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1887 Atlantic hurricane season

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This map shows the tracks of all tropical cyclones in the 1887 Atlantic hurricane season . The points show the location of each storm at 6-hour intervals. The colour represents the storm's maximum sus
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Through Cuba and Mississippi

Of the known 1887 cyclones, the first and third were first documented in 1996 by José Fernández-Partagás and Henry F. Diaz. They also proposed large alterations to the known tracks of several of the other 1887 storms. Later, the Atlantic hurricane reanalysis project lengthened the tracks of the sixth and fifteen storms and upgraded the latter to a hurricane, although they did not add or remove any cyclones from the official hurricane database (HURDAT). In 2014, climate researcher Michael Chenoweth's reanalysis study recommended the removal of three storms and the addition of eight new systems to HURDAT, for a total of 24 cyclones in the 1887 season.

Only a few of the storms during the 1887 season did not impact land. The fourth system caused one death and more than $1.5 million (1887 USD) in damage, mostly due to flooding in the Southeastern United States. The next three hurricanes all passed offshore Newfoundland over a two-week period, together causing at least ten deaths. Next, the ninth system drowned 14 sailors and caused significant impacts over southern Texas and northeastern Mexico. Six tropical storm formed in October, among the most ever recorded during that month. At least $10,000 in damage occurred in Louisiana due to the thirteenth storm, while the sixteenth cyclone inflicted at least $7,000 in damage after sinking a ship and drowned two people after another vessel capsized. The season's nineteenth and final system resulted in 15 deaths across the Caribbean Sea.

Season summary

The Atlantic hurricane database (HURDAT) officially recognizes that 19 tropical cyclones formed during the 1887 season, 11 of which strengthened into a hurricane. Although both numbers set a record at the time, this activity has been surpassed or equaled many times, first in the 1933 season, which featured 20 tropical storms, while tying for the amount of hurricanes. Later, the 1969 season became the first to exceed the 1887 season's number of hurricanes, with 12. Currently, the seasonal records for most tropical storms is 30 and the most hurricanes is 15, set in 2020 and 2005, respectively. Five storms existed outside the modern-day boundaries of an Atlantic hurricane season – June 1 to November 30 – which is also a record.

The Atlantic hurricane reanalysis project did not add or remove any storms from the 1996 reanalysis of the season by meteorologists José Fernández-Partagás and Henry F. Diaz, who both added the first and third systems. However, the Atlantic hurricane reanalysis project extended the tracks of the sixth and fifteenth systems and upgraded the fifteen storm to a hurricane. A more recent reanalysis by climate researcher Michael Chenoweth, published in 2014, adds eight storms and removes three – the sixteenth, eighteenth, and nineteenth – for a net gain of five cyclones, although these proposed changes have yet to be approved for inclusion to HURDAT. If approved, the season would feature 24 tropical storms, the third-most on record, behind only 2005 and 2020. Chenoweth's study utilizes a more extensive collection of newspapers and ship logs, as well as late 19th century weather maps for the first time, in comparison to previous reanalysis projects. Chenoweth's proposals have yet to be incorporated into HURDAT, however.

Activity began early, with a pair of tropical storms in May, the first of which was detected by the Orinoco, docked at Bermuda, on May 15. One system, another tropical storm, formed in June and caused some deaths and crop damage in Cuba, but only minor impacts along the Gulf Coast of the United States after striking Mississippi. Tropical cyclogenesis then ceased until mid-July, when a storm was detected near Barbados. The most significant effects of this system occurred in the Southeastern United States, where one death and about $1.5 million in agricultural damage alone occurred. Another tropical storm developed in July. August featured both of the season's major hurricanes, which followed similar paths, first being observed just east of the Leeward Islands, striking or passing close to the Bahamas, recurving to the northeast just offshore the Southeastern United States, and then approaching Atlantic Canada just prior to becoming extratropical. Both storms also caused multiple deaths. The second of the two peaked with maximum sustained winds of 125 mph (205 km/h) and an atmospheric pressure of 952 mbar (28.1 inHg), making it the most intense cyclone of the season.

September had three cyclones, all of which became hurricanes. The first of the three resulted in seven fatalities due to maritime incidents over the Grand Banks of Newfoundland, while the second drowned fourteen sailors and caused significant impacts over southern Texas and northeastern Mexico. Six tropical storms formed in October, making it one of the most active Octobers on record. The season's thirteenth storm caused at least $10,000 in damage after destroying a grain elevator in Louisiana, while the sixteenth storm inflicted at least $7,000 in damage after sinking a ship and drowned two people after another vessel capsized. Activity then went dormant until late November, when the track for the seventeenth system storm began north of Puerto Rico. In December, two tropical storms developed, with the second one dissipating on December 12 after striking Costa Rica. Fifteen deaths occurred across the Caribbean Sea. Because of these two storms and the seventeenth system lasting until at least early December, the season also featured the most active December on record. Overall, the cyclones of the 1887 season collectively caused more than $1.52 million in damage and over 41 fatalities.

The season's activity was reflected with an accumulated cyclone energy (ACE) rating of 181, then the highest value ever recorded, but surpassed in 1893 and many other times since. ACE is a metric used to express the energy used by a tropical cyclone during its lifetime. Therefore, a storm with a longer duration will have higher values of ACE. It is only calculated at six-hour increments in which specific tropical and subtropical systems are either at or above sustained wind speeds of 39 mph (63 km/h), which is the threshold for tropical storm intensity. Thus, tropical depressions are not included here.

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