1965 Atlantic hurricane season
Encyclopedia
The 1965 Atlantic hurricane season officially began on June 1, 1965, and lasted until November 30, 1965. These dates conventionally delimit the period of each year when most tropical cyclone
Tropical cyclone
A tropical cyclone is a storm system characterized by a large low-pressure center and numerous thunderstorms that produce strong winds and heavy rain. Tropical cyclones strengthen when water evaporated from the ocean is released as the saturated air rises, resulting in condensation of water vapor...

s form in the Atlantic basin
Atlantic Basin
The Atlantic Basin is the Atlantic Ocean.Atlantic Basin may also refer to:* Atlantic Basin Iron Works, an ironworks that operated in Brooklyn, New York, in the early to mid-20th century...

.

As a whole the 1965 season
Atlantic hurricane season
The Atlantic hurricane season is the period in a year when hurricanes usually form in the Atlantic Ocean. Tropical cyclones in the North Atlantic are called hurricanes, tropical storms, or tropical depressions. In addition, there have been several storms over the years that have not been fully...

 was inactive, with only six tropical storms forming. The most notable storm of the season was Hurricane Betsy
Hurricane Betsy
Hurricane Betsy was a Category 4 hurricane of the 1965 Atlantic hurricane season which caused enormous damage in the Bahamas, Florida, and Louisiana. Betsy made its most intense landfall near the mouth of the Mississippi River, causing significant flooding of the waters of Lake Pontchartrain into...

. Betsy was one of the worst storms on record in the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

, killing 76 and causing $1.42 billion in damage (the first storm ever to reach the US$1 billion mark, equivalent to $8.5 billion in 2005 USD) in south Florida
Florida
Florida is a state in the southeastern United States, located on the nation's Atlantic and Gulf coasts. It is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the north by Alabama and Georgia and to the east by the Atlantic Ocean. With a population of 18,801,310 as measured by the 2010 census, it...

 and Louisiana
Louisiana
Louisiana is a state located in the southern region of the United States of America. Its capital is Baton Rouge and largest city is New Orleans. Louisiana is the only state in the U.S. with political subdivisions termed parishes, which are local governments equivalent to counties...

.

Tropical Storm One

In early June, an area of low pressure associated with the Intertropical Convergence Zone
Intertropical Convergence Zone
The Intertropical Convergence Zone , known by sailors as The Doldrums, is the area encircling the earth near the equator where winds originating in the northern and southern hemispheres come together....

 was pulled northward across Central America
Central America
Central America is the central geographic region of the Americas. It is the southernmost, isthmian portion of the North American continent, which connects with South America on the southeast. When considered part of the unified continental model, it is considered a subcontinent...

 and Mexico
Mexico
The United Mexican States , commonly known as Mexico , is a federal constitutional republic in North America. It is bordered on the north by the United States; on the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; on the southeast by Guatemala, Belize, and the Caribbean Sea; and on the east by the Gulf of...

 by a cut off low over the Gulf of Mexico
Gulf of Mexico
The Gulf of Mexico is a partially landlocked ocean basin largely surrounded by the North American continent and the island of Cuba. It is bounded on the northeast, north and northwest by the Gulf Coast of the United States, on the southwest and south by Mexico, and on the southeast by Cuba. In...

. Tracking northward into the Gulf, the low struggled to develop
Tropical cyclogenesis
Tropical cyclogenesis is the term that describes the development and strengthening of a tropical cyclone in the atmosphere. The mechanisms through which tropical cyclogenesis occurs are distinctly different from those through which mid-latitude cyclogenesis occurs...

 amidst wind shear
Wind shear
Wind shear, sometimes referred to as windshear or wind gradient, is a difference in wind speed and direction over a relatively short distance in the atmosphere...

