1990 Atlantic hurricane season

Many storms, few strong ones

Lixion Avila of the National Hurricane Center counted 14 named storms and 8 hurricanes in 1990, above the 50-year averages of 9.6 tropical storms and 5.6 hurricanes he cited. The site's archive gives the same 14 tropical storms and 8 hurricanes, with accumulated cyclone energy of 96.8. That sits only just above the long-term mean despite the high storm count, because most of the storms were short-lived and modest. Only Gustav reached major hurricane strength, and no storm reached Category 5.

Forecasters had expected an active year. Colorado State University had called for 11 named storms, 7 hurricanes and 3 major hurricanes in June, so the season beat the storm and hurricane counts but fell short on major hurricanes.

A record count of African waves

Avila's census tracked 76 tropical waves moving off Africa in 1990, the most since wave counts began in 1967, or one wave passing a given longitude about every 2.9 days. He attributed part of that rise to better analysis, including more African upper-air stations and wider use of Meteosat imagery, and found that wave totals tracked poorly with storm totals from year to year. Dust carried with the waves stayed low, a finding he confirmed with measurements taken at Barbados.

Ten of the 14 named storms grew from African waves. Bertha, Edouard, Lili and Marco came from disturbances of frontal or cold-low origin, the most such storms since 1984. With a ratio of 0.71, 1990 still qualified as what Avila called an African year. The same waves crossed into the eastern Pacific and seeded every tropical cyclone there; the wave behind Tropical Storm Fran later triggered Hurricane Kenna in the Pacific.

A July and August burst

The first tropical depression formed west of Jamaica on 24 May, a week before the official start of the season. It crossed Cuba and was absorbed by a front over the Florida Keys on 26 May. Up to 6.20 inches of rain fell in Everglades National Park, and flooded roads in Dade County saw 28 traffic accidents. Nothing else formed until 22 July.

Six named storms followed within about three weeks. Tropical Storm Arthur crossed Tobago on 25 July, causing landslides and a bridge collapse. Hurricane Bertha began as a subtropical depression off Cape Hatteras, became the season's first hurricane on 29 July and turned extratropical over Nova Scotia on 2 August. Bertha caused nine deaths, six of them crew of the Greek freighter Corazon lost off the Canadian coast, and $3.9 million in Canadian damage in 1990 US dollars. Tropical Storms Cesar, Edouard and Fran followed; Edouard brought gusty winds to the Azores and Fran came ashore on Trinidad at minimal strength.

Hurricane Diana in eastern Mexico

Diana formed in the southwest Caribbean on 4 August and crossed the Yucatán Peninsula as a tropical storm with winds near 65 mph. Over the Gulf of Mexico it strengthened fast. The current best track peaks it at 100 mph, Category 2, on 7 August and brings it ashore near Tampico two hours later at that strength; the archive records its peak as 85 kt. It weakened to a depression near Mexico City and dissipated near the Gulf of California.

Rain did most of the harm. Mudslides struck Hidalgo and Veracruz and left about 3,500 people homeless. Avila's NHC summary states that Diana reportedly killed 96 people in Veracruz. Contemporary reports gave 139 deaths and 25,000 injuries in Mexico, with damage of $90.7 million in 1990 dollars. The WMO retired the name Diana after the season.

Gustav and the open-ocean hurricanes

Gustav developed from a tropical wave about 965 miles east of Barbados on 24 August and passed some 205 miles east of the Lesser Antilles on 27 August as a Category 2 hurricane. After a spell of shear, it reached its archive peak of 105 kt and 956 hPa at 06 UTC on 31 August, about 450 miles east of Bermuda. Its circulation drew nearby Tropical Storm Hortense into a counterclockwise loop and sheared it apart. Gustav turned extratropical on 3 September; its main effects were swells in the Lesser Antilles and a damaged hull on the Egyptian ship Raseltin.

Hurricane Isidore formed on 4 September at 7.2°N, the southernmost Atlantic tropical cyclone formation on record, and peaked at 85 kt in the archive before stalling for days in the central Atlantic. Tropical Depression Eleven came close to storm strength in mid-September before shear pulled it apart. Hurricane Josephine lasted from 21 September to 6 October, the longest record of the year, and took nearly two weeks to become a hurricane. A cold low left over from Josephine became Hurricane Lili, which the archive counts as tropical from 11 October.

Klaus, Marco and an October near miss

Hurricane Klaus formed east of Dominica on 3 October and passed about 12 miles east of Barbuda as a brief hurricane on 5 October. Flooding killed seven people in Martinique and displaced 1,500, and Klaus caused 11 deaths overall. The WMO retired the name Klaus alongside Diana.

A low that absorbed Klaus near the Bahamas became Tropical Storm Marco over Cuba on 9 October. Marco hugged Florida's west coast and weakened to a depression before landfall near Cedar Key on 12 October. Its rain combined with moisture from Klaus and a front; 19.89 inches fell near Louisville, Georgia, and a dam failed in South Carolina. Avila's NHC summary calls Marco the only tropical cyclone to affect the United States coast in 1990 and blames it for 7 deaths and $57 million in damage in 1990 dollars. Counting Marco's merged remnants, other totals reach 12 deaths with the same damage figure.

Hurricane Lili drew hurricane watches from South Carolina to Delaware in mid-October because some models kept it heading for the coast. It turned north and caused only minor erosion in North Carolina. Hurricane Nana, a small storm near Bermuda, ended the season on 21 October.