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The 1966 Atlantic hurricane season saw the Weather Bureau office in Miami, Florida, be designated as the National Hurricane Center (NHC) and assume responsibility of tropical cyclone forecasting in the basin. The season officially began on June 1, and lasted until November 30. These dates conventionally delimit the period of each year when most tropical cyclones form in the Atlantic basin. It was an above-average season in terms of tropical storms, with a total of 15. The first system, Hurricane Alma, developed over eastern Nicaragua on June 4 and became a rare major hurricane in the month of June. Alma brought severe flooding to Honduras and later to Cuba, but caused relatively minor impact in the Southeastern United States. Alma resulted in 90 deaths and about $210 million (1966 USD) in damage.
The unnamed June tropical storm and Becky, Celia, Dorothy, and Ella all resulted in little to no impact on land. The next system, Hurricane Faith, developed near Cape Verde on August 21. It tracked westward across the Atlantic Ocean until north of Hispaniola. After paralleling the East Coast of the United States, Faith moved northeastward across the open Atlantic and later became extratropical on September 4. Although it never made landfall, Faith and its remnants generated rough seas that resulted in four deaths, with one over the open Atlantic and the other four offshore Denmark. The two next tropical storms – Greta and Hallie – caused negligible impact.
The strongest tropical cyclone of the season was Hurricane Inez, a powerful Category 5 hurricane that devastated a large majority of the Caribbean, the Florida Keys, and parts of Mexico. Throughout its path, the storm caused about $222.5 million in damage and more than 1,000 deaths. Following Inez, the other cyclones reaching at least tropical storm intensity, Judith, Kendra, Lois, and two unnamed systems in November did not result in significant impacts on land. The final system, an unnamed tropical storm, degenerated into a trough over the western Atlantic on November 26.
Season summary
The Atlantic hurricane season officially began on June 1. During the year, the Miami, Florida, Weather Bureau office was re-designated the National Hurricane Center. It was an above average season in which fifteen tropical storms formed, compared with the 1966–2009 average of 11.3 named storms. Seven of these reached hurricane status, slightly above of the 1966–2009 average of 6.2, and three of those reached major hurricane status, with the 1950–2000 mean being 2.3. The season officially ended on November 30.
Four tropical cyclones developed in September, including tropical storms Greta, Hallie and Judith, as well as Hurricane Inez. Peaking as a Category 5 hurricane on the Saffir–Simpson hurricane wind scale with winds of , Inez was the strongest tropical cyclone of the season. Although Inez persisted into October, no other system developed that month. Two named storms usually form in October. The final formally named storm, Hurricane Lois, existed from November 4 to November 11.
The season's activity was reflected with an accumulated cyclone energy (ACE) rating of 145. 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 tropical storm strength.
Systems
Hurricane Alma
A westward-moving tropical wave crossed the Caribbean Sea and reached Central America in early June. Land interaction initially slowed development. However, after the wave turned northward and reemerged into the Caribbean, it quickly organized into a tropical depression at 12:00 UTC on June 5. While moving through Honduras, the precursor system dropped heavy rainfall that killed at least 73 people in the city of San Rafael. The depression moved north-northeastward and intensified into Tropical Storm Alma around 00:00 UTC on June 6, about 18 hours before becoming a hurricane. After strengthening into a Category 2 hurricane on June 8, Alma made two landfalls in Cuba, first on Isla de la Juventud with winds of and then near Guanimar, Artemisa Province, at a slightly stronger intensity. Havana observed wind gusts up to . Over 1,000 houses were destroyed, and damage was estimated at $200 million. Alma dropped heavy rainfall and produced winds across most of Florida, which damaged crops and caused scattered power outages. The cyclone weakened to a Category 1 hurricane before moving ashore near St. Marks, Florida, late on June 9 with winds of . The storm re-intensified into a hurricane over the western Atlantic Ocean around 12:00 UTC on June 11, Portions of Newfoundland experienced wind gusts up to . Around 06:00 UTC on July 23, the depression strengthened into Tropical Storm Dorothy. Thereafter, it moved in quasi-stationary motion to the northwest and continued to intensify, reaching hurricane status late on July 24.
