Hurricane Arthur Recap: First Atlantic Hurricane of the 2014 Season

Arthur interrupted many plans along the East Coast for the Fourth of July. It all began with a disturbance that came off the coast of the Carolinas and drifted south towards the Bahamas.

Arthur first became a tropical depression on June 30 at 11:00 a.m. EDT off the east coast of Florida.

Hurricane Arthur then tracked to the north-northeast and made landfall as a Category 2 hurricane, packing 100 mph winds, at 11:15 p.m. on July 3 at Shackleford Banks, North Carolina.  

Hurricane Arthur has become the first hurricane to make landfall in the continental U.S. since Hurricane Isaac struck Louisiana on Aug. 28-29, 2012. (Sandy, in October 2012, became post-tropical shortly before landfall.)

Arthur is also the first hurricane of Category 2 or greater strength to make landfall in the Lower 48 since Hurricane Ike struck Texas on Sept. 13, 2008.

In addition, Arthur made landfall earlier on the calendar than any other known hurricane in North Carolina history.

After spending some time over Pamlico Sound and brushing mainland parts of Dare and Hyde counties, the center of Arthur then crossed over the northern Outer Banks of North Carolina near Nags Head around 4:30 a.m. EDT on July 4.

The peak reported land gust was 101 mph at Cape Lookout, North Carolina as Arthur approached its first landfall point.

A 4.48-foot storm surge (above normal tide levels) was reported in Oregon Inlet, North Carolina the morning of July 4, mainly from the sound (as opposed to ocean) side.

Arthur then made its closest approach to New England during the late evening hours of July 4, with its center of circulation moving within 75 miles of Nantucket and Cape Cod.

Torrential rainfall fell on parts of Bristol and Plymouth counties on the Massachusetts mainland on July 4 as moisture from Arthur interacted with a stalled frontal boundary. As much as 8 inches of rain fell in portions of Massachusetts.

Numerous trees were uprooted, and over 4 inches of rain were reported in eastern Maine on July 5 due to Arthur.

Arthur weakened into a tropical storm at 5 a.m. July 5 and then into a post-tropical cyclone at 8 a.m. the same day as the storm continued to head northeast into Canada. Heavy rain continued in Maine through Saturday.

Even though Arthur was no longer a hurricane, it was still a potent storm, bringing heavy rain and gusty winds into Atlantic Canada. Wind gusts reached 86 mph (138 km/h) at Greenwood, Nova Scotia, and Yarmouth, Nova Scotia reported a 70 mph wind gust. Fredericton, New Brunswick, clocked a 66-mph gust.

According to the Canadian Hurricane Centre, Arthur made landfall in Canada near Port Maitland, Nova Scotia, as a strong post-tropical storm with sustained winds of 70 mph (110 km/h).

The animation below shows Arthur's transition from a hurricane into a post-tropical cyclone, using water vapor imagery from the GOES-13 satellite as processed by the Cooperative Institute for Meteorological Satellite Studies at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

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