<!-- "none" is a legitimate description when the title is already adequate; see WP:SDNONE -->
The 1920 Atlantic hurricane season featured tropical storms and hurricanes only in the month of September. (The present-day delineation of the Atlantic hurricane season is June 1 to November 30.) The first system, a hurricane, developed on September 7 while the last, a tropical depression, transitioned into an extratropical cyclone on October 27. Of note, four of the six cyclones co-existed with another tropical cyclone during the season.
Of the season's six tropical cyclones, five became tropical storms and four strengthened into hurricanes. Furthermore, none of these strengthened into a major hurricane—Category 3 or higher on the modern-day Saffir–Simpson hurricane wind scale—marking the seventh such occurrence since 1900. ACE is, broadly speaking, a measure of the power of the hurricane multiplied by the length of time it existed, so storms that last a long time, as well as particularly strong hurricanes, have high ACEs. It is only calculated for full advisories on tropical systems at or exceeding , which is the threshold for tropical storm status.
__TOC__
Timeline
<div style="text-align: center;"><timeline>
ImageSize = width:800 height:200
PlotArea = top:10 bottom:80 right:20 left:20
Legend = columns:3 left:30 top:58 columnwidth:270
AlignBars = early
DateFormat = dd/mm/yyyy
Period = from:01/09/1920 till:01/11/1920
TimeAxis = orientation:horizontal
ScaleMinor = grid:black unit:month increment:1 start:01/09/1920
Colors =
id:canvas value:gray(0.88)
id:GP value:red
id:TD value:rgb(0.43,0.76,0.92) legend:Tropical_Depression_=_≤38_mph_(≤62_km/h)
id:TS value:rgb(0.3,1,1) legend:Tropical_Storm_=_39–73_mph_(63–117_km/h)
id:C1 value:rgb(1,1,0.85) legend:Category_1_=_74–95_mph_(118–153_km/h)
id:C2 value:rgb(1,0.85,0.55) legend:Category_2_=_96–110_mph_(154–177_km/h)
id:C3 value:rgb(1,0.62,0.35) legend:Category_3_=_111–129_mph_(178–208_km/h)
id:C4 value:rgb(1,0.45,0.54) legend:Category_4_=_130–156_mph_(209–251_km/h)
id:C5 value:rgb(0.55,0.46,0.90) legend:Category_5_=_≥157_mph_(≥252_km/h)
Backgroundcolors = canvas:canvas
BarData =
barset:Hurricane
bar:Month
PlotData=
barset:Hurricane width:10 align:left fontsize:S shift:(4,-4) anchor:till
from:07/09/1920 till:14/09/1920 color:C2 text:"One" (C2)
from:16/09/1920 till:23/09/1920 color:C2 text:"Two" (C2)
from:19/09/1920 till:24/09/1920 color:C1 text:"Three" (C1)
from:23/09/1920 till:27/09/1920 color:TS text:"Four" (TS)
from:25/09/1920 till:30/09/1920 color:C1 text:"Five" (C1)
from:20/10/1920 till:27/10/1920 color:TD text:"TD"
bar:Month width:15 align:center fontsize:S shift:(0,-20) anchor:middle color:canvas
from:01/09/1920 till:01/10/1920 text:September
from:01/10/1920 till:01/11/1920 text:October
TextData =
pos:(570,30)
text:"(From the"
pos:(617,30)
text:"Saffir–Simpson Hurricane Scale)"
</timeline>
</div>
Systems
Hurricane One
The first known storm of the season was initially identified on September 7 as a tropical storm over Atlantic Ocean. Traveling towards the northwest, the storm gradually intensified, attaining hurricane-status late on September 9. The following day, a ship in the vicinity of the storm recorded a pressure of 985 mbar (hPa), the lowest pressure recorded in relation to the storm. Around 1200 UTC, the hurricane turned towards the north and intensified into a modern-day Category 2 hurricane on the Saffir–Simpson scale early on September 11. The storm continued to intensify through September 12 when it reached its peak intensity with winds of . After maintaining this intensity for 18 hours, the hurricane began to weaken as it turned towards the northwest. By 0000 UTC on September 14, the storm weakened to a Category 1 hurricane. The system began to undergo an extratropical transition, completing the process early the next day. The system tracked nearly due east before dissipating on September 16 to the north of the Azores islands.
Hurricane Two
The Louisiana Hurricane of 1920 <br />
An area of disturbed weather developed into a tropical depression northwest of Colombia on September 16. The system remained a weak tropical depression as it made landfall on Nicaragua, but later intensified to tropical storm strength as it moved across the Gulf of Honduras, prior to making a second landfall on the Yucatán Peninsula. Once in the Gulf of Mexico, the storm quickly intensified as it moved towards the north-northwest, reaching its peak intensity as a Category 2 hurricane with winds of prior to making landfall near Houma, Louisiana with no change in intensity. Afterwards, it quickly weakened over land, before dissipating on September 23 over eastern Kansas.
As it approached the United States Gulf Coast, the hurricane forced an estimated 4,500 people to evacuate off of Galveston Island, and numerous other evacuations and precautionary measures to occur. At landfall, the hurricane generated strong winds along a wide swath of the coast, uprooting trees and causing damage to homes and other infrastructure. Heavy rainfall associated with the storm peaked at in Robertsdale, Alabama. The heavy rains also washed out railroads, leading to several rail accidents. Across the Gulf Coast, one death was associated with the hurricane and damage from the storm totaled to $1.45 million (1920 USD). The system, which had an "extremely small diameter",
Tropical Storm Four
A tropical depression developed from a weak low-pressure area along a decaying stationary front about east of Bermuda around 1200 UTC on September 23. Based on ship observations, the system is estimated to have become a tropical storm early on September 24. Around this time, the storm reached its peak intensity with winds of ; the storm also began to turn northeastward at this time. The hurricane then accelerated and began weakening. Early on September 30, the storm made landfall near Cedar Key, Florida, with winds up to before transitioning into an extratropical cyclone over Florida. Later that day, the remnants dissipated over the eastern Atlantic Ocean.
Although the storm weakened significantly before landfall, it caused severe damage along the immediate coastlines of western Florida. Low lands along the coast were inundated by storm surge and heavy rains, peaking at . Crop lands were flooded, causing substantial damage to the fruit industry. One person was killed after being electrocuted by a downed wire in St. Petersburg. Several ships were also destroyed by the storm while docked along the coast.
Tropical Depression
On October 20, a westward moving tropical wave developed into a tropical depression about north-northeast of Barbuda. Trekking northwestward over the next three days, before curving northward in advance of an approaching frontal boundary. The depression peaked with maximum sustained winds of and a minimum barometric pressure of . By October 25, it began merging with a cold front, finally being absorbed on October 27 about east-northeast of Bermuda.