Most Unusual Atlantic Hurricanes?

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Category5Kaiju
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Most Unusual Atlantic Hurricanes?

#1 Postby Category5Kaiju » Fri Sep 17, 2021 5:08 pm

"Unusual" could mean many different things and is subjective, but in my opinion, my personal top picks for Atlantic hurricanes that really stood out in simply how strange they were or their surrounding circumstances would be Wilma (a 185 mph and 882 mbar pinhole eyed late October hurricane is simply astonishing) and Lenny (a near Cat 5 in November that cruised through the Caribbean Sea to the east? Yeah, that's just bizarre.)
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Re: Most Unusual Atlantic Hurricanes?

#2 Postby aspen » Fri Sep 17, 2021 5:20 pm

Epsilon ‘20 was pretty weird — forming in the middle of a gigantic non-tropical low and becoming a tiny Cat 3 in the subtropics in October.
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Re: Most Unusual Atlantic Hurricanes?

#3 Postby IcyTundra » Fri Sep 17, 2021 5:39 pm

Sandy 2012- Took an unusual track for a storm that formed in October not to mention the massive windfield and transistion into an extratropical storm.
Nadine 2012- Lasted for over 3 weeks
Vince 2005- Strengthened to a cat 1 over 75F SST's.
Ivan 2004- The southernmost cat 3, cat 4, and cat 5 (until Matthew). Strengthened into a cat 5 3 seperate times in the Carribean after weakening to a cat 4 several times. Reformed in the Gulf of Mexico making landfall in SW Louisiana as a TD 8 days after its original landfall in Alabama.
Hurricane/Typhoon John 1994- Longest lived cyclone in recorded history lasting for 31 days covering 7165 miles also was a cat 5.
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Re: Most Unusual Atlantic Hurricanes?

#4 Postby supercane4867 » Fri Sep 17, 2021 7:21 pm

Epsilon 2020 by far

A major hurricane superimposed directly underneath an upper trough. Rapidly intensified over 26C waters in the October subtropics, defying all expectations and common sense.

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Re: Most Unusual Atlantic Hurricanes?

#5 Postby Ubuntwo » Fri Sep 17, 2021 7:38 pm

Hurricane Kate, 1985. Formed from a tropical wave in mid November and took a very odd track for that time of year. It peaked as a 105kt/953mb category 3 hurricane. Perhaps most unusual is its cat-2 landfall on November 21, the latest US landfalling hurricane on record.
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Re: Most Unusual Atlantic Hurricanes?

#6 Postby AnnularCane » Fri Sep 17, 2021 7:40 pm

Epsilon is just in a cradle! :D
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Re: Most Unusual Atlantic Hurricanes?

#7 Postby cainjamin » Fri Sep 17, 2021 7:40 pm

Ophelia 2017 was a weird one. Three farthest northeast major hurricane by far.
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Noel '07, Kyle '08, Earl '10, Arthur '14, Dorian '19, Teddy '20

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Re: Most Unusual Atlantic Hurricanes?

#8 Postby InfernoFlameCat » Fri Sep 17, 2021 8:59 pm

Lorenzo 2019. This storm was extraordinary due to its unexpected re-intensification from a Cat 3 to a 5, how Far East the system was, and it’s size of hurricane force wind swaths.
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Re: Most Unusual Atlantic Hurricanes?

#9 Postby Teban54 » Fri Sep 17, 2021 10:22 pm

Here's my top 12 list mostly with respects to track and to a lesser extent formation time.

Honorable mentions: Elena 1985, Kate 1985, Gordon 1994, Mitch 1998, Ivan 2004, Sandy 2012, Alex 2016, Ophelia 2017, and maybe more. A few honorable mentions similar to the listed storms will be introduced in the respective sections.