. By June 13, aircraft reconnaissance found gale-force winds associated with the system; however, the storm was poorly organized and lacked a defined circulation center. Turning northeastward and accelerating in response to an approaching trough
Trough (meteorology)
A trough is an elongated region of relatively low atmospheric pressure, often associated with fronts.Unlike fronts, there is not a universal symbol for a trough on a weather chart. The weather charts in some countries or regions mark troughs by a line. In the United States, a trough may be marked...

 on June 14, the system attained winds of 50 mph (85 km/h). The following day, the system made landfall
Landfall (meteorology)
Landfall is the event of a tropical cyclone or a waterspout coming onto land after being over water. When a waterspout makes landfall it is reclassified as a tornado, which can then cause damage inland...

 along the Florida Panhandle
Florida Panhandle
The Florida Panhandle, an informal, unofficial term for the northwestern part of Florida, is a strip of land roughly 200 miles long and 50 to 100 miles wide , lying between Alabama on the north and the west, Georgia also on the north, and the Gulf of Mexico to the south. Its eastern boundary is...

 between Valparaiso
Valparaiso, Florida
Valparaiso is a city in Okaloosa County, Florida, in the United States, and it is named after the Chilean city of Valparaiso. As of the 2000 census, the city population was 6,408. According to the U.S. Census Bureau's 2004 estimates, the city had a population of 6,336...

 and Panama City
Panama City, Florida
-Personal income:The median income for a household in the city was $31,572, and the median income for a family was $40,890. Males had a median income of $30,401 versus $21,431 for females. The per capita income for the city was $17,830...

. Once over land, the storm interacted with a frontal system
Weather front
A weather front is a boundary separating two masses of air of different densities, and is the principal cause of meteorological phenomena. In surface weather analyses, fronts are depicted using various colored lines and symbols, depending on the type of front...

 and transitioned into an extratropical cyclone
Extratropical cyclone
Extratropical cyclones, sometimes called mid-latitude cyclones or wave cyclones, are a group of cyclones defined as synoptic scale low pressure weather systems that occur in the middle latitudes of the Earth having neither tropical nor polar characteristics, and are connected with fronts and...

 before losing its identity on June 18 off the Mid-Atlantic coast
Mid-Atlantic States
The Mid-Atlantic states, also called middle Atlantic states or simply the mid Atlantic, form a region of the United States generally located between New England and the South...

.

Hurricane Anna

A tropical wave moving across the Atlantic became a tropical storm on August 21 in the central Atlantic. Anna moved northeastward and became a hurricane on August 23. After reaching a peak of 90 mph (150 km/h), Anna weakened due to cool waters and upper level shear, becoming extratropical on August 25, while just off the coast of Ireland
Ireland
Ireland is an island to the northwest of continental Europe. It is the third-largest island in Europe and the twentieth-largest island on Earth...

.

Hurricane Betsy

Hurricane Betsy moved across the Atlantic, executing two loops before moving across south Florida and hitting Louisiana
Louisiana
Louisiana is a state located in the southern region of the United States of America. Its capital is Baton Rouge and largest city is New Orleans. Louisiana is the only state in the U.S. with political subdivisions termed parishes, which are local governments equivalent to counties...

 on September 9, 1965 as a Category 4 hurricane. The eye passed to the southwest of New Orleans, though the eyewall covered much of southeast Louisiana for an eight-hour period. Betsy caused $10–$12 billion (2005 USD) in damage, as well as 76 deaths. It was the first storm to cause $1 billion US in damage (unadjusted for inflation), thus earning it the nickname "Billion Dollar Betsy".

Hurricane Carol

Hurricane Carol developed on September 16 in the eastern Atlantic from a tropical wave that moved off the coast of Africa. The tropical depression moved quickly westward, becoming a tropical storm on September 17. The fast motion impeded development for the next few days, but as it slowed down, it was able to become a hurricane on September 20. Carol continued northward for the next three days, when it stalled west-southwest of the Azores
Azores
The Archipelago of the Azores is composed of nine volcanic islands situated in the middle of the North Atlantic Ocean, and is located about west from Lisbon and about east from the east coast of North America. The islands, and their economic exclusion zone, form the Autonomous Region of the...

 for five days, maintaining hurricane force winds throughout. After looping, Carol turned to the northeast, reaching a peak of 100 mph (160 km/h) before weakening. It passed north of the Azores, turned to the southeast, and became extratropical west of Spain
Spain
Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...

 on October 1.

