intertropical convergence zone displaced far to the north. It seeded three of the four named storms active on 12 September. At 200 mb, air streamed out of South America across the Caribbean, the reverse of the usual September flow, and the Caribbean and the true convergence zone stayed nearly cloud-free.

Forecasters linked the empty June to higher than normal mid-level heights over the main development areas. In August the subtropical ridge shifted north, and three named storms plus two strong unnamed systems formed just east of a trough over the eastern United States. That pattern flipped in early September. The review also pointed out that for five years running no significant hurricane had developed east of the Lesser Antilles.

The site counts 13 tropical storms, 6 hurricanes and 2 major hurricanes, with accumulated cyclone energy of 116.5. Its count includes an unnamed August storm that the NHC left off its 1971 list and later added to the database. The current best track counts 14 named storms, adding an August system over Florida that the site's archive track keeps below storm strength, and it names Edith and Ginger as the majors; in the site's one-minute winds Ginger peaks at 95 kt, and Irene's 100 kt peak, reached after it crossed into the Pacific as Olivia, supplies the second major.

A hurricane at 44°N and Doria's East Coast floods

Tropical Storm Arlene formed from a frontal wave off North Carolina on 4 July and peaked at 55 kt before losing its tropical traits east of Newfoundland. In early August an unnamed storm raced northeast from near Bermuda. On a drilling rig about 200 nautical miles off southeastern Newfoundland, the pressure fell to 974 mb and an anemometer 325 feet up recorded 78 kt with gusts to 110 kt. The NHC declined to classify it because the air was warmer than the sea, with no rain or convection at the center. The best track now carries it as a 75 kt hurricane, and no Atlantic storm on record has become a hurricane farther north.

Hurricane Beth grew from an upper low off Florida and peaked at 75 kt and 977 mb east of Cape Cod on 15 August. It came ashore near Copper Lake, Nova Scotia, the next afternoon after weakening. Nearly 10 inches of rain fell at Halifax, washing out roads and bridges. The NHC review put Nova Scotia damage at $3.5 million in 1971 dollars with no deaths; other estimates run up to $5.1 million and add one indirect death in a rain-related traffic accident.

Tropical Storm Chloe crossed the Windward Islands as a depression, peaked at 55 kt in the eastern Caribbean, and reached British Honduras as a depression on 25 August. Its remnants seeded Hurricane Lily in the eastern Pacific. Tropical Storm Doria did far more harm without reaching hurricane strength. It came ashore near Morehead City, North Carolina, on 27 August at its lowest pressure of 989 mb, then tracked up the coast into New England. Eight to 10 inches of rain fell in parts of Maryland, Delaware, New Jersey and southeastern New York. The NHC put damage at $147.35 million in 1971 dollars and counted six deaths: three in New Jersey and one each in Virginia, Massachusetts and Pennsylvania.

Hurricane Edith's three landfalls

Edith began as a small cloud mass within the convergence zone near 12°N, 35°W and became a depression near 11.5°N on 5 September, farther south and east than most September Caribbean storms. Two fishermen were lost at sea as it passed Aruba on 7 September. A narrow ridge kept it on a westward course, and its pressure fell from 960 mb to 943 mb in six hours as it neared Cape Gracias a Dios on 9 September. A reconnaissance plane measured 140 kt just before the center reached the coast at midday, and the crew reported turbulence that threatened the aircraft. The eye shrank at times to 5 miles across.

The NHC confirmed 28 deaths and 1,876 people left homeless around Cape Gracias, noting unconfirmed reports of a higher toll. Edith then crossed Honduras, British Honduras and the Yucatan, stalled off Soto la Marina, Mexico, and turned northeast. It regained hurricane strength and made its third landfall about 25 nautical miles east of Cameron, Louisiana, early on 16 September, with sustained winds of 60 kt measured at Cameron.

A rain band ahead of the center spawned tornadoes in southern Louisiana and Mississippi, one of which cut a 7-mile path through Baton Rouge. Storm tides reached 8 feet above normal near landfall. The NHC estimated U.S. damage at $25 million in 1971 dollars, mostly Louisiana crop losses, and attributed no U.S. deaths to Edith. That reconnaissance reading would meet today's Category 5 threshold of 137 kt, but the reanalyzed best track the site uses peaks at 130 kt, Category 4.

Fern's loops, Ginger's month and Irene's crossing

Hurricane Fern started as a depression that moved inland over southern Louisiana on 4 September, drifted back into the western Gulf and turned into a hurricane there, peaking at 80 kt. It changed heading by 90 degrees or more three times, then edged ashore between Freeport and Matagorda, Texas, on 10 September and crawled past Corpus Christi. Rain of 15 to 26 inches fell in Bee, Refugio and San Patricio counties, flooding the Nueces and other rivers. The NHC put damage at $30.23 million in 1971 dollars and recorded two drownings.

Hurricane Ginger formed from an upper low on 5 September and wandered the subtropics for the rest of the month, first northeast, then in a slow loop and then west, passing about 100 nautical miles south of Bermuda on 23 September. The NHC tracked it for 31 days, 20 of them as a hurricane, the longest life then on record. Its eye sometimes spanned 80 miles. Project Stormfury seeded it on 26 and 28 September, the fourth hurricane ever used in the experiments. Ginger came ashore near Morehead City on 30 September with 65 kt winds, and 10 to 13 inches of rain fell in east-central North Carolina. The NHC estimated $10 million in North Carolina damage and no deaths.

Hurricane Irene crept along the South American coast, crossed Curaçao as a depression and strengthened in the western Caribbean, becoming a hurricane on 18 September. It was the first hurricane to strike Nicaragua south of Bluefields since 1911. Its remnants crossed into the Pacific on 20 September and regenerated as Olivia, which the site carries on the same track and which reached 100 kt. Tropical Storm Heidi reached the Maine coast below gale force on 14 September, and Tropical Storm Janice faded in the shear around Ginger.

Kristy and Laura close the year

Tropical Storm Kristy formed northeast of Puerto Rico on 18 October and was named as a ship recorded 997 mb, but a cold front absorbed it within a day, and it crossed the western Azores as a frontal wave. Tropical Storm Laura formed north of Panama in mid-November, looped near western Cuba, where it peaked near 60 kt, and came ashore near Punta Gorda, British Honduras, on 21 November. The NHC table lists one death in Cuba from Laura.