#12: Fay 2008
The only tropical cyclone on record to make landfall in Florida 4 times. Was there anywhere in Florida that even escaped Fay? I do think this comes up in the discussions every time there's a Florida storm.
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#11: Flora 1963
When talking about a storm stalling and producing heavy rainfall, Harvey with its 60.58'' maximum rainfall probably comes to mind. But that's not even close to the record...
Here's Flora's track. Seeing that U-turn over Cuba should already tell you some terrible flooding had to occur, and that was exactly what happened. The highest recorded rainfall in Cuba from Flora was a whooping 100.39 inches! Even more surprisingly, that was still not the record - the wettest Atlantic hurricane was the Nov 1909 Greater Antilles hurricane with 135'' in Jamaica, while the wettest tropical cyclone worldwide was Cyclone Hyacinthe (1980) in SWIO at 253.3''!
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#10: Betsy 1965
The ultimate proof that a storm that seems to be on a recurve path won't necessarily go OTS. Betsy had the OTS look twice in its life, only to turn abruptly to the west and even southwest. It's almost as if she decided to pull an Andrew at the last minute. It was also the costliest Atlantic hurricane at that time, though its damage in raw numbers was similar to Fred 2021. :lol:
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#9: Lenny 1999
"Left-handed Lenny“ is pretty well known, but that east track in the Caribbean still amazes me every time. It's also the latest forming Cat 4 (on November 17), though Iota almost broke the record with the difference of a day. Probably would have been higher on this list if it wasn't already so infamous.
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#8: 1906 Florida Keys hurricane
An October hit on Florida isn't rare, but what happened after the hit was crazy. The storm made a U-turn off the coast of Georgia, then headed back to Florida, traversed the peninsula north to south, and headed back all the way to Yucatan with a landfall as a TD when it dissipated. Oh, btw, it was a solid SFL major too which people on this board seem to love.
Honorable mention goes to the 1935 Yankee hurricane which also took a north to south track, also struck South Florida as a hurricane (though happened in different order), and occurred even later in November.
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#7: Leslie 2018
Leslie isn't exactly the longest living Atlantic TC, but of all the spinning-around-forever storms this one is my favorite. That track is literally just a mess with regards to both lines and symbols. It actually had hurricane-force winds 3 separate times, though one of them technically didn't count because it was extratropical. Not to mention it almost made landfall in Portugal as a hurricane. In fact, Leslie could have been around for even longer, as models were hinting at a U-turn again just before hitting Portugal.
Honorable mentions go to Nadine 2012, a very similar storm. I thought about putting both here but ultimately didn't.
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#6: Epsilon 2005
Another well-known oddball. A hurricane in December over 21-22C waters is already insane enough, and that's before you even consider the NHC discussions:
EPSILON HAS CONTINUED TO STRENGTHEN AGAINST ALL ODDS

THERE ARE NO CLEAR REASONS...AND I AM NOT GOING TO MAKE ONE UP...TO EXPLAIN HE RECENT STRENGTHENING OF EPSILON AND I AM JUST DESCRIBING THE FACTS. HOWEVER...I STILL HAVE TO MAKE AN INTENSITY FORECAST AND THE BEST BET AT THIS TIME IS TO PREDICT WEAKENING DUE TO COLD WATER ...HIGH SHEAR AND DRY AIR.

THE UPPER LEVEL WINDS ARE EXPECTED TO BE HIGHLY UNFAVORABLE AND EPSILON WILL LIKELY BECOME A REMNANT LOW. I HEARD THAT BEFORE ABOUT EPSILON...HAVEN'T YOU?

AND WITH THE SOUTHWARD COMPONENT OF MOTION CONTINUING IT SEEMS THAT AN IMMINENT EXTRATROPICAL TRANSITION IS...ALAS...A LOST CAUSE.

BY THEN EPSILON SHOULD BE A REMNANT LOW...WE WOULD LIKE.

WE HAVE SAID THIS BEFORE AT TIMES DURING THE PAST SEVERAL NIGHTS... ONLY TO HAVE EPSILON MAKE A COMEBACK THE FOLLOWING MORNING... BUT EPSILON REALLY DOES NOT APPEAR AS STRONG THIS EVENING AS IT DID THIS AFTERNOON.

I HAVE RUN OUT OF THINGS TO SAY...AND THIS ONE WILL BE SHORT.

THE END IS IN SIGHT. IT REALLY REALLY IS. BUT IN THE MEANTIME...
EPSILON CONTINUES TO MAINTAIN HURRICANE STATUS.

SO EPSILON'S DAYS APPEAR TO BE NUMBERED... WITH THAT
NUMBER PROBABLY BEING LESS THAN FIVE...

THE END IS IN SIGHT...YES...BUT NOT QUITE YET. I THOUGHT I WAS GOING TO FIND A WEAKENING SYSTEM AND INSTEAD I FOUND THAT EPSILON IS STILL A HURRICANE. AS IT HAS DONE EVERY MORNING...THE CONVECTION HAS REDEVELOPED AROUND THE LARGE AND DISTINCT EYE

I HOPE THIS IS THE END OF THE LONG LASTING 2005 HURRICANE SEASON.

