| Category 3 hurricane (SSHS) | |
|---|---|
| Hurricane Faith on September 1, 1966 as it moved towards Cape Hatteras on the North Carolina coast. | |
| Formed | August 21, 1966 |
| Dissipated | September 6, 1966 |
| Highest winds | 1-minute sustained: 125 mph (205 km/h) |
| Lowest pressure | 950 mbar (hPa; 28.05 inHg) |
| Fatalities | 4 direct |
| Areas affected | Lesser Antilles, Bermuda, Faroe Islands, Denmark, Norway |
| Part of the 1966 Atlantic hurricane season | |
Hurricane Faith was the northernmost tracking tropical cyclone in the Atlantic basin, as well as the longest distance traveled. The eighth tropical cyclone and sixth named storm of the 1966 Atlantic hurricane season, Faith developed from an area of disturbed weather between Cape Verde and the west coast of Africa on August 21. Tracking westward, the tropical depression gradually intensified, and became a tropical storm on the following day. Continuing to head westward across the Atlantic, it intensified and weakened slightly in nearly the same manner for the next several days, until rapid intensification occurred on August 28. Weakening back slightly, it tracked a long distance across the Atlantic, reaching as far north as the Faroe Islands before weakening further. Hurricane Faith finally transitioned into an extratropical storm over the North Sea.
Although Hurricane Faith was tracked for a very long distance, there were only four fatalities and minimal damage due to the affected areas being sparsely populated.
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The origins of Hurricane Faith were from an area of disturbed weather that emerged into the Atlantic along the west coast of Africa on August 18. Moving off Africa, Television Infrared Observation Satellite XI (TIROS XI) had indicated that the system became a poorly defined tropical depression and was associated with a circular mass of convection. The area of disturbed weather traced westward, eventually becoming Tropical Depression Eight on August 21.[1]
Continuing westward, Tropical Depression Eight intensified, and was upgraded to Tropical Storm Faith the day after developing. Gradually intensification persisted as Tropical Storm Faith headed nearly due westward, and strengthened enough to become a hurricane on August 23. Curving slightly west-northwestward, Hurricane Faith reached category 2 intensity and briefly peaked at sustained winds of 105 mph (165 km/h). Hurricane Faith curved to the northwest, and weakened back to a category 1 hurricane while nearing the northeastern Leeward Islands on August 25. Bypassing the Leeward Islands, Faith remained a category 1 hurricane until re-intensifying into category 2 hurricane on August 28, while it had situated near Turks and Caicos Islands. After becoming a category 2 hurricane again, Faith quickly intensified into a category 3 hurricane only six hours later. Immediately upon becoming a category 3 hurricane, Faith had reached its maximum sustained winds of 125 mph (205 km/h), although the minimum barometric pressure was not recorded at this time.[1]
After reaching maximum sustained winds late on August 28, Hurricane Faith began to gradually weaken back, and had dropped down to category 2 intensity early on August 30 while moving slowly north-northwest. Weakening back to a category 2 hurricane, Faith turned northeastward at almost halfway between Bermuda and Florida. Hurricane Faith remained well away from the United States East Coast and Atlantic Canada when it veered eastward on September 1. Heading eastward, Hurricane Faith began to accelerate and eventually curved northeastward. Nearing Europe, Hurricane Faith moved as fast as 48 mph (76 km/h) while just south of Iceland. After remaining a category 2 hurricane since August 29, Hurricane Faith finally weakened back to a category 1 hurricane early on September 6, while close to the Faroe Islands. Entering the North Sea, Hurricane Faith finally transitioned into an extratropical storm.[1] Transitioning into an extratropical storm, the remnants headed westward and affected Norway with winds as high as 60 mph (95 km/h). Tracking over Scandinavia, the extratropical storm weakened to the equivalency of a tropical depression before entering the Soviet Union (present day Russia), and later degenerated into an extratropical low. The extratropical low pressure area headed northward, and retained its identity as far north Franz Josef Land, which is roughly 600 mi (966 km) from the North Pole.[2]
In the Caribbean, the approach of Faith caused the Antigua tracking station (which was tracking an unmanned rocket launched by NASA) to shut down 45 minutes after the rocket lifted off.[3] Faith also produced gale force winds across the northern Leeward Islands and Puerto Rico. The winds only did minor damage and there were no reported fatalities or injuries.[4] Rough seas from Faith, brought 10–15 ft waves to Trinidad and Tobago. The waves caused minor damage to small boats and jetties.[5] In Bermuda, the outer rainbands of Hurricane Faith produced heavy rainfall and winds gusting to 62 mph.[6] Four people died as a result of the storm; none of them were on land. One man was pitched overboard when his boat was battered by heavy seas. Two others drowned while trying to cross the Atlantic in a rowboat. Another man was missing and presumed dead after heavy seas forced him and his shipmates to abandon their boat off the north coast of Denmark. Property damage was minimal, mainly because the areas impacted by Faith were sparsely populated.[7]
Faith traveled for 12700 Km (6850 mi), the longest track of an Atlantic hurricane and the second longest worldwide. The only tropical cyclone that traveled farther than Faith was Hurricane John in the North Pacific Ocean[8]. Faith also traveled to the most northerly latitude of any Atlantic hurricane. Faith was also one of the longest duration tropical cyclones in the Atlantic Ocean on record, lasting 16 days total and spending 13 as a hurricane.
