The 1962 Atlantic hurricane season was the least active since 1939, with only five named storms. Although the season officially began on June 15, the first storm did not form until August 26. Hurricane Alma brushed the Outer Banks before becoming extratropical southeast of New England, destroying hundreds of boats and producing beneficial rainfall. In late August, Tropical Storm Becky developed unusually far east in the Atlantic Ocean, becoming the easternmost storm on record to recurve to the northeast. Celia followed in the September, forming east of the Lesser Antilles and executing a loop near Bermuda before dissipating. Hurricane Daisy was the costliest of the season, leaving about $1.1 million in damage in New England (1961 USD). The storm dropped the highest rainfall total on record in Maine, and its precipitation caused 22 traffic fatalities. The final hurricane – Ella – was also the strongest, remaining offshore of the eastern United States but causing two deaths.
In addition to the five named storms, there were three non-developing tropical depressions. The first struck Texas in August, causing street flooding and killing three. The second of three formed off the west coast of Florida and flooded widespread areas after 1 in 100 year rainfall. The floods affected 5,000 houses and caused millions in damage. The third of three non-developing storms moved across the Caribbean before striking Nicaragua in October. The season ended on November 15.
Read more about 1962 Atlantic Hurricane Season: Season Activity, Storms
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)
“When we reached the lake, about half past eight in the evening, it was still steadily raining, and harder than before; and, in that fresh, cool atmosphere, the hylodes were peeping and the toads ringing about the lake universally, as in the spring with us. It was as if the season had revolved backward two or three months, or I had arrived at the abode of perpetual spring.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)