Hurricane Alice (December 1954)
| Category 1 hurricane (SSHWS/NWS) | |
A radar image of Hurricane Alice north of the Virgin Islands
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| Formed | December 30, 1954 |
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| Dissipated | January 6, 1955 |
| Highest winds |
1-minute sustained: 90 mph (150 km/h) |
| Lowest pressure | 980 mbar (hPa); 28.94 inHg |
| Fatalities | None reported |
| Damage | $623,000 (1954 USD) |
| Areas affected | Lesser Antilles |
| Part of the 1955 Atlantic hurricane season | |
Hurricane Alice is the only known Atlantic hurricane to span two calendar years and one of only two named Atlantic tropical cyclones, along with Tropical Storm Zeta of 2005, to do so. The twelfth tropical cyclone and the eighth hurricane of the 1955 Atlantic hurricane season, Alice developed on December 30, 1954 from a trough of low pressure in the central Atlantic Ocean in an area of unusually favorable conditions. The storm moved southwestward and gradually strengthened to reach hurricane status. After passing through the Leeward Islands on January 2, 1955, Alice reached peak winds of 90 mph (150 km/h) before encountering cold air and turning to the southeast. It dissipated on January 6 over the southeastern Caribbean Sea.
Alice produced heavy rainfall and moderately strong winds across several islands along its path. Saba and Anguilla were affected the most, with total damage amounting to $623,500 (1955 USD). There was an earlier hurricane named Alice in the season. Operationally, lack of definitive data prevented the U.S. Weather Bureau from declaring the system a hurricane until January 2. It received the name Alice in early 1955, though re-analysis of the data supported extending its track to the previous year, resulting in two tropical cyclones of the same name in one season.
A cold front moved southeastward from the East Coast of the United States on December 23, 1954, and passed over Bermuda two days later. A strong anticyclone developed behind the cold front, and on December 26 a trough extended southward from the cold front. The anticyclone moved southeastward as the trough and cold front moved eastward. The trough gradually decelerated as high pressures altered the upper level flow to that of an easterly flow. Convection increased over the trough as it moved over relatively warm waters, about 1 °C above normal, and began undergoing tropical cyclogenesis after a circulation began to develop along the northern portion of the trough. The system continued to organize as it moved to the west, and based on three ship reports confirming a closed circulation, it is estimated the system developed into a tropical depression on December 31 while located 770 miles (1245 km) east-northeast of Barbuda in the Lesser Antilles.
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Wikipedia