Hurricane Able (1950)

Hurricane Able

Category 3 major hurricane (SSHWS/NWS)
Surface weather map of Hurricane Able on September 19
Formed	August 12, 1950
Dissipated	August 24, 1950 (extratropical after August 21)
Highest winds	1-minute sustained: 125 mph (205 km/h)
Lowest pressure	953 mbar (hPa); 28.14 inHg
Fatalities	11 total
Damage	$1.041 million (1950 USD)
Areas affected	North Carolina, New England, Nova Scotia, Newfoundland
Part of the 1950 Atlantic hurricane season

Hurricane Able was the first named tropical cyclone in the Atlantic hurricane database, and was also the first of six major hurricanes in the 1950 Atlantic hurricane season. Its development was confirmed on August 12 by the Hurricane Hunters, which is a group that intentionally flies into a hurricane for observations. Hurricane Able initially threatened to strike the Bahamas, but instead turned to the northwest and later to the northeast. As it neared the Outer Banks, Able reached peak winds of 125 miles per hour (201 km/h), equivalent to a modern-day Category 3 hurricane on the Saffir-Simpson hurricane wind scale. After brushing those islands and Cape Cod, Able moved ashore on Nova Scotia as a minimal hurricane. It later crossed Newfoundland and dissipated on August 24.

The hurricane prompted standard precautions in the Bahamas and Florida, although it did not affect the region. In North Carolina, winds and waves brushed the coast, while around New York City, heavy rainfall caused some flooding. Along Cape Cod and Nantucket, Able produced winds up to 55 mph (90 km/h) and high waves, and across New England there were nine traffic fatalities. The hurricane killed 2 people in Canada and caused over $1 million in damage.

The beginning of the 1950 Atlantic hurricane season was considered "remarkably quiet" by the U.S. Weather Bureau, with no noteworthy activity until early August. A Hurricane Hunters flight into an easterly wave on August 12 indicated a developing tropical storm east of the Lesser Antilles; it was later given the name "Able", which is the first name in the Joint Army/Navy Phonetic Alphabet. It moved steadily northwestward and reached hurricane status on August 14, as it passed to the north of the Leeward Islands. The next day, Hurricane Able turned to the west and west-southwest, due to a high pressure system to its north. On August 17 it attained major hurricane status, and by early on August 18 reconnaissance aircraft measured winds of 140 mph (225 km/h), though Atlantic hurricane reanalysis later determined that those winds were unrepresentative of the intensity. At the time, the storm was 350 miles (565 km) in diameter.