5 Notorious June Hurricanes and Tropical Storms

Early Season Can Deliver

Admittedly, June is not the peak of the Atlantic hurricane season, by a long shot.  Only 6% of named storms have formed in this first "official" month of the season since 1950.  

(MORE:  What's Typical in June)

However, that's not to say June hasn't had notorious, destructive tropical cyclones.  

Let's kick off the list with a record-setting early U.S. hurricane.

Hurricane Alma (1966)

Owing to Alma's landfall location in a sparsely-populated part of northern Florida, impact was rather minor.  Storm surge flooding and wind damage was observed in the Lower Keys.  A gust to 125 mph was clocked in the Dry Tortugas.  

Next up is a recent hurricane that became a flooding headache.

Hurricane Alex (2010)

The 2010 season got off to a roaring start.  Hurricane Alex was the strongest June Atlantic Basin hurricane as measured by central pressure in 53 years and was the first June hurricane in the basin in 15 years.  

Alex's legacy, though, was flooding.  Up to 35 inches of rain lead to major flooding in Monterrey, Mexico.  Alex's remnants lead to major flooding on the Rio Grande River. 

(PHOTOS:  Monterrey flooding | Rio Grande flooding) 

We mentioned Alex was the strongest June Atlantic hurricane in 53 years, which brings us to our next notorious June hurricane.

Hurricane Audrey (1957)

The only Category 4 June hurricane on record in the Atlantic Basin, Audrey roared ashore along the Texas and Louisiana border, claiming at least 416 lives in the U.S., the 7th deadliest U.S. tropical cyclone on record.  Only Hurricane Katrina (2005) claimed more lives since Audrey.

A storm surge up to 12.4 feet was measured in southwest Louisiana.  Add in waves as high as 20 feet on top of the storm surge, and you can see why Audrey was so deadly.  According to David Roth from NOAA's Hydrometeorological Prediction Center, 90-95% of buildings in Cameron and Lower Vermillion Parishes were damaged beyond repair.  Over 1.6 million acres of land were flooded by the storm surge in tandem with water backing up along rivers in southwest Louisiana.  

Let's head just a little bit west for a much less intense, but inundating June storm.

Tropical Storm Allison (2001)

The system that was "Allison" inundated the Houston metro area in two rounds.  The first soaking June 5-6, associated with Tropical Storm Allison's initial landfall didn't give a hint of anything out of the ordinary.  It was the second deluge June 8-9 with Allison's remnant low that tipped the scales into a massive flood for one of the nation's largest cities.  

Allison underscored the flood danger from weak tropical storms or depressions that stall.  

Finally...let's end with the most notorious June tropical cyclone in the Northeast.

Hurricane Agnes (1972)

While Agnes made landfall in Florida as a Category 1 hurricane, its legacy is linked to its second wind as a tropical storm curling northwestward toward New York City, then stalling.  A large swath of 10"+ rain fell from northern Virginia to the Finger Lakes of New York.  

A dike was breached in Wilkes-Barre, Pa., sending a wall of water through the city.  Extensive flooding was seen all along the Susquehanna River, including Elmira, N.Y. and Harrisburg, Pa., the James River in Downtown Richmond, Va.  

In all, 122 were killed from Agnes and its remnant flooding.  At its time, Agnes was the costliest weather disaster in U.S. history, with total damage estimated at $2.1 billion.    

(BLOGS:  Stu Ostro (written in 2006) | Dr. Greg Forbes (written in 2006))