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The 1938 Atlantic hurricane season officially began on June 16, 1938,[1] and lasted until October 31, 1938.[2] These dates conventionally delimit the period of each year when most tropical cyclones form in the Atlantic basin.
[edit] Storms
[edit] Tropical Storm One
The first storm of the season formed in the area of Antigua in early August and moved generally westward. Falling just short of hurricane strength, Storm One brushed Puerto Rico and made landfall in the Dominican Republic, dissipating over the mountains of Hispaniola. Some of the smaller islands sustained damage but the only other effects were squally weather.
[edit] Hurricane Two
The first hurricane of the season formed southeast of Barbados on August 9 and moved west-northwest at a high rate of speed, strengthening into a hurricane as it passed south of Jamaica. Becoming a Category 2 storm while southeast of Cozumel, Storm Two nicked the northern tip of the Yucatan peninsula, but caused little effect, perhaps because of the storm's small size. The hurricane curved more to the northwest as it entered the Gulf of Mexico, weakening shortly before it reached the coast. Storm Two made landfall near Cameron, Louisiana as a minimal hurricane, causing moderate flooding of lowlands and $250,000 in damage (1938 dollars, $3.4 million in 2006 dollars). The storm dissipated over east Texas.
[edit] Hurricane Three
The third storm of the season was discovered as a strengthening tropical storm in the central Caribbean Sea on August 23. The storm became a hurricane shortly after discovery and maintained a steady northwest track, steadily strengthening. Storm Three became a Category 2 storm a day later and maintained that intensity until landfall on the Yucatan peninsula near present-day Tulum. The storm weakened inland to a Category 1 and it began to curve more to the west as it crossed the Gulf of Mexico. Storm Three made landfall as a tropical storm near Ciudad Madero and dissipated inland.
This storm caused tremendous flooding on the Yucatan peninsula and killed nine people.
[edit] Hurricane Four
Main article: New England Hurricane of 1938
By far the most significant hurricane of the 1938 season, Hurricane Four, better known as the New England Hurricane, was a Cape Verde-type hurricane that caused great destruction across the northeastern United States.
The storm formed from an African wave in early September and tracked westward across the Atlantic. At first, the storm was slow to strengthen, remaining a tropical storm for five days during its westward traverse. It finally became a hurricane as it crossed 45W several hundred miles east of the Leeward Islands. The storm continued to steadily strengthen and began to take a more northwesterly course. The Long Island Express, as it was nicknamed, peaked as a Category 5 hurricane on the Saffir Simpson Hurricane Scale while just east of the Bahamas with winds reaching a sustained 160 mph (260 km/h). Following its peak, on September 20, the storm turned due north and accelerated. It made landfall on September 21 with one of the highest forward speeds ever documented for a tropical cyclone.
The hurricane struck central Long Island with sustained winds of 115 mph (185 km/h), devastating the island and causing severe damage to other New England states such as Connecticut and Massachusetts. Nearly 700 people died in the storm (682) and damages came to over $300 million, $4.5 billion in 2007 dollars.
[edit] Tropical Storm Five
This storm formed from a disturbance off the north coast of Honduras on October 11 and almost immediately crossed into Belize, heading north up the Yucatan peninsula and into the Gulf of Mexico, where it began to move erratically. In the central Gulf on October 13, it made a rather sudden turn to the east, toward Florida. However, a couple of days later, Storm Five slowed down and began to turn back toward the west northwest, at which time it began to accelerate, weakening along the way. The system finally made landfall along the north Texas coast near Freeport with winds of only 40 mph (64 km/h). No significant impact was reported.
[edit] Tropical Storm Six
Tropical Storm Six was a weak storm that took a somewhat unusual southwesterly course. It formed near Bermuda on the 17th of October, brushing by the island on its afforementioned southwesterly path, on which it remained for the two days. On October 19, it hooked back northeast across the northern Bahamas and dissipated the next afternoon.
[edit] Tropical Storm Seven
Forming in the Gulf of Mexico on October 23, the seventh storm of the season took a swift northeasterly course. The winds never rose above 45 mph (72 km/h) and the storm impacted a remote section of northwestern Florida the next day near modern day Keaton Beach. It moved back over water near the south Georgia coast and became extratropical soon after as it encountered a frontal trough.
[edit] Tropical Storm Eight
The final storm of the 1938 season formed off the coast of Hispaniola on November 6 and quickly moved onshore near Barahona. The storm continued northwest into the Bahamas, during which time it reached its peak intensity of 70 mph (110 km/h); near-hurricane force, before curving back to the southwest while crossing Andros Island. Now in a weakening trend, the storm crossed central Cuba on November 9 and dissipated in the Western Caribbean the following day. No one is reported to have died in the storm and damage to the Caribbean islands is unknown, but the Florida coast suffered $100,000 worth of beach erosion.
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