1976 Atlantic hurricane season

No named storms in the Caribbean or Gulf

The National Hurricane Center named eight storms in 1976, six of them hurricanes, and identified three subtropical storms. Against a 30-year average of nine storms and six hurricanes, that made a near-normal year, with 26 hurricane days for the second year running. Mid-season sea temperatures were near or above normal where the storms formed, and each first developed where mean vertical shear was below 10 kt.

No named storm formed in either the Caribbean Sea or the Gulf of Mexico, which the NHC found had happened only once before since 1900, in 1962. Its review pointed to a patch of shear above 10 kt over the western Caribbean, storms east of the Antilles turning north before they reached the Caribbean, and cold air pushing into the Gulf early in the autumn.

The site counts 10 tropical storms, the eight named storms plus two subtropical storms that never became tropical, and 6 hurricanes and 2 major hurricanes. Accumulated cyclone energy comes to 84.2. The current best track gives the same 10 nameable storms, six hurricanes and two majors.

A May subtropical storm, Anna and Dottie

The first subtropical storm formed over the central Gulf of Mexico on 21 May, strengthened as a trough approached and crossed north Florida and southwest Georgia on 23 May with winds up to 45 kt. It raised tides of 1 to 2 feet from Tampa to Pensacola and dropped 5 inches of rain at Charleston. It spawned nine tornadoes in Florida and caused about $628,000 in damage in 1976 dollars.

Tropical Storm Anna began as a subtropical storm southeast of Bermuda in late July and turned tropical on 30 July about 1,000 nautical miles southwest of the Azores. Tropical Storm Dottie formed near Key West on 18 August, crossed South Florida and reached its 45 kt peak off Daytona Beach. High winds aloft weakened it, and it came ashore near Charleston on 20 August barely at storm strength. Four people died when a fishing boat sank near the Grand Bahama Bank on 19 August.

Hurricane Belle weakens before Long Island

Belle became a depression about 250 nautical miles east-northeast of Nassau on 6 August, became a hurricane on 7 August and turned north. It peaked early on 9 August at 105 kt and 957 mb off the Carolinas. NOAA aircraft measured spot winds of 130 kt near 700 mb, which forecasters did not treat as surface winds. Warnings eventually covered much of the coast from North Carolina to Maine, and advisories warned of tides of 12 to 15 feet in some bays near the center.

Belle then weakened for almost 24 hours as it moved north at under 25 kt over colder water north of the Gulf Stream. It came ashore near Jones Beach on western Long Island at 05 UTC on 10 August with estimated sustained winds of 65 kt and a pressure near 980 mb, a minimal hurricane. Tides ran about 3 feet above normal over much of the area, with 4.5 feet at the Battery in Manhattan. The NHC warned that people who judged hurricanes by Belle alone could grow complacent.

The NHC estimated that nearly half a million people evacuated, including about 250,000 along the New Jersey shore. It counted five storm-related deaths: two drownings in Vermont when a footbridge washed away, and one traffic death each in Connecticut and at Norfolk, Virginia, plus one from a falling tree in New York. U.S. damage came to about $100 million in 1976 dollars, mostly crops in the Northeast. Other totals give 12 deaths between the Carolinas and New England.

Emmy and Frances turn east at low latitude

In August a deep trough sat over the eastern north Atlantic, tied to a blocking ridge over western Europe during that summer's drought; the NHC cited a finding that the anomaly had no precedent in analyses back to 1948. Westerlies reached unusually far south. Hurricane Emmy, formed 1,000 nautical miles east of the Lesser Antilles, turned east as a hurricane on 25 August at a latitude the NHC called unprecedented for that time of year. It peaked at 90 kt and 974 mb on 29 August and crossed the central Azores on 2 September.

A Venezuelan Air Force plane carrying a school choir to Europe crashed while landing at Lajes in the Azores during Emmy, killing 68 people. Hurricane Frances followed the trough Emmy left behind, recurved south of 30°N and peaked at 100 kt and 963 mb on 1 September. It then weakened toward the Azores, absorbed what remained of Emmy and lost its tropical traits by 4 September. The NHC reported no damage or casualties from Frances.

Hurricane Candice formed from a cold low west of Bermuda on 18 August and peaked at 80 kt and 964 mb on 22 August before a cold front overtook it east of Cape Race. Hurricane Gloria formed northeast of the Leeward Islands on 26 September and reached 90 kt southeast of Bermuda before turning away. Hurricane Holly, the last storm, held hurricane strength for about 24 hours near 25°N, 58°W on 24 October. None of the three caused known damage. A subtropical storm in mid-September crossed the coast just below Charleston with gusts near 50 kt and 3 to 6 inches of rain.