2014 Atlantic hurricane season

A below-average year in a hostile Atlantic

Nine tropical cyclones appear in the archive for 2014, and all but one, a short-lived depression east of the Lesser Antilles in July, reached tropical storm strength. Six became hurricanes and two, Edouard and Gonzalo, reached major hurricane intensity of at least 96 knots. None reached Category 5. The season's accumulated cyclone energy of 66.7 units was nearly double the very low 2013 total but still well below the 1981 to 2010 median of 92. The eight tropical storms were the fewest in an Atlantic season since 1997, and the season's own reference counts match the archive's here: eight named storms, six hurricanes and two major hurricanes.

Forecasters had expected a quiet year. Most seasonal outlooks called for below-average activity on the assumption that a strong El Nino would develop during the summer, and several also pointed to cool tropical Atlantic waters. The El Nino did not arrive until October, yet the Atlantic stayed hostile anyway: the large-scale circulation favored dry, sinking air across the basin, wind shear was strong over the Caribbean Sea and sea surface temperatures were only near average. By midsummer, forecast teams were describing conditions for storm formation as detrimental, citing cold sea surface temperatures, high sea-level pressure, strong vertical shear and a weak African monsoon.

An early start, a quiet peak and a busy October

The season started ahead of the climatological calendar. Arthur formed off the southeastern United States on 1 July from a low of non-tropical origin and became the season's first hurricane on 3 July, well before the long-term average date of 10 August for a first hurricane. Later in July a tropical wave produced a depression east of the Lesser Antilles, but in an exceptionally dry and stable environment it never reached tropical storm strength and opened into a trough on 23 July.

August brought two hurricanes. Bertha formed east of Barbados on 1 August, crossed the Lesser Antilles as a disorganized tropical storm and only became a hurricane briefly on 4 August over the waters north of the Caribbean before turning out to sea. Cristobal formed near the southeastern Bahamas on 23 August, lingered in weak steering currents, then turned north and east, reaching its 75 knot peak on 28 August before becoming extratropical.

September, normally the heart of the season, produced only two storms. Dolly formed over the Bay of Campeche on 1 September and moved into eastern Mexico two days later as a 45 knot tropical storm at its peak. Edouard followed in mid-September, a long-lived hurricane born from a tropical wave off Africa that stayed over the open ocean for its entire life and was the archive's longest-recorded storm of the year. October then produced three storms, Fay, Gonzalo and Hanna, and more accumulated cyclone energy than August and September combined, something not seen in an Atlantic season since 1963. Hanna was the last system, dissipating over Central America on 28 October.

Edouard and Gonzalo, the two major hurricanes

Hurricane Edouard became the Atlantic's first major hurricane since Sandy in 2012 when it strengthened on 16 September, reaching a peak of 105 knots and 955 hPa at 12:00 UTC that day while far east of Bermuda. Its time as a major hurricane was short: as it curved northeastward into the westerlies, the storm churned up much cooler water beneath itself and weakened quickly, falling below hurricane strength on 19 September.

Hurricane Gonzalo was the season's most intense storm. It formed east of the Lesser Antilles on 12 October, developed a tight inner core and became a hurricane on 13 October just before passing over Antigua, then crossed St. Barthelemy, St. Martin and Anguilla that afternoon. North of Puerto Rico it intensified rapidly, becoming a major hurricane on 14 October and a Category 4 hurricane six hours later. After an eyewall replacement cycle it reached its peak of 125 knots and 940 hPa at 12:00 UTC on 16 October, about 460 nautical miles south-southwest of Bermuda. It was the first Atlantic Category 4 hurricane since Ophelia in 2011. A second eyewall cycle, cooler water and rising shear then weakened it steadily as it accelerated toward Bermuda.

Landfalls and impacts

Hurricane Arthur made landfall on Shackleford Banks, just west of Cape Lookout, North Carolina, at 03:15 UTC on 4 July with winds estimated at 85 knots, then crossed Pamlico Sound and the Outer Banks. It was the earliest hurricane landfall in North Carolina in records back to 1851. Damage in the United States was modest; the strongest sustained winds over land were of Category 1 strength, sound-side surge flooded parts of Hatteras Island and Manteo, and the National Hurricane Center recorded no deaths. After becoming extratropical, Arthur cut power to about 290,000 homes and businesses in Atlantic Canada, with damage in New Brunswick alone estimated at 12.6 million Canadian dollars (2014).

Several storms caused deaths without making a damaging landfall. Rip currents from Hurricane Bertha caused two direct deaths on the United States East Coast, one near Frisco, North Carolina and one near Atlantic City, New Jersey. Hurricane Cristobal caused seven direct deaths, all by drowning: two in Haiti, two in the Dominican Republic and one in floodwaters on Providenciales in the Turks and Caicos Islands, plus two rip current deaths in New Jersey and Maryland. No monetary damage estimates were available for Bertha or Cristobal. Tropical Storm Dolly brought flooding rains to eastern Mexico and one indirect death.

Bermuda took two hurricane landfalls in under a week. Hurricane Fay, which began as a subtropical storm south of the island, came ashore at 08:10 UTC on 12 October at its 70 knot peak, the first hurricane landfall on Bermuda since Emily in 1987. Its winds toppled trees and utility poles on already saturated ground, left nearly 27,000 customers without power and damaged the airport terminal; one insurer alone estimated its losses near 3.8 million US dollars (2014). Hurricane Gonzalo followed shortly after 00:00 UTC on 18 October, making landfall on the island's southwest coast with winds estimated at 95 knots, a high-end Category 2. It was the strongest hurricane to affect Bermuda since Fabian in 2003, left most of the island without electricity for up to two weeks and produced insured losses reported at 200 to 400 million US dollars (2014). No deaths or serious injuries were reported there.

Earlier on its track, Gonzalo caused three direct deaths in the Leeward Islands: a man killed when a boat sank in Simpson Bay Lagoon in St. Maarten and two people on boats presumed lost on the French side of St. Martin and in St. Barthelemy. No monetary damage estimates were received for those islands. After it became extratropical, Gonzalo's remnants caused two further deaths in Great Britain. Tropical Storm Hanna, the season's last storm, made landfall in extreme northeastern Nicaragua on 27 October only hours after reaching its 35 knot peak, and the National Hurricane Center received no reports of damage or casualties from it.

Records and context

Fay and Gonzalo made 2014 the first season on record with two hurricane landfalls on Bermuda, and the two came less than a week apart. Gonzalo was also the strongest October hurricane to make landfall on the island since 1926. Elsewhere, 2014 extended the run without a major hurricane landfall in the United States to nine years, dating back to Wilma in 2005.

Hurricane Edouard became a research milestone. During its mid-September peak, research aircraft released an unmanned aerial vehicle into an Atlantic hurricane for the first time, sampling the dangerous low levels near the surface that crewed aircraft avoid, while a NASA Global Hawk flew overhead with experimental instruments. No names were retired after the season, and Gonzalo, which had replaced Gustav on the list used in 2008, was the only name used for the first time.