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The 1934 Atlantic hurricane season officially began on June 1, 1934, and lasted until November 30, 1934. These dates conventionally delimit the period of each year when most tropical cyclones form in the Atlantic basin.
The 1934 season was fairly quiet. However, it was a continuation of deadly seasons that had been going on since 1928.
A weak June hurricane, the 1934 Central America Hurricane, carved an erratic path across Central America and the Gulf of Mexico, causing catastrophic flooding in Central America that killed 1,000-3,000 people.
Elsewhere, a tropical storm formed and existed entirely during the month of May, striking Florida and South Carolina and causing $155,000 in damage. A Category 1 hurricane passed over north Florida as a tropical storm and made landfall in central Texas, causing 11 casualties and $1-2 million in damage. Another Category 1 grazed Galveston. The extratropical remnant of a hurricane moved up the US East Coast, bringing hurricane force winds.
[edit] Storms
[edit] Tropical Storm One
The season began early with an unusual preseason storm. It formed on May 27 off the northwest coast of Cuba and moved northeastward, striking the coast of Florida near Goodland. The storm moved off the coast of Hutchinson Island into the Atlantic and curved northwest. It reached its peak intensity of 60 mph (97 km/h) on May 28 and made a second landfall near Beaufort, South Carolina the next day. Inland, the storm weakened slowly and slowed down, making a counterclockwise loop before dissipating over central South Carolina. Little is written about the damage caused, although a monetary damage count of $155,000 was listed.
[edit] Hurricane Two
- Main article: 1934 Central America Hurricane
The first hurricane of the season carved an erratic path through Central America and the Gulf of Mexico, causing catastrophic flooding that killed thousands. It formed in the Gulf of Honduras in early June and slowly creeped north and then west into Belize. Over the next four days, it made a slow loop over the same general region of Central America. It went down through Guatemala and El Salvador and then back north into Honduras and the western Caribbean. Still hugging the coast, it strengthened into a hurricane, making landfall north of Majahual, Mexico on the Yucatan Peninsula. It weakened back to a storm as it began to move west across the northern part of the peninsula and into the Bay of Campeche. The storm slowed down further, making a tight (and rare second) counterclockwise loop then turning northward and gaining speed. It regained hurricane status, making landfall in Louisiana at Point au Fer Island on the east end of Atchafalaya Bay. The scale of the destruction in Central America was immense. As many as 3,000 people died in the catastrophic floods. Many places saw in excess of two feet of rain in just 72 hours. Some towns essentially ceased to exist. In Ocotepeque in western Honduras, only the church remained standing after the passage of the storm and the ensuing torrent. The region would not see destruction on this scale until Hurricane Fifi in 1974 (this includes a storm the very next year that killed over 1,000 in Central America). Six were killed in Louisiana and over $2.5 million in damages were reported. The storm recurved inland to the northeast and became extratropical over West Virginia.
[edit] Hurricane Three
The third storm was a minimal hurricane that took an unusual southwesterly track from the western Atlantic into the Gulf of Mexico. Storm Three formed from a non-tropical low pressure system off North Carolina's Outer Banks on July 21. The storm grazed Cape Fear on a westerly track but then turned south-southwest, making landfall not far south of St. Augustine, Florida near Crescent Beach and emerging in the Gulf of Mexico south of Cedar Key. It turned due west across the northern Gulf, gradually gaining intensity, becoming a hurricane on July 25 and making landfall near Lamar, Texas later that day. It dissipated a short distance across the Rio Grande river from Laredo. The storm killed 11 people (mostly in tornadoes) and caused roughly $2 million in damage.
[edit] Tropical Storm Four
Storm Four was a very weak system that formed on August 20 about 200 miles (320 km) east of Martinique and moved west-northwestward. Winds never rose above 40 mph (64 km/h) and after passing directly over Dominica and into the eastern Caribbean, the storm weakened to a tropical depression and dissipated well south of Hispaniola three days after forming. Very little effects were caused by this system.
