Reanalysis of the 1960-1970 Atlantic Hurricane Seasons

The Hurricane Database, known as HURDAT2, is the main historical archive of all tropical storms, subtropical storms, and hurricanes in the North Atlantic Basin, including the Caribbean Sea and the Gulf of Mexico, from 1851 to the present. HURDAT2 is maintained and updated annually by the National Hurricane Center in Miami, Florida. Today, HURDAT is widely used by research scientists, operational hurricane forecasters, insurance companies, emergency managers and others. Thus, its accuracy is essential. Previous work has shown that a reanalysis of HURDAT2 is necessary because it contains both random errors and systematic biases. The Atlantic Hurricane Reanalysis Project is an ongoing effort to correct the errors in HURDAT2 and to provide as accurate of a database as is possible with the utilization of all available data.

The work reported on here covers hurricane seasons from 1960 to 1970 during the early years of satellite imagery. The track and intensity of each existing tropical cyclone has been reassessed. Previously unrecognized tropical cyclones have been discovered, analyzed, and recommended to the HURDAT Best Track Change Committee for inclusion into HURDAT2. Changes to the number of tropical storms, hurricanes, major hurricanes, accumulated cyclone energy, and U.S. landfalling hurricanes are recommended for most of the years. A brief overview of the reanalysis methodology will be provided. The final results of the reanalysis of 1960-1963 hurricane seasons and the preliminary results of the 1964-1970 hurricane seasons will be presented. There were some major changes made or recommended to be made to HURDAT. The peak intensity of Hurricane Carla (1961) was decreased from 150 knots (category 5) to 125 knots (category 4). The peak intensity of Hurricane Inez (1966) was increased from 130 knots (category 4) to 145 knots (category 5). A hurricane that formed off the Southeastern U.S. late in the 1962 season was added to the database. One additional change is a subtropical cyclone in 1968 being reanalyzed as a hurricane using synoptic and satellite data.