Tropical Storm Debbie

A northwestward-moving tropical disturbance through the Caribbean Sea
Caribbean Sea
The Caribbean Sea is a sea of the Atlantic Ocean located in the tropics of the Western hemisphere. It is bounded by Mexico and Central America to the west and southwest, to the north by the Greater Antilles, and to the east by the Lesser Antilles....

 developed into a tropical depression on September 24 north of Honduras
Honduras
Honduras is a republic in Central America. It was previously known as Spanish Honduras to differentiate it from British Honduras, which became the modern-day state of Belize...

. It crossed over Yucatan
Yucatán
Yucatán officially Estado Libre y Soberano de Yucatán is one of the 31 states which, with the Federal District, comprise the 32 Federal Entities of Mexico. It is divided in 106 municipalities and its capital city is Mérida....

 two days later. The depression did not organize much until it reached the Gulf of Mexico
Gulf of Mexico
The Gulf of Mexico is a partially landlocked ocean basin largely surrounded by the North American continent and the island of Cuba. It is bounded on the northeast, north and northwest by the Gulf Coast of the United States, on the southwest and south by Mexico, and on the southeast by Cuba. In...

, where it became a tropical storm on September 28. Drier and cooler air was around Debbie, causing a minimal tropical storm to pass by Louisiana
Louisiana
Louisiana is a state located in the southern region of the United States of America. Its capital is Baton Rouge and largest city is New Orleans. Louisiana is the only state in the U.S. with political subdivisions termed parishes, which are local governments equivalent to counties...

. It dissipated on the September 30 before hitting land, but it brought heavy rain to the Mobile, Alabama
Mobile, Alabama
Mobile is the third most populous city in the Southern US state of Alabama and is the county seat of Mobile County. It is located on the Mobile River and the central Gulf Coast of the United States. The population within the city limits was 195,111 during the 2010 census. It is the largest...

 area, establishing a new 24 rainfall record when 16.85 in (428 mm) fell. The cyclone
Cyclone
In meteorology, a cyclone is an area of closed, circular fluid motion rotating in the same direction as the Earth. This is usually characterized by inward spiraling winds that rotate anticlockwise in the Northern Hemisphere and clockwise in the Southern Hemisphere of the Earth. Most large-scale...

 caused $25 million in damage.

Hurricane Elena

A very weak circulation caused by a tropical wave moved across the tropical Atlantic. It became a tropical depression on October 12, though it had little, if any, convection near the center. It slowed as it moved to the northwest, becoming a tropical storm on October 14. Elena continued to organize, and reached hurricane force strength on the October 16 while recurving out to sea. The hurricane reached a peak of 80 mph (130 km/h) before becoming extratropical over the northern Atlantic on the October 19.

Storm names

The following names were used for named storms (tropical storms and hurricanes) that formed in the North Atlantic in 1965. A storm was named Elena for the first time in 1965. Names that were not assigned are marked in .
  • Anna
  • Betsy
    Hurricane Betsy
    Hurricane Betsy was a Category 4 hurricane of the 1965 Atlantic hurricane season which caused enormous damage in the Bahamas, Florida, and Louisiana. Betsy made its most intense landfall near the mouth of the Mississippi River, causing significant flooding of the waters of Lake Pontchartrain into...

  • Carol
  • Debbie
    Tropical Storm Debbie (1965)
    Tropical Storm Debbie of the 1965 Atlantic hurricane season broke the daily rainfall record in Mobile, Alabama, despite dissipating offshore. It developed on September 24 in the western Caribbean Sea, and moved northwestward for several days without intensifying...

  • Elena

Retirement

The name Betsy was later retired. The name Carol was also later retired after the modern naming system was instituted; however, it was not because of the 1965 storm but because of Hurricane Carol
Hurricane Carol
Hurricane Carol was among the worst tropical cyclones to affect the New England region of the United States. It developed from a tropical wave near the Bahamas on August 25, 1954, and gradually strengthened as it moved northwestward. On August 27, Carol intensified to reach winds of , but weakened...

 in 1954. They were replaced with Blanche and Camille
Hurricane Camille
Hurricane Camille was the third and strongest tropical cyclone and second hurricane during the 1969 Atlantic hurricane season. The second of three catastrophic Category 5 hurricanes to make landfall in the United States during the 20th century , which it did near the mouth of the Mississippi River...

.

See also

  • List of Atlantic hurricanes
  • List of Atlantic hurricane seasons

External links

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