[edit] Hurricane Five
The third hurricane of the season formed in the north central Gulf of Mexico in late August and tracked west and then west-northwest. As it approached the north Texas coast, it curved to the south, strengthening to a hurricane while just offshore of Galveston Island on August 27. The storm lost hurricane intensity soon after moving away from the coast. As it neared the Bay of Campeche, the storm curved westward, making landfall near Tampico, Mexico on the night of August 31. It dissipated inland the next day. No damages or loss of life were reported.
[edit] Hurricane Six
For what could've been the strongest and most significant storm to strike the US in 1934, strikingly little is written about this storm. It was first detected not far east of the Bahamas at near-hurricane intensity and then recurved to the north-northeast. Peak intensity came sometime during the day on September 7 while north of the Bahamas. It became extratropical as it brushed by Cape Hatteras as a Category 1. It went on to strike Long Island with winds just weakened from hurricane force. While hurricane-force winds were likely felt in the northern Bahamas, Cape Hatteras and Long Island, the Monthly Weather Review barely mentions its existence. Clearly listed as a hurricane in the summary table, it is all but dismissed in the report as "apparently of minor importance till it had moved north of the Tropic of Cancer" and then nothing else is said. We are left to assume that little damage resulted.
[edit] Tropical Storm Seven
Storm Seven was a weak system that formed about 100 miles (160 km) east of Barbados on September 16 and moved generally northwest throughout its lifetime. It moved somewhat erratically on the 17th, bringing heavy rain to the Leeward Islands. After that, it peaked in intensity with 45 mph (72 km/h) sustained winds (which it maintained for the next 60 hours) and curved gently north-northwestward into the open waters of the west Atlantic. The storm weakened to a tropical depression on September 21 and dissipated that evening while several hundred miles east of Cape Hatteras. No significant effects were reported.
[edit] Hurricane Eight
This storm, while one of the season's strongest, occurred over open water so little is known about it. The Best Track initializes it at about 25N 35W as a tropical storm. It moved swiftly throughout its lifetime (generally northwestward), strengthening to a hurricane about 12 hours after initialization. It became a Category 2 late on October 2, but held that intensity for only 12 hours, weakening back into a Category 1 and curving more westward, dissipating suddenly late on the 3rd.
[edit] Tropical Storm Nine
The ninth storm of the season formed in the western Caribbean near Cuba's Isle of Youth on the first of October. It moved somewhat slowly northwestward past the western tip of Cuba and into the Gulf of Mexico. On October 4, while in the middle of the Gulf, it recurved to the north-northeast, reaching its peak intensity of 60 mph (97 km/h) as it did so. It made landfall on Dauphin Island, Alabama late the next day as a weakening storm. It dissipated inland the next day, having caused no significant damage.
[edit] Tropical Storm Ten
Storm Ten, while a weak storm, interacted a lot with land. Despite this, next to nothing is written about it. The Monthly Weather Review listed it in their summary table but it's not even mentioned in the report. It formed (according to the Best Track data) just south of Kingston, Jamaica. It crossed the island and then recurved over southern Cuba, likely dumping large amounts of rain. It continued to the northeast across the Bahamas and into the open Atlantic. It dissipated on October 23 not far south of Bermuda. No effects are known.
[edit] Hurricane Eleven
The final storm was a late-season hurricane that took an unusual track across the mid-Atlantic. It was first noticed several hundred miles northeast of the Leeward Islands curving westward. On November 23 it recurved to the northeast while centered near 26N 66Wm, strengthening into a hurricane that evening. The storm reached its peak intensity 24 hours later and passed not far south of Bermuda before turning sharply back to the south-southwest and picking up speed. It weakened below hurricane strength the next day as it curved more to the south. The storm passed just east of the Turks and Caicos Islands before making landfall on the north coast of Hispaniola on November 28 as a weakening system. It dissipated inland. No damage or loss of life was reported although Bermuda did report gale-force winds.
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