Formation & Track Areas
November hurricanes are pretty rare. By this time of the year, the westerlies are increasing in strength so storms that do form (almost always in the Western Caribbean) tend to move from southwest to northeast. During the heart of hurricane season most storms move east to west in the tropics before moving far enough north to recurve with the jet stream.
November hurricanes hitting the United States are even more rare. Since 1900, 4 hurricanes have hit the United States and all have been Category 1 and all hit Florida!
The last November hurricane was Hurricane Kate in 1985. At one point, Kate was a Category 3 in the Gulf of Mexico. It is the only major hurricane ever observed in the Gulf during the month of November. It weakend to a Category 1 when it made landfall in the Florida Panhandle.
Here are the other three hurricanes to hit Florida since 1900, courtesy of USA Today. The Yankee Hurricane is well remembered in South Florida because of its unusual approach from the North..hence the name "Yankee Hurricane".
- The "Yankee hurricane" of 1935 formed over the Atlantic
Ocean and moved to the southwest to hit the Miami area with 75 mph winds on
Nov. 4. It moved along the Keys and then north into the Gulf of Mexico where
it looped back around toward the east, but died before hitting Florida again.
To many people in Florida any visitor from the north is a "Yankee,"
thus the "Yankee hurricane."
YANKEE HURRICANE TRACK
Storm number 2 of 1925. Only two tropical storms formed in 1925 with
the first coming ashore near Brownsville, Texas, as a tropical storm in September.
On Nov. 30, 1925 the year's second tropical storm strengthened into a Category
1 hurricane shortly before coming ashore south of Tampa Bay, Fla. After weakening
back into a tropical storm, it crossed Florida to strengthen into a hurricane,
but weakened into a tropical storm before hitting the North Carolina Outer
Banks on Dec. 2. It was blamed for about 50 deaths, mostly on ships at sea.
Storm number 14 of 1916. Unlike 1925, 1916 was a busy year with 14
tropical storms on the record and all but three of them becoming hurricanes.
Storm 14 formed in the western Caribbean on Nov. 11, but remained a tropical
storm until Nov. 15 when it was off the western tip of Cuba where it became
a category 1 hurricane that moved to the northeast along the Florida Keys
with 75 mph winds and then into the Bahamas where it died.
**SPECIAL NOTE
The November 1916 hurricane was re-classified as extratropical when it affected South Florida after the re-analysis project from 1851-1925 was recently completed by Chris Landsea and the Hurricane Research Division.