This was a lot lower in my initial list, but the NHC discussions pulled it over here.
Honorable mentions to Zeta 2005 and Epsilon 2020 which were just as impressive.
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#5: 1952 Groundhog Day tropical storm
You already know why it's here based on that name alone. Yes, it formed on February 3, 1952. It's the only Atlantic tropical cyclone on record in February.
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#4: Ginger 1971
Like Leslie and Nadine except it's closer to land, stronger and actually made landfall. Ginger's track may not appear so tangled, but it's actually longer lived than those two, as it's the second longest lasting Atlantic TC on record and has the longest consecutive duration.
Ginger was also the last storm involved with Project Stormfury, an attempt to weaken hurricanes by seeding silver iodide into them. At one point it looked like seeding caused the storm to weaken and an outer eyewall to form - of course now we know those attempts just coincided perfectly with an eyewall replacement cycle.
Interestingly, many of the seeded storms (and those they planned to seed) had erratic paths towards land either before or after seeding. The first seeded storm, 1947 Cape Sable hurricane, looked like it was OTS at that time but turned abruptly towards South Carolina right after the mission. Betsy was supposed to be seeded but it was cancelled last minute, giving the public false impressions that its turn towards Florida was caused by seeding. Ginger was seeded but only after it turned west.
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#3: Alice December 1954
Alice was already fascinating from the meteorological perspective alone. One of the only two Atlantic storms that crossed the calendar year. A hurricane in both December and January. Peaked at 80 kts, almost a Cat 2.
But what made Alice truly unique to me is the story behind its name - there are even 2 Hurricane Alices in 1954. It's a long story, but basically, 1954 was only the second year in which human names are used to name hurricanes. Back then, the naming lists did not rotate, so 1953 and 1954 used the same list, with 1955 also planned to do the same.
Several of the 1954 storm were quite damaging, including Carol 1954 which hit the northeast like what Carol 1953 almost did. Because of this, after the 1954 season it was decided that different naming lists should be used each year, and names can be retired for 10 years. But before a new list could be written, this storm was detected on January 1, 1955. They couldn't decide the new A name in time, so Alice had to be used again.
As if this was not confusing enough, post-season analysis actually showed this Alice formed on December 30, 1954. So now it's a 1954 storm, and 1954 became the only season to feature two storms of the same name: Alice June 1954, and Alice December 1954.
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#2: Inez 1966
If you think deep CV storms should have well-behaved tracks because they're not on the list yet, think again. Inez probably has one of the most bizarre tracks for a CV storm, and I'm not sure if we'll ever see a storm top that. It started with a Georges-like path through most landmasses in the Greater Antilles, only to suddenly recurve in the middle of Cuba. All clear for US... Or maybe not. What followed was a sudden WSW turn, landfall in Florida Keys, and reintensification in the Gulf all the way to Mexico. It's the only storm on record to impact the Caribbean, Bahamas, Florida, and Mexico all at once, and Inez's track literally draws out a "Z".
Oh, Inez formed in late September too, and became a Cat 4 in the Gulf in October. So much for the talks about troughs and progressive patterns in late September.
Inez was also only the second retired I name, and the third wouldn't come until 2001. Crazy to think we have retired 9 I names since then and probably 10 after this season.
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#1: Eta 2020
I know this has been discussed to death every once in a while, but everything about this storm still amazes me. Everything. The Greek name and how far it is down the naming list. The weird track that draws out an "E" (too bad the Greek letter eta isn't written like that), with traces of Mitch, Lenny and Fay all at once. The absurd mismatch between one of the best Atlantic satellite presentations and one of the most underwhelming recon missions, which we still have no convincing explanation why. Extremely rapid intensification in November. Failed recons throughout its life. Record high storm surge. Even the random intensification to a Cat 1 in the Gulf and the immediate collapse after that.
Even if Eta never actually became a Cat 5 and is never officially classified as such, all these facts already make it far more unique and memorable than "just another Cat 5 in the Western Caribbean".
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Re: Most Unusual Atlantic Hurricanes?

#10 Postby Hammy » Fri Sep 17, 2021 10:59 pm

Gordon in 1994 has one of the most bizarre tracks I've seen.

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Re: Most Unusual Atlantic Hurricanes?

#11 Postby HurricaneEnzo » Sat Sep 18, 2021 10:13 am

Hurricane Alex in 2016. One of the rare January Hurricanes.

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Re: Most Unusual Atlantic Hurricanes?

#12 Postby ChrisH-UK » Sat Sep 18, 2021 4:14 pm

You said Atlantic so how about Hurricane Catarina a Cat 2 Hurricane off the coast of Brazil. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hurricane_Catarina

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But there is another unusual tropical cyclone, Cyclone Bonita in 1996. Bonita formed in the Indian Ocean made landfall in Mozambique and continued across Africa to ending up off the coast of Angola and promptly got killed by the cold waters. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cyclone_Bonita

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Re: Most Unusual Atlantic Hurricanes?

#13 Postby Iceresistance » Sat Sep 18, 2021 4:22 pm

Hurricane Kyle 2002:

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Re: Most Unusual Atlantic Hurricanes?

#14 Postby Teban54 » Sun Oct 03, 2021 1:47 pm

Repost from the Sam thread:
WiscoWx02 wrote:https://www.nhc.noaa.gov/storm_graphics/AT18/refresh/AL182021_5day_cone_no_line_and_wind+png/144955_5day_cone_no_line_and_wind.png

Save this one to the archive of most bizarre expected tropical cyclone and post tropical cyclone tracks, at least in my books anyways. Looks like Sam won't be able to decide who to snow bomb, Iceland or Greenland.

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Edit: That cone literally looks like a question mark!
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