The 1961 Atlantic hurricane season officially began on June 15, 1961, and lasted until November 15, 1961. These dates conventionally delimit the period of each year when most tropical cyclones form in the Atlantic basin. The season had seven major hurricanes, the second highest number on record, despite having only eight total hurricanes. It is also one of only four seasons to have two or more hurricanes reach Category 5 status on the Saffir-Simpson Hurricane Scale, the others being the 1960, 2005, and the 2007 season.
The most notable hurricanes of the season were the two Category 5 hurricanes. Hurricane Carla struck Texas, killing 49 and causing $325 million (1961 USD, $2.53 billion 2012 USD) in damage. Hurricane Hattie devastated Belize, killing 200; Belize City was largely destroyed, leading to the eventual (1970) relocation of the national capital to Belmopan.
Read more about 1961 Atlantic Hurricane Season: Other Storms, Season Effects, Storm Names
Famous quotes containing the words atlantic, hurricane and/or season:
“All the morning we had heard the sea roar on the eastern shore, which was several miles distant.... It was a very inspiriting sound to walk by, filling the whole air, that of the sea dashing against the land, heard several miles inland. Instead of having a dog to growl before your door, to have an Atlantic Ocean to growl for a whole Cape!”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)
“Staid middle age loves the hurricane passions of opera.”
—Mason Cooley (b. 1927)
“Let us have a good many maples and hickories and scarlet oaks, then, I say. Blaze away! Shall that dirty roll of bunting in the gun-house be all the colors a village can display? A village is not complete, unless it have these trees to mark the season in it. They are important, like the town clock. A village that has them not will not be found to work well. It has a screw loose, an essential part is wanting.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)