1950 Atlantic Hurricane Season

The 1950 Atlantic hurricane season was the fourth year in which tropical cyclones were given names in the Atlantic basin by the United States Air force. Names were taken from the Joint Army/Navy Phonetic Alphabet, with the first named storm being designated "Able", the second "Baker", and so on. It was an active season with sixteen tropical storms, with eleven of them developing into hurricanes. Eight of these hurricanes were intense enough to be classified as major hurricanes—a denomination reserved for storms that attained sustained winds equivalent to a Category 3 or greater on the present-day Saffir-Simpson scale. The high number of major hurricanes make 1950 the holder of the record for the most systems of such intensity in a single season. One storm, the twelfth of the season, was unnamed and was originally excluded from the yearly summary. The large quantity of strong storms during the year yielded the highest seasonal accumulated cyclone energy (ACE) of the 20th century, and 1950 held the seasonal ACE record until broken by the 2005 Atlantic hurricane season.

The tropical cyclones of the season produced a total of 88 fatalities and $38.5 million in property damage (1950 USD, $372 million 2012 USD). The first officially named Atlantic hurricane was Hurricane Able, which formed on August 12, brushed the North Carolina coastline, and later moved across southeastern Canada. The strongest hurricane of the season, Hurricane Dog reached the equivalent of a Category 5 hurricane on the Saffir-Simpson scale, and caused extensive damage to the Leeward Islands. Two major hurricanes affected Florida: Easy produced the largest 24-hour rainfall total recorded in the United States, while King struck downtown Miami and caused $27.75 million (1950 USD, 7008268058091000000$268 million 2012 USD) of damage. The last storm of the year, Hurricane Love, dissipated on October 21 after striking the Florida Panhandle and causing minimal damage.