hurricanesmapped

NORTH ATLANTIC · SEASON MAP

1997 Atlantic hurricane season

Every recorded track, mapped · 9 storms · 31 May 1997–17 Oct 1997

ACCUMULATED CYCLONE ENERGY40.9
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1997 Atlantic hurricane season: every recorded storm trackRecorded tracks of all 9 storms, colored by the wind category at each observation. Hover or focus a storm in the table to highlight its track.UNITED STATESCANADAMEXICOCUBABRAZILAFRICAEUROPECHINAJAPANINDIAGulf of MexicoAtlantic OceanPacific OceanArabian SeaBay of BengalUnnamed: 31 May–2 Jun, no US-agency windAna: 30 Jun–4 Jul, peak 40 kt, Tropical stormBill: 11 Jul–13 Jul, peak 65 kt, Category 1Claudette: 13 Jul–16 Jul, peak 40 kt, Tropical stormDanny: 16 Jul–26 Jul, peak 70 kt, Category 1Unnamed: 17 Jul–19 Jul, peak 30 kt, Tropical depressionErika: 3 Sep–15 Sep, peak 110 kt, Category 3Fabian: 4 Oct–8 Oct, peak 35 kt, Tropical stormGrace: 14 Oct–17 Oct, peak 40 kt, Tropical storm

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Whole season

DepressionTropical stormCat 1Cat 2Cat 3Cat 4Cat 5Post-tropical
Every storm of the 1997 Atlantic hurricane season. Column headers sort the list.
Unnamed–—Unclassified—950
Ana–40Tropical storm10001,170
Bill–65Cat 19861,150
Claudette–40Tropical storm1003960
Danny–70Cat 19842,530
Unnamed–30Tropical depression1008530
Erika–110Cat 39464,630
Fabian–35Tropical storm1004980
Grace–40Tropical storm9991,350

9 storms with an IBTrACS 1997 hurricane season record. Tracks are the archived center positions, first observation 31 May 1997, last 17 Oct 1997.

Tropical storms8

Tropical-stage US-agency wind of 34 kt or more

Hurricanes3

64 kt or more, one-minute sustained

Major (Category 3+)1

96 kt or more, Saffir–Simpson scale

Category 50

137 kt or more at any tropical-stage observation

Strongest stormErika

110 kt · 127 mph / 204 km/h

Lowest pressure946 hPa

Erika, 9 Sept 1997

Longest track record16.5 days

Erika, full archive record

Storms without US-agency wind1

Mapped, but outside the counts above

QUICK ANSWERS

The 1997 season in brief

How many hurricanes were there in the 1997 Atlantic hurricane season?

The archive records 3 hurricanes (one-minute winds of 64 kt or more) among 8 tropical storms, with 1 major hurricane reaching 96 kt. Counts use US-agency winds during the tropical stage.

What was the strongest storm of the 1997 Atlantic hurricane season?

Erika, with a peak one-minute sustained wind of 110 kt (Category 3) on 8 Sept 1997, 18:00 UTC and a minimum central pressure of 946 hPa.

How many Category 5 storms were there in 1997?

None. No storm in the 1997 Atlantic hurricane season reached Category 5 on the Saffir–Simpson one-minute wind scale in the archive.

When did the 1997 Atlantic hurricane season start and end?

The first tropical-stage observation is on 31 May 1997 and the last on 17 Oct 1997, from 9 tracked storms in the archive.

What was the first hurricane of the 1997 Atlantic hurricane season?

Bill, which reached hurricane strength (64 kt) on 12 Jul 1997, 12:00 UTC.

METHODOLOGY

Data sources and limitations

The map and totals are generated from NOAA’s IBTrACS v04r01 archive. A storm belongs to this page when the archive lists it in the North Atlantic basin for the 1997 season, so a December storm whose track ends in January stays with its season. Storms that cross between basins appear on the page of their archive basin only.

Counts use US-agency one-minute winds during the tropical stage: 34 kt for a tropical storm, 64 kt for hurricane strength and 96 kt for major intensity, on the Saffir–Simpson scale in every basin. Local agencies classify storms differently, and official season summaries can differ from the archive. Accumulated cyclone energy sums squared winds at six-hourly synoptic times, counting observations in the calendar year. Storms with no US-agency wind are mapped but cannot enter the counts.

The map frame is the same for every North Atlantic season, so a track that leaves it is cut at the edge. Lines show each storm’s center, not its size, rainfall or flood extent. Coastlines use Natural Earth’s 1:10m land data.

Archive retrieved

NOAA IBTrACS archive · Field documentation

Sources & methodology