Portal:Tropical cyclones

Satellite image of the hurricane on September 9, 1971

Hurricane Edith was the strongest hurricane to form during the 1971 Atlantic hurricane season and formerly the southernmost landfalling Category 5 hurricane on record in the Atlantic until 2007. Edith also stands as one of the only Category 5 Atlantic hurricanes to not have its name retired, next to 1953's Hurricane Carol, 1961's Hurricane Esther, 2005's Hurricane Emily, and 2019's Hurricane Lorenzo. Edith developed from a tropical wave on September 5 and quickly strengthened into a hurricane in the Caribbean Sea. Edith rapidly intensified on September 9 and made landfall on Cape Gracias a Dios as a Category 5 hurricane on the Saffir-Simpson Hurricane Scale. Being a category 5 hurricane, Edith peaked at only 943 mbar (hPa), making Edith the least intense category 5 Atlantic hurricane on record. It quickly lost intensity over Central America and after briefly entering the Gulf of Honduras it crossed the Yucatán Peninsula in Mexico. After moving across the Gulf of Mexico a trough turned the storm to the northeast and Edith, after having restrengthened while accelerating towards the coast, made landfall on Louisiana with winds of 105 mph (169 km/h) on September 16. Edith steadily weakened over land and dissipated over Georgia on September 18.

Hurricane Warning Offices and their areas of responsibility, circa 1959

The history of Atlantic tropical cyclone warnings details the progress of tropical cyclone warnings in the North Atlantic Ocean. The first service was set up in the 1870s from Cuba with the work of Father Benito Viñes. After his death, hurricane warning services were assumed by the US Army Signal Corps and United States Weather Bureau over the next few decades, first based in Jamaica and Cuba before shifting to Washington, D.C. The central office in Washington, which would evolve into the National Meteorological Center and the Weather Prediction Center, assumed the responsibilities by the early 20th century. This responsibility passed to regional hurricane offices in 1935, and the concept of the Atlantic hurricane season was established to keep a vigilant lookout for tropical cyclones during certain times of the year. Hurricane advisories issued every 12 hours by the regional hurricane offices began at this time.

The 2019 Atlantic hurricane season was the fourth consecutive above-average and damaging season dating back to 2016. However, many were weak and short-lived, especially towards the end of the season. Six of those named storms achieved hurricane status, while three intensified into major hurricanes. Two storms became Category 5 hurricanes, marking the fourth consecutive season with at least one Category 5 hurricane, the third consecutive season to feature at least one storm making landfall at Category 5 intensity, and the seventh on record to have multiple tropical cyclones reaching Category 5 strength. The season officially began on June 1 and ended on November 30. These dates historically describe the period each year when most tropical cyclones form in the Atlantic basin and are adopted by convention. However, tropical cyclogenesis is possible at any time of the year, as demonstrated by the formation of Subtropical Storm Andrea on May 20, making this the fifth consecutive year in which a tropical or subtropical cyclone developed outside of the official season.

Italicized basins are unofficial.

North Atlantic (2023)

No active systems

East and Central Pacific (2023)

No active systems

West Pacific (2023)

No active systems

North Indian Ocean (2023)

No active systems

Mediterranean (2022–23)

No active systems

South-West Indian Ocean (2022–23)

Cyclone Fabien

Australian region (2022–23)

No active systems

South Pacific (2022–23)

No active systems

South Atlantic (2022–23)

No active systems

Last updated: 22:05, 15 May 2023 (UTC)

May 18

• 1986 - Cyclone Namu moved through the Solomon Islands, killing at least 111 people.
• 1997 - A powerful cyclone made landfall over in Bangladesh as a powerful Category 4 cyclone, killing more than 1,150 people.
• 2020 - Cyclone Amphan (pictured) reached peak intensity as a Category 5 super cyclonic storm, and two days later moved ashore near the border of India and Bangladesh. With an estimated US$13.7 billion in damages, Amphan was the costliest North Indian Ocean tropical cyclone on record.

May 19

• 1997 - A powerful cyclone (pictured) struck Bangladesh, killing 1,146 people.
• 2004 - A cyclone made landfall in Burma, causing floods and resulting in 236 fatalities.
• 2018 - Cyclone Sagar moved ashore Somaliland, with its associated floods killing 79 people across the region.

May 20

• 1989 - Typhoon Brenda makes landfall over Southern China as a Category 1 typhoon, killing about 84 people.
• 1999 - A powerful cyclone (pictured) struck southeastern Pakistan, killing at least 400 people, and perhaps as many as 6,000.
• 2005 - Tropical Depression Adrian became the first Pacific tropical cyclone to strike the Pacific coast of Honduras.

• …that the Joint Typhoon Warning Center considers that Typhoon Vera (pictured) of 1986 is actually two distinct systems, formed from two separated low-level circulations?
• …that Hurricane Agatha (pictured) was the strongest Pacific hurricane to make landfall in Mexico in May since records began in 1949?
• …that Cyclone Raquel (track pictured) travelled between the Australian and South Pacific basins between the 2014–15 and 2015–16 seasons, spanning both seasons in both basins?
• …that Cyclone Amphan (pictured) in 2020 was the first storm to be classified as a Super Cyclonic Storm in the Bay of Bengal since 1999?