Notable Early July Hurricanes

Hurricane Arthur, July 2014  (Source: NOAA)

Early July is usually a quiet time of the hurricane season in the tropical Atlantic.  However, there have been several significant hurricanes during the first two weeks of July in recent decades.

2018: Last summer, Hurricane Chris reached Category 2 intensity on July 10.  Maximum sustained winds reached 105 mph with a minimum central air pressure of 969 millibars (mb).  Standard sea level air pressure is approximately 1013.25 mb and the lower the air pressure is, the stronger the storm tends to be.  “Chris” has been a name on the list of Atlantic hurricane names since 1982.  The 2018 version was the most intense. 

My namesake storm has never become a “major” Category 3 hurricane in the seven times there has been a tropical storm or hurricane Chris.  As a tropical storm, “Chris” caused flooding and isolated reports of severe weather in the United States in 1982 and 1988, but the 2018 version didn’t make landfall in the U.S.

2014: Hurricane Arthur menaced beach-goers in North Carolina over the July 4 holiday five years ago.  The first named storm of the season, Arthur also became the earliest landfalling North Carolina hurricane on record.  At peak intensity, Arthur was a Category 2 hurricane with sustained winds of 100 mph and minimum central air pressure of 973 millibars.  It made landfall near Cape Lookout, North Carolina at this intensity early on July 4.  Although damage was relatively minimal, the impacts were high being a holiday weekend.

2005: Hurricane Dennis was the first major hurricane of the record-setting 2015.  At peak intensity, Dennis was a Category 4 with sustained winds of 150 mph and a minimum air pressure of 930 millibars.  Although Dennis weakened to Category 3 status before its landfall in the Florida panhandle on July 9, it still caused a considerable amount of damage and a small number of fatalities.  Ordinarily a hurricane like Dennis would have been one of the most significant hurricanes of any given season, but 2005 was different because it had record-setting storms like Katrina, Rita and Wilma.

1996: Like Dennis, Hurricane Bertha was also a major early season hurricane that was overshadowed by a storm later in the season.  Bertha reached its peak intensity as a Category 3 hurricane on July 9, with sustained winds of 115 mph and a minimum air pressure of 960 mb.  It ultimately made landfall in North Carolina as a Category 1 hurricane on July 12.  Less than two months later, Hurricane Fran made landfall in North Carolina as a major Category 3 hurricane.  Fran became the costliest U.S. hurricane of the 1996 season and subsequently had its name retired.