The 1938 Atlantic hurricane season produced fifteen tropical cyclones, of which nine strengthened into tropical storms. Four storms intensified into hurricanes. Two of those four became major hurricanes, the equivalent of a Category 3 or greater storm on the modern day Saffir–Simpson scale. The hurricane season officially began on June 16 and ended on November 15.[1] In 2012, as part of the Atlantic hurricane reanalysis project, meteorologists identified a previously undocumented January hurricane and September tropical storm while fine-tuning the meteorological histories of several others. However, given scant observations from ships and weather stations, significant uncertainty of tropical cyclone tracks, intensity, and duration remains, particularly for those storms that stayed at sea.[2]
Seasonal activity began with the formation of a tropical or subtropical cyclone over the northeastern Atlantic on January 3, the earliest occurrence in a calendar year (earliest start to a season) on record. In mid-August, a hurricane struck near Cameron, Louisiana, producing strong winds and water level rises that caused $245,550 in damage throughout that state and Texas.[nb 1] It was followed in quick succession by an even more potent hurricane that tracked through the Caribbean, Gulf of Mexico, and into northern Mexico. There, 9 people were killed and over 400 families were left homeless. An additional 4 deaths occurred in Texas. The season's strongest and most destructive system, the "Great New England Hurricane", swept into New England, where 494–700 people were killed, over 1,700 individuals were injured, and about 23,900 structures were damaged or destroyed. The cost was estimated at $620 million. It was the strongest hurricane to hit New England in over 300 years, since 1635.[3] Later in the season, a minimal mid-October tropical storm affected Texas and Louisiana, and a stronger early-November tropical storm caused minor damage along the eastern coastline of Florida.
The season's activity was reflected with an accumulated cyclone energy (ACE) rating of 78 units,[4] below the 1931–1943 average of 91.2.[2] ACE is a metric used to express the energy used by a tropical cyclone during its lifetime. Therefore, a storm with a longer duration will have high values of ACE. It is only calculated at six-hour increments in which specific tropical and subtropical systems are either at or above sustained wind speeds of 39 mph (63 km/h), which is the threshold for tropical storm intensity. Thus, tropical depressions are not included here.[4]
^"U.S. Begins Lookout for Hurricanes". Chattanooga Times Free Press. Vol. 50, no. 300. Chattanooga, Tennessee. June 16, 1938. p. 2. Archived from the original on March 25, 2020. Retrieved March 25, 2020 – via Newspapers.com.
^ abChristopher Landsea; et al. (August 15, 2014). "A Reanalysis of the 1931–43 Atlantic Hurricane Database". Journal of Climate. 27 (16): 6,117. Bibcode:2014JCli...27.6093L. CiteSeerX 10.1.1.269.2563. doi:10.1175/JCLI-D-13-00503.1. S2CID 1785238. Retrieved March 25, 2020.
^Bowman, Dennis (September 5, 2015). "'38 Hurricane was no '100-year storm'". The Providence Journal. Retrieved May 2, 2023.
^ ab"Comparison of Original and Revised HURDAT". Hurricane Research Division. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. September 2021. Retrieved October 4, 2021.
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