The Atlantic Hurricane season 2003
Rather long and busy
The 2003 Atlantic hurrican season has been slighty longer and more busy than originally expected. There were 16 named tropical cyclones of which seven became hurricanes, compared to the long-term average of 10 named tropical cyclones and six hurricanes. There have been only six seasons with 16 or more named tropical cyclones since 1886. A storm is named when its winds reach 39 mph, tropical storm strength. Fabian and Isabel were exceptionally long-lived and intense. On the Saffir-Simpson scale Kate was an extensive category 3 hurricane, Fabian an extreme category 4 and Isabel a catastrophic category 5 monster. There were five tropical depressions that did not reach storm strength on the other hand.
The early-season April tropical storm Ana and two after season December tropical storms Odette and Peter stretched the season well beyond the usual 1 June through November 30 time period. In fact, Ana was the first April tropical storm on record and the only other year with two December tropical cyclones is 1887.
CATEGORY NAME DATES MAX WIND (mph) Tropical Storm Ana 20/04 - 24/04 60 Tropical Storm Bill 29/06 - 02/07 60 Hurricane (1) Claudette 08/07 - 17/07 90 Hurricane (1) Danny 16/07 - 21/07 75 Hurricane (1) Erika 14/08 - 17/08 75 Hurricane (4) Fabian 27/08 - 08/09 145 Tropical Storm Grace 30/08 - 02/09 40 Tropical Storm Henri 03/09 - 08/09 60 Hurricane (5) Isabel 06/09 - 19/09 165 Hurricane (2) Juan 24/09 - 29/09 105 Hurricane (3) Kate 25/09 - 07/10 125 Tropical Storm Larry 01/10 - 06/10 65 Tropical Storm Mindy 10/10 - 14/10 45 Tropical Storm Nicholas 13/10 - 23/10 70 Tropical Storm Odette 04/12 - 07/12 65 Tropical Storm Peter 07/12 - 11/12 70 source: NOAA