Hurricane One The Surprise Hurricane of 1943 The 1943 Surprise hurricane was the first hurricane to be entered by a
reconnaissance aircraft. was found to have organized into a tropical storm by 18:00 UTC on July 25 while situated about 110 mi (175 km) southeast of the
Mississippi Delta. The nascent cyclone rapidly intensified thereafter, attaining hurricane intensity by 18:00 UTC on July 26 and reaching its peak as a
Category 2 hurricane with winds of 105 mph (165 km/h) early the following morning. The compact hurricane moved ashore the coastline of Texas near
Galveston Bay at 18:00 UTC on July 27, around which time it was intercepted by the first
reconnaissance aircraft to intentionally fly into a tropical cyclone. Rainfall across Texas and Louisiana varied, but
Devers, Texas, recorded a maximum storm total of 23 in (584 mm). Widespread freshwater flooding occurred in the
Beaumont and
Port Arthur areas. At
Ellington Field Joint Reserve Base, scores of air cadets and soldiers held onto the wings of airplanes to prevent them from going airborne; almost two dozen were injured in the aftermath. Offshore, the
hopper dredge Galveston and
tugboat Titan were capsized, leading to a total of 15 deaths. Overall, damage from the hurricane reached $17 million, 19 deaths were documented, and hundreds of people were injured. As a result of the casualties, the decision to censor information during an approaching storm was never again repeated.
Hurricane Three The third tropical cyclone of the 1943 season was noted about 265 mi (425 km) east of
Barbados around 06:00 UTC on August 19. Like its predecessor, the storm steered clear of the Caribbean on its west-northwest course, producing only minor squally weather across the
Leeward Islands as it intensified. It became a hurricane around 00:00 UTC on August 20, intensified into the season's first
major hurricane by 18:00 UTC on August 22, and further organized to attain its peak intensity as a Category 4 hurricane with winds of 140 mph (220 km/h) around 06:00 UTC on August 24. It curved northeast after passing within 165 mi (265 km) of Bermuda, where winds peaked at 81 mph (130 km/h),
Hurricane Six A circulation aloft was first documented across the western Gulf of Mexico on September 12. It became evident in surface maps three days later, marking the formation of a tropical storm by 18:00 UTC about 270 mi (435 km) southeast of
Matamoros, Tamaulipas. The nascent cyclone tracked northwest and attained hurricane intensity on September 16 before reaching its peak as a Category 2 hurricane with winds of 100 mph (160 km/h) the following morning. Thereafter, an area of high pressure over the northern
High Plains forced the system to complete a counter-clockwise loop. As a post-tropical cyclone, the system produced winds near 70 mph (110 km/h) across Nova Scotia, cut electricity to
Liverpool and
Annapolis Valley (where the apple crop sustained $300,000 in losses), and disrupted telephone service in
Halifax. Heavy surf washed out a 200 ft (60 m) section of railway in
Shelburne while some railway lines in
Lockeport suffered damage. A barge was severed from a large ship in Halifax and went aground on
Georges Island.
Tropical Storm Ten The final tropical cyclone of the season formed about 160 mi (260 km) northeast of the Honduras–Nicaragua border around 12:00 UTC on October 20. The fledgling cyclone intensified into a tropical storm twelve hours later and then attained winds of 45 mph (75 km/h) a while thereafter, marking its peak intensity. The system moved west for several days and passed through the
Belize Barrier Reef before executing a sharp eastward turn early on October 24, causing only delayed shipping and aviation schedules, as well as peak winds of 35 mph (56 km/h) in the
Swan Islands. From there, it maintained its status as a weak storm before transitioning into a post-tropical cyclone about 130 mi (215 km) southwest of the
Cayman Islands by 06:00 UTC on October 26.
Other systems On June 23, a 1,015 mb (hPa; 29.98 inHg) closed low—likely a tropical depression–was documented over the
Little Bahama Banks. It drifted slowly northwest, moving ashore near the Florida–Georgia border by early on June 27. Gusty winds were recorded in
Jacksonville and
Savannah, but otherwise no impacts of note occurred. == Season effects ==