The most notable storm of the season was Hurricane Andrew, the costliest natural disaster in U.S. history until Hurricane Katrina in the 2005 season, and the third Category 5 hurricane to make landfall in the United States. The season also had several unusual landfalls, with Hurricanes Bonnie and Charley both striking the Azores, while Tropical Storm Danielle made landfall on the Delmarva Peninsula of Virginia.
The system was designated Tropical Depression Two because the policy on naming had been clarified after Tropical Depression One. Additional confusion was caused because of the apparent naming of two systems as "Tropical Depression Two".
Upon turning to the west, a trough of low pressure positioned to the southwest of Andrew created an environment with little vertical shear and well-defined outflow. The storm quickly intensified due to its small size, and became a hurricane on August 22. Andrew rapidly intensified under ideal conditions for development, and on August 23 the hurricane peaked with winds of 175 mph. It crossed the Bahamas at that intensity, weakened slightly, and re-intensified to a 165 mph Category 5 hurricane before making landfall near Homestead, Florida. It weakened slightly over the state to a 135 mph hurricane, but restrengthened to a 145 mph hurricane over the Gulf of Mexico. A strong mid-latitude trough turned Andrew northward, where it greatly weakened before hitting west of Morgan City, Louisiana on August 26 as a 115 mph Category 3 hurricane. It turned northeastward, and dissipated over Tennessee on August 28.
Hurricane Andrew was by far the most intense hurricane of the year, and one of only two Category 5 hurricanes in the 1990s (the other was Mitch in 1998). The death toll of Andrew was only 26, largely due the well-executed evacuations. However, it caused a total of $26 billion in damage (1992 dollars), including $25 billion in Dade County (now Miami-Dade County) in Florida, $1 billion in Louisiana, and $250 million in the Bahamas, making it the most expensive hurricane in history until Hurricane Katrina surpassed it in 2005.
It moved to the east and re-organized into a tropical storm on the 28th. Bonnie briefly reached winds of 70 mph before weakening due to vertical shear while passing through the Azores Islands. The storm again became extratropical on September 30 to the east of the Azores.Bonnie did affect the Azores but there were no damage reports received. However, one man was killed by a rock fall on the island of São Miguel.
Two deaths were reported as a result of Danielle: a sailboat was battered and sunk by high seas off the coast of New Jersey.
Since Seven remained far from land, no damage was reported in connection to the depression.
There were no casualties or damage reported as a result of Earl.
A sailor was classified as missing and one was injured on a sailboat.
A polar low formed offshore the Mid-Atlantic States and moved up Chesapeake Bay into northern Virginia, with surprisingly warm mid-level temperatures and an eye feature, which was quite pronounced on WSR-88D radar imagery, and wind gusts to 87 mph/140 km/h at Chincoteague, Virginia on January 4. NASA indicated the existence of another possible tropical storm on May 16. It neared Bermuda and at its peak, had a well developed eye. Despite its organization, it was not recognized by the NHC and went unrecorded. There was an additional suspicious cyclone that rapidly formed in mid-September offshore the Mid-Atlantic, forming an eye as it moved a few hundred miles offshore New England, before striking Sable Island, Nova Scotia. One, if not all, of these cyclones could be included into the hurricane database, when the Atlantic hurricane reanalysis reaches 1992 (it is currently complete through 1920).
| ACE (104kt2) – Storm: Accumulated Cyclone Energy/Atlantic by year | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 28.4 | Andrew | 4 | 3.27 | Earl |
| 2 | 23.1 | Bonnie | 5 | 2.86 | Danielle |
| 3 | 10.9 | Charley | 5 | 6.50 | Frances |
| Total= 75.13 (75) | |||||
The most notable storm of the season was Hurricane Andrew, the costliest natural disaster in U.S. history until Hurricane Katrina in the 2005 season, and the third Category 5 hurricane to make landfall in the United States. The season also had several unusual landfalls, with Hurricanes Bonnie and Charley both striking the Azores, while Tropical Storm Danielle made landfall on the Delmarva Peninsula of Virginia.
The system was designated Tropical Depression Two because the policy on naming had been clarified after Tropical Depression One. Additional confusion was caused because of the apparent naming of two systems as "Tropical Depression Two".
Upon turning to the west, a trough of low pressure positioned to the southwest of Andrew created an environment with little vertical shear and well-defined outflow. The storm quickly intensified due to its small size, and became a hurricane on August 22. Andrew rapidly intensified under ideal conditions for development, and on August 23 the hurricane peaked with winds of 175 mph. It crossed the Bahamas at that intensity, weakened slightly, and re-intensified to a 165 mph Category 5 hurricane before making landfall near Homestead, Florida. It weakened slightly over the state to a 135 mph hurricane, but restrengthened to a 145 mph hurricane over the Gulf of Mexico. A strong mid-latitude trough turned Andrew northward, where it greatly weakened before hitting west of Morgan City, Louisiana on August 26 as a 115 mph Category 3 hurricane. It turned northeastward, and dissipated over Tennessee on August 28.
Hurricane Andrew was by far the most intense hurricane of the year, and one of only two Category 5 hurricanes in the 1990s (the other was Mitch in 1998). The death toll of Andrew was only 26, largely due the well-executed evacuations. However, it caused a total of $26 billion in damage (1992 dollars), including $25 billion in Dade County (now Miami-Dade County) in Florida, $1 billion in Louisiana, and $250 million in the Bahamas, making it the most expensive hurricane in history until Hurricane Katrina surpassed it in 2005.
It moved to the east and re-organized into a tropical storm on the 28th. Bonnie briefly reached winds of 70 mph before weakening due to vertical shear while passing through the Azores Islands. The storm again became extratropical on September 30 to the east of the Azores.Bonnie did affect the Azores but there were no damage reports received. However, one man was killed by a rock fall on the island of São Miguel.
Two deaths were reported as a result of Danielle: a sailboat was battered and sunk by high seas off the coast of New Jersey.
Since Seven remained far from land, no damage was reported in connection to the depression.
There were no casualties or damage reported as a result of Earl.
A sailor was classified as missing and one was injured on a sailboat.
A polar low formed offshore the Mid-Atlantic States and moved up Chesapeake Bay into northern Virginia, with surprisingly warm mid-level temperatures and an eye feature, which was quite pronounced on WSR-88D radar imagery, and wind gusts to 87 mph/140 km/h at Chincoteague, Virginia on January 4. NASA indicated the existence of another possible tropical storm on May 16. It neared Bermuda and at its peak, had a well developed eye. Despite its organization, it was not recognized by the NHC and went unrecorded. There was an additional suspicious cyclone that rapidly formed in mid-September offshore the Mid-Atlantic, forming an eye as it moved a few hundred miles offshore New England, before striking Sable Island, Nova Scotia. One, if not all, of these cyclones could be included into the hurricane database, when the Atlantic hurricane reanalysis reaches 1992 (it is currently complete through 1920).
| ACE (104kt2) – Storm: Accumulated Cyclone Energy/Atlantic by year | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 28.4 | Andrew | 4 | 3.27 | Earl |
| 2 | 23.1 | Bonnie | 5 | 2.86 | Danielle |
| 3 | 10.9 | Charley | 5 | 6.50 | Frances |
| Total= 75.13 (75) | |||||
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