Upon reaching hurricane intensity, Dorothy possessed tropical characteristics, with evidence of a weak warm core beginning on July 25. After curving north-northwestward near the Bahamas, Faith briefly intensified into a Category 3 hurricane on August 28, reaching an initial peak intensity with winds of . The storm then weakened and fluctuated in intensity between Category 2 and Category 1 over the next few days. Faith remained well offshore the East Coast of the United States, turning northeastward on August 31 and then eastward on September 2.
Re-intensifying into a Category 3 hurricane early on September 3, Faith then attained its peak intensity with maximum sustained winds of and a minimum barometric pressure of . One person drowned in the western Atlantic after his ship sank. The storm resumed a northeastward motion and weakened to a Category 2 hurricane early on September 4, before becoming extratropical about east-southeast of Cape Race, Newfoundland. The extratropical remnants continued northeastward and later east-northeastward across the far north Atlantic. On September 6, the remnants of Faith passed near the Faroe Islands, several hours before striking Norway and crossing Scandinavia. Thereafter, the system meandered over the Soviet Union and the Arctic Ocean for the next several days, until finally becoming unidentifiable near Franz Josef Land on September 15. Three other drowning deaths occurred in the North Sea near Denmark. In Norway, heavy rainfall from the storm caused record high glacier melting, flooding some areas.
Tropical Storm Greta
A tropical wave traversed the Atlantic well east of the Windward Islands in late August. The wave developed into a tropical depression about east of Barbados at 12:00 UTC on September 1, based on Nimbus 2 satellite imagery showing that a circulation formed within the cloud mass. The depression moved west-northwestward and remained weak and disorganized, with convection highly sheared on its east side. Based on reconnaissance flight data, the depression intensified into Tropical Storm Greta early on September 4. Based on reconnaissance data, ship reports, and the pressure-wind relationship, Greta is estimated to have peaked with maximum sustained winds of and a minimum barometric pressure of several hours later. The cyclone slowly weakened thereafter, falling to tropical depression intensity early on September 6. Around 18:00 UTC that day, Greta degenerated into an open trough, which turned northward over the western Atlantic before being absorbed by a frontal system on September 8. There were 40 deaths and damage totaled approximately $50 million. The storm flooded many rivers and destroyed over 800 houses in Dominican Republic. There were about 100 deaths and $12 million in damage. About 125,000 people were forced to evacuate in Cuba, and there were three deaths and $20 million in damage. Salt spray damaged crops in the region, and there was $5 million in damage and four deaths. In the Straits of Florida, Inez capsized a boat of Cuban refugees, killing 45 people. Inez produced flooding and caused some power outages in the Yucatán Peninsula. At its final landfall, Inez flooded portions of Tamaulipas and cut off roads to Tampico. About 84,000 people were left homeless, Damage was estimated at $104 million, and there were 74 deaths in Mexico.
Tropical Storm Judith
On September 26 and September 27, satellite imagery and ships monitored an area of disturbed weather located to the east of the Lesser Antilles and following Hurricane Inez. Based on reports of a circulation, Storms were named Dorothy, Faith, Hallie, Inez, Kendra and Lois for the first (and only, in the case of Inez) time in 1966.
{| style="width:90%;"
|
- Alma
- Becky
- Celia
- Dorothy
- Ella
- Faith
- Greta
|
- Hallie
- Inez
- Judith
- Kendra
- Lois
|
|}
Retirement
Early in 1967, at the recommendation of the Interdepartmental Hurricane Warning Conference, the name Faith was removed from the naming list. And later, following the 1969 interdepartmental conference, Inez was retired from further use as an Atlantic tropical cyclone name. Faith and Inez were replaced with Felice and Isabel, respectively, when the 1966 list was used again for the 1970 season.
Season effects
This is a table of all of the tropical cyclones that formed in the 1966 Atlantic hurricane season. It includes their name, duration, peak classification and intensities, areas affected, damage, and death totals. Deaths in parentheses are additional and indirect (an example of an indirect death would be a traffic accident), but were still related to that storm. Damage and deaths include totals while the storm was extratropical, a wave, or a low, and all of the damage figures are in 1966 USD.