Hurricane Olga (2001)

Hurricane Olga

Category 1 hurricane (SSHWS/NWS)
Hurricane Olga at peak intensity
Formed	November 24, 2001
Dissipated	December 7, 2001
(Extratropical after December 4, 2001)
Highest winds	1-minute sustained: 90 mph (150 km/h)
Lowest pressure	973 mbar (hPa); 28.73 inHg
Fatalities	None
Areas affected	Bermuda, Bahamas, Cuba, Florida
Part of the 2001 Atlantic hurricane season

Hurricane Olga was a late season Category 1 North Atlantic hurricane that formed during the 2001 Atlantic hurricane season. The fifteenth named storm, ninth and final hurricane of the 2001 season, Olga formed as a subtropical cyclone on November 24. After acquiring tropical characteristics later that day, Olga meandered westward, and eventually reached hurricane status on November 26. Olga’s winds peaked at 90 mph (150 km/h) before the storm turned southwestward and weakening back into a tropical storm. On November 30 it deteriorated further to a tropical depression, although it re-intensified two days later to tropical storm intensity. Olga then dissipated as a tropical cyclone on December 4 east of the Bahamas. Its damaging effects were limited to ships at sea. The cyclone's remnants produced heavy rainfall across the Bahamas and Florida. It was a relatively rare storm to exist in December, which is outside of the normal Atlantic hurricane season.

The origins of Hurricane Olga were from the interaction of a cold front and a small weather disturbance in the north Atlantic Ocean, producing an extratropical low east of Bermuda on November 22; five other tropical cyclones and gales formed earlier in the season in the same manner. The low gradually intensified, developing an area of convection east of the center and producing a large area of gale force winds. By 0000 UTC on November 24, the system organized enough to be classified as Subtropical Storm Two, while located about 900 mi (1450 km) east-southeast of Bermuda. Subsequently, the convection markedly increased and became more concentrated, with hints of an eye feature. Within 12 hours of becoming a subtropical, it is estimated the cyclone transitioned into Tropical Storm Olga; however, it was not purely tropical, due to being positioned beneath an upper-level low. Operationally, the National Hurricane Center (NHC) did not initiate advisories until nine hours later, referring it as Subtropical Storm Two for two more days.