List Of Off-Season Atlantic Hurricanes

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration currently defines the season as occurring between June 1 and November 30 each calendar year, which is when 97% of all Atlantic tropical cyclones occur. Peak activity is known to be between August and October. Between 1938, when the United States Weather Bureau began issuing tropical cyclone warnings as a collaborative observation network for cities along the U.S. coastline, and 1963, the season was defined between June 15 and November 15. In 1964, the season was extended to begin on June 1 and end on November 30, which remains the official length of the season.

As of 2023^[update], there have been 92 off-season cyclones recorded in the official Atlantic hurricane database, which dates back to 1851. In addition, six earlier such storms have been documented, but are not part of the database. The first off-season storm in the database was an 1865 storm that developed in the Caribbean Sea; an earlier documented 1863 hurricane is not part of the database. The most recent off-season system was an unnamed January subtropical storm in 2023.

 

Off-season storms are most likely to occur in May, with approximately 60% of such storms occurring during that month. Off-season cyclones are most likely to develop in the central to western Atlantic Ocean, and most do not make landfall. Of the storms that have, a tropical storm in 1948 that struck the Dominican Republic, killing 80 people in the Dominican Republic, was the deadliest. However, the unofficial hurricane in 1863 killed 110 people, in a shipwreck off Florida and on land. That same storm was estimated to have reached winds of 105 mph (169 km/h), making it the strongest hurricane between December and May; the strongest currently in the official database was a March hurricane in 1908 that reached winds of 100 mph (160 km/h). In addition, the strongest off-season cyclone to make landfall in the United States was Tropical Storm Beryl in May of 2012, which made landfall near Jacksonville Beach, Florida with 65 mph (105 km/h) winds. Hurricane Alice was the only one of the cyclones to strike land as a hurricane, doing so to islands in the northern Lesser Antilles; it caused locally heavy rainfall and moderate damage. Of all cyclones during the off-season, Hurricane Lili in 1984 lasted the longest, for a total of 12 days. In 2005, Hurricane Epsilon maintained hurricane status for five days, longer than any other storm in December; the previous record was two and a half days, set by Hurricane Lili.

The year with the most off-season storms was 1887, with a total of five existing in the off-season. The 1951 season had four, one of which a depression. Several others had three tropical cyclones, of which only 2003 had three tropical storms. The 1908 and 1951 seasons were the only ones with two hurricanes forming in the off-season. In eight seasons, there were storms both prior to the start of the season as well as after the season ended, those being 1887, 1911, 1951, 1953, 1954, 1970, 2003, and 2007; all but 1911 had tropical cyclones of at least tropical storm status before and after the season. The longest streak of consecutive years featuring at least one pre-season storm was seven, from 2015 through 2021.

 

Tropical cyclones have been named in the Atlantic since the 1947 Atlantic hurricane season, and subtropical cyclones have been recognized in HURDAT since 1968. The National Hurricane Center issues names for tropical and subtropical cyclones once their winds reach 39 mph (63 km/h). Before 1950, storms were numbered based on their appearance in the Atlantic hurricane database; tropical depressions were unnumbered. Storms before 1851 are unofficial and are not part of the official Atlantic hurricane best track. In addition, a hurricane from May 1863, labeled "Amanda", is included after being rediscovered in 2013.

The wind speeds listed are maximum one-minute average sustained winds, and the pressure is the minimum barometric pressure; tropical cyclones listed with N/A under pressure indicates there is no known estimated pressure. For deaths, "None" indicates that there were no reports of fatalities; death tolls listed as "several" mean there were fatalities reported, but an exact total is unavailable. For both deaths and damage, N/A refers to no known total, although such storms may have impacted land. The damage totals are the United States dollar of the year of the storm.