1938 January Hurricane
Hurricane One of the 1938 Atlantic hurricane season is the only Atlantic tropical cyclone on record to form during the month of January, and the earliest-forming tropical or subtropical cyclone on record in the Atlantic basin (Hurricane Alice in 1955 and Tropical Storm Zeta in 2006 both existed earlier in January, but neither formed in January, both having formed the previous December and lasted into January). It formed on January 3 southwest of the Azores, and throughout its existence as a tropical cyclone it maintained a general southwesterly track. The storm attained peak winds of about 80 mph (75 km/h) and never threatened land, dissipating on January 6. Only three other tropical or subtropical cyclones are known to have existed in January: Alice in 1955 and Zeta in 2006, neither of which formed in January (see above), and Subtropical Storm One in 1978.
Meteorological history
On January 1, a weak extratropical cyclone formed about southwest of São Miguel Island in the Azores. Moving eastward initially, it later began a turn to the south on January 3. On that day, the cyclone transitioned into a warm-core system, a tropical storm with winds of . The storm gradually curved to the southwest and became a hurricane on January 4, the equivalent of a Category 1 on the modern Saffir-Simpson hurricane wind scale. It peaked with winds of that same day but weakened back into a tropical storm on January 5. Turning to the south-southwest, it dissipated on January 6 while centered well to the east of the Lesser Antilles. The cyclone became the first documented Atlantic tropical cyclone to attain hurricane intensity in the month of January and is one of just four Atlantic storms known to have occurred in that month, the others being Hurricane Alice in 1955, Subtropical Storm One in 1978, and Tropical Storm Zeta in 2006.
Impact and records
The storm was the first (and, so far, only) Atlantic tropical cyclone on record to develop in the month of January. Throughout the entire Atlantic hurricane database, the storm remains one of only two tropical or subtropical cyclones to form during the month, the other being Subtropical Storm One in 1978. There have also been two storms that formed in late December and persisted into January. In 1954, Hurricane Alice developed to the northeast of the Lesser Antilles, and then moved through them in early January 1955 as a minimal hurricane. The other storm was Tropical Storm Zeta, which lasted from December 2005 to January 2006 over the open Atlantic Ocean.
See also
- List of Atlantic hurricane records
- Hurricane Alice (December 1954)
- 1978 January subtropical storm
- Tropical Storm Zeta