1983 Atlantic hurricane season

The 1983 Atlantic hurricane season was the least active Atlantic hurricane season in the satellite era and the least active overall since 1930. The season officially began on June 1, 1983, and lasted until November 30, 1983. These dates conventionally delimit the period of each year when most storms form in the Atlantic basin. The season had very little activity, with only seven tropical depressions, four of which reached tropical storm strength or higher. This led to the lowest accumulated cyclone energy count since 1977.

The season began later than normal; the first tropical depression formed on July 23 and the second on July 27. Neither tropical depressions strengthened and they dissipated soon thereafter. Hurricane Alicia formed as Tropical Depression Three on August 15, quickly intensified into a hurricane on August 16 and made landfall in Texas on August 18. Alicia caused $3 billion in damage in Texas. Hurricane Barry formed on August 25, crossed Florida and strengthened into a hurricane. Barry made landfall near the Mexico–United States border, and dissipated over land on August 30.

Hurricane Chantal, the third and final hurricane in 1983, formed on September 10. It strengthened into a hurricane, but stayed out at sea, and was absorbed by a frontal system on September 15. Tropical Depression Six formed on September 18 and caused heavy rains in the Caribbean before degenerating into a wave on September 20. Tropical Storm Dean was the final storm of the season, forming on September 26. It originally tracked to the north, peaking at winds, and made landfall in the Delmarva Peninsula on September 29. It dissipated over the coast of Virginia on the following day.

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Seasonal forecasts

{| class="toccolours" cellspacing=0 cellpadding=3 style="float:right; margin-left:1em; text-align:right; clear: right;"

|+Predictions of tropical activity in the 1983 season

|- style="background:#CFCFCF; text-align:center;×÷≥"

|align="center"|Source

|align="center"|Date

|align="center"|Named storms

|align="center"|Hurricanes

|align="center"|Major hurricanes

|align="center"|Ref

|align="center" colspan="2"|Average (1981–2010) || 12.1 || 6.4 || 2.7 ||

|align="center" colspan="2"|Record high activity

|30

|15

|7†

|align="center" colspan="2"|Record low activity

|0†

| colspan="6" style="text-align:center;"| <hr/>

|align="left"|

|align="left"|Actual activity

|align="left" colspan="5"|† Most recent of several such occurrences. (See all)

Forecasts of hurricane activity are issued before each hurricane season by noted hurricane experts such as Dr. William M. Gray and his associates at Colorado State University (CSU).

Seasonal summary

The season, which began on June 1 and ended on November 30, was very inactive because of strong upper-level wind shear. The wind shear was unusually strong throughout the Caribbean and open Atlantic, and disrupted convection in areas of disturbed weather so they could not develop. Over 60 African systems had formed and made it westward, but when they reached the Lesser Antilles, they were dissolved easily. The only area where the shear was minimal—a region encompassing the Gulf of Mexico and the Atlantic north of the Bahamas and east of Florida—was where the four named storms developed. Another contributing factor to the low number of storms may have been the decaying 1982–83 El Niño event. The season total of four named storms was the fewest in the satellite era, while the 1983 season was the least active since 1930, which had only three storms. This season and the previous became the first example of two consecutive years to have no storms form in the Caribbean since reliable record began. Additionally, the 1983 season was the first on record in which a system did not reach tropical storm intensity south of 25°N latitude.

Tropical cyclogenesis began on July 23, when Tropical Depression One formed over the deep Atlantic. After crossing the Windward Islands, the depression dissipated over the eastern Caribbean on July 28. As the previous system moved across the Caribbean, another depression formed on July 27 to the southwest of the Cape Verde Islands. The depression traversed the Atlantic in a west-northwestward direction and also failed to reach tropical storm intensity before dissipating near the northern Leeward Islands on August 2. Later in August, hurricanes Alicia and Barry developed. The former also became the most intense tropical cyclone of the season, peaking as a Category 3 hurricane with maximum sustained winds of . Alicia caused 21 fatalities and approximately $3 billion in damage, mostly in Texas. which is classified as "below normal". ACE is a metric used to express the energy used by a tropical cyclone during its lifetime. Therefore, 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 intensity. The depression dissipated over the eastern Caribbean late on July 28.

Tropical Depression Two

An area of disturbed weather organized into a tropical depression southwest of the Cape Verde Islands on July 27. The depression moved generally west-northwestward across the deep Atlantic for several days, but failed to strengthened significantly due to strong upper-level wind shear. The depression dissipated near the northern Leeward Islands on August 2.

Hurricane Alicia

The system that would become Hurricane Alicia originated from the western end of a frontal trough that stretched from New England to the Gulf of Mexico. Satellite pictures showed a meso-scale low-pressure area that had moved off the Alabama and Mississippi coasts near the trough and was possibly the precursor system to Alicia. Pressures in the Gulf of Mexico were high and stayed high during the early development stages. On August 15, a ship recorded a minimal pressure of 1015 millibars (29.99 inHg), when the system was upgraded into Tropical Storm Alicia. With high environmental pressures around it, Alicia remained a small system.

Hurricane Barry

Hurricane Barry originated from a tropical disturbance that left the Northwestern African coast on August 13.

Hurricane Chantal

The precursor low to Chantal originated from a large envelope of low pressure on the morning of September 10. However, Chantal generated swells of offshore.

Tropical Depression Six

Tropical Depression Six formed on September 18 from a tropical wave. before degenerating into an open tropical wave on September 20 near the Dominican Republic.

Tropical Storm Dean

A frontal cloud band moved off the East Coast of the United States on September 22. Rainfall produced by the storm spread from the North Carolina–Virginia state line all the way to New England. Virginia reported rains of with at the border. Rains peaked at at Cockaponset Ranger Station in Connecticut.

Storm names

The following list of names was used for named storms that formed in the North Atlantic in 1983. Each name used this season was utilized for the first (and, in the case of Alicia, only) time.

{| style="width:90%;"

Alicia
Barry
Chantal
Dean

Retirement

In the spring of 1984, the World Meteorological Organization retired the name Alicia from the rotating name lists due to the amount of damage and deaths it caused, and it will not be used again for another Atlantic hurricane. Alicia was replaced with Allison for the 1989 season.

Season effects

This is a table of all of the storms that formed in the 1983 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 1983 USD.

| One || || bgcolor=#| || || || || || ||

| Two || || bgcolor=#| || || || || || ||

| Alicia || || bgcolor=#|Category 3 hurricane || || || Eastern Texas, Central United States || || ||