Hurricane Alicia
| Category 3 major hurricane (SSHWS/NWS) | |
Hurricane Alicia at peak intensity on August 17, shortly before landfall in Texas
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| Formed | August 15, 1983 |
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| Dissipated | August 20, 1983 |
| Highest winds |
1-minute sustained: 115 mph (185 km/h) |
| Lowest pressure | 963 mbar (hPa); 28.44 inHg |
| Fatalities | 21 direct |
| Damage | $2.6 billion (1983 USD) |
| Areas affected | Mississippi, Louisiana, Texas, Oklahoma, Kansas, Nebraska |
| Part of the 1983 Atlantic hurricane season | |
Hurricane Alicia was the costliest tropical cyclone in the Atlantic since Hurricane Agnes in 1972. Alicia was the third depression, the first tropical storm, and the only major hurricane of the 1983 Atlantic hurricane season. It struck Galveston and Houston, Texas directly, causing $2.6 billion (1983 USD; US$6.25 billion 2017) in damage and killing 21 people; this made it the worst Texas hurricane since Hurricane Carla in 1961. In addition, Alicia was the first billion-dollar tropical cyclone in Texas history.
Hurricane Alicia was the first hurricane to hit the United States mainland since Hurricane Allen in August 1980. The time between the two storms totaled three years and eight days (1,103 days). Hurricane Alicia became the last major hurricane (Category 3 or higher) to strike Texas until the stronger Hurricane Bret in 1999 made landfall. Alicia was the first storm for which the National Hurricane Center issued landfall probabilities.
Hurricane Alicia was notable for the delayed post storm evacuation of Galveston Island (since the eye of the storm traveled the evacuation route up Interstate 45 from Galveston to Houston). The hurricane was also notable for the shattering of many windows in downtown Houston by loose gravel from the roofs of new skyscrapers and by other debris, prompting changes to rooftop construction codes.
The origins of Hurricane Alicia were from a cold front that extended from New England through the central Gulf of Mexico. On August 14, mesoscale low-pressure area developed off the Alabama and Mississippi coastlines. Around 0100 UTC on August 15, the low had maintained convection, or area of thunderstorms, for 12 hours, as well as a circulation for six hours; as a result, the National Hurricane Center (NHC) began issuing Dvorak classifications on the system. By a few hours later, the deep convection became organized in the circulation's southern semicircle, which prompted a Hurricane Hunters flight into the system. At 1200 UTC that day, the system developed into Tropical Depression Three about 350 miles (560 km) south-southwest of the Mississippi River Delta. A few hours later, the Hurricane Hunters confirmed its development. Such development along the tail end of a cold front is more typical earlier or later in the hurricane season.
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