1993 Atlantic Hurricane Season

The 1993 Atlantic hurricane season was a below average Atlantic hurricane season that produced eight tropical cyclones and tropical storms, four hurricanes, and one major hurricane. It officially started on June 1 and ended on November 30, dates which conventionally delimit the period during which most tropical cyclones form in the Atlantic Ocean. The first tropical cyclone, Tropical Depression One, developed on May 31, while the final storm, Tropical Depression Ten, dissipated on October 1, well before the average dissipation date of a season's last tropical cyclone, the first occurrence since the 1930 season. The most intense hurricane, Emily, was a powerful Category 3 on the Saffir–Simpson Hurricane Scale that paralleled close to the North Carolina coastline causing minor damage and a few deaths before moving out to sea. The season continued the string of below average seasons started in 1991, primarily due to the continued effects of El Niño across the Atlantic basin and above average vertical wind shear, and no hurricanes were observed in the Caribbean Sea during the season, a string started in 1990.

The most significant storm of the season was Hurricane Gert, a long-lived cyclone that originated from a tropical wave that moved off the west coast of Africa in early September. Upon being declared as a tropical depression in the southwestern Caribbean on September 14, the system moved ashore in Nicaragua at minimal tropical storm intensity. The system weakened to a tropical depression over Central America before briefly strengthening to minimal tropical storm status after entering the Gulf of Honduras. By September 20, Gert had intensified into a Category 1 hurricane while in the Gulf of Mexico, and further strengthened into a Category 2 shortly thereafter. During the afternoon hours of that same day, Gert reached its peak intensity of 100 mph (160 km/h) and made landfall just north of Tuxpan, Veracruz. The storm weakened to a tropical depression over inland Mexico and crossed into the Eastern Pacific, becoming reclassified as Tropical Depression Fourteen-E, before dissipating in an environment unfavorable for intensification. The system caused significant damage including 92 deaths and $170 million (1993 USD). Heavy flood damage was observed along Gert's path throughout Central America and Mexico, and thousands of people became homeless after road networks were severely disrupted.