The 1953 season

Tropical Storm Alice (1953)

Tropical Storm Alice peaked at 60 kt in the North Atlantic between May 25, 1953 and June 7, 1953, with a lowest pressure of 994 mb, and made landfall.

Track and intensity

The whole track of Tropical Storm Alice, colored by strength, with the other storms of the 1953 season in the same basin behind it, and its wind and pressure hour by hour. Every fix is in the track table below.

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The storm

Basin
North Atlantic
Dates
May 25, 1953 to June 7, 1953
Peak strength
Tropical Storm, 60 kt (69 mph)
Lowest pressure
994 mb (29.35 inHg)
Landfall
Yes
Accumulated cyclone energy
7.3
Fastest the center moved
14 kt (16 mph)
Identifier
AL011953

Deaths and damage

No source this site reads publishes a machine-readable casualty or damage figure for a storm of this era. The National Hurricane Center’s season tables begin in 1995 and carry deaths and damage only from 2005 in the Atlantic and 2020 in both basins; the US Storm Events record begins in 1996.

Landfalls

Time (UTC)WherePositionWindPressure
May 26, 18:00Coast unnamed here15.4N 83.9W35 kt (40 mph)
May 31, 13:00Guane, Pinar del Rio, Cuba, 40 km away21.9N 84.3W45 kt (52 mph)
Jun 6, 17:00Laguna Beach, FL, 7 km away30.3N 85.9W40 kt (46 mph)

Landfall points the US agencies flagged in the best track. The nearest town is named from the site’s gazetteer, not from the report.

Rainfall

The Weather Prediction Center attributes 541 rain gauge totals over the contiguous United States to this storm. The wettest reached 13.48 inches (342 mm).

StationTotalPosition
LAKE PLACID 2 SW13.48 in (342 mm)27.28N 81.38W
WAUCHULA13.03 in (331 mm)27.53N 81.78W
MARATHON SHORES11.04 in (280 mm)24.73N 81.05W
ARCADIA9.51 in (242 mm)27.22N 81.87W
DRY TORTUGAS9.18 in (233 mm)24.62N 82.87W
AVON PARK 2 W8.61 in (219 mm)27.58N 81.52W
WINTER HAVEN8.57 in (218 mm)28.00N 81.72W
DESOTO CITY 8 SW8.56 in (217 mm)27.37N 81.50W
CAESARS HEAD8.01 in (203 mm)35.12N 82.63W
BABSON PARK 1 ENE7.85 in (199 mm)27.85N 81.52W
BIG PINE KEY7.78 in (198 mm)24.72N 81.38W
ST MARKS 5 SSE7.60 in (193 mm)30.10N 84.17W

WPC’s storm rainfall file, 1900 to 2020, compiled by David Roth.

Track

Time (UTC)PositionWindPressureStatus
May 25, 18:0014.4N 81.8W25 ktTropical depression
May 26, 00:0014.9N 82.3W30 ktTropical depression
May 26, 06:0015.2N 82.8W30 ktTropical depression
May 26, 12:0015.5N 83.3W35 ktTropical storm
May 26, 18:00 landfall15.4N 83.9W35 ktTropical storm
May 27, 00:0015.1N 84.5W35 ktTropical storm
May 27, 06:0014.8N 84.9W30 ktTropical depression
May 27, 12:0014.4N 85.0W25 ktTropical depression
May 27, 18:0014.0N 84.9W25 ktTropical depression
May 28, 00:0013.6N 84.5W25 ktTropical depression
May 28, 06:0013.2N 84.0W25 ktTropical depression
May 28, 12:0013.1N 83.5W30 ktTropical depression
May 28, 18:0013.7N 83.0W30 ktTropical depression
May 29, 00:0014.7N 82.5W30 ktTropical depression
May 29, 06:0015.9N 82.1W30 ktTropical depression
May 29, 12:0017.3N 82.1W30 ktTropical depression
May 29, 18:0018.2N 82.2W35 ktTropical storm
May 30, 00:0019.0N 82.5W35 ktTropical storm
May 30, 06:0019.7N 83.1W35 ktTropical storm
May 30, 12:0020.2N 83.7W40 ktTropical storm
May 30, 18:0020.5N 84.0W40 kt1000 mbTropical storm
May 31, 00:0020.9N 84.1W45 ktTropical storm
May 31, 06:0021.3N 84.2W45 ktTropical storm
May 31, 12:0021.8N 84.3W45 ktTropical storm
May 31, 13:00 landfall21.9N 84.3W45 ktTropical storm
May 31, 18:0022.2N 84.5W40 kt1003 mbTropical storm
Jun 1, 00:0022.7N 84.7W45 ktTropical storm
Jun 1, 06:0023.3N 84.8W45 ktTropical storm
Jun 1, 12:0023.9N 85.0W50 ktTropical storm
Jun 1, 18:0024.2N 85.4W50 kt997 mbTropical storm
Jun 2, 00:0024.0N 85.2W50 kt996 mbTropical storm
Jun 2, 06:0023.5N 84.9W50 ktTropical storm
Jun 2, 12:0023.2N 84.6W45 ktTropical storm
Jun 2, 18:0023.1N 84.3W40 kt999 mbTropical storm
Jun 3, 00:0023.0N 84.0W40 ktTropical storm
Jun 3, 06:0023.1N 83.7W40 ktTropical storm
Jun 3, 12:0023.2N 83.4W40 ktTropical storm
Jun 3, 18:0023.4N 82.9W40 ktTropical storm
Jun 4, 00:0023.6N 82.8W40 ktTropical storm
Jun 4, 06:0024.0N 83.2W45 ktTropical storm
Jun 4, 12:0024.5N 83.8W50 ktTropical storm
Jun 4, 18:0025.2N 84.4W50 ktTropical storm
Jun 5, 00:0025.9N 85.0W55 ktTropical storm
Jun 5, 06:0026.6N 85.7W55 ktTropical storm
Jun 5, 12:0027.3N 85.8W60 ktTropical storm
Jun 5, 18:0028.0N 85.8W60 ktTropical storm
Jun 6, 00:0028.7N 85.8W55 kt994 mbTropical storm
Jun 6, 06:0029.3N 85.9W50 ktTropical storm
Jun 6, 12:0029.8N 85.9W45 ktTropical storm
Jun 6, 17:00 landfall30.3N 85.9W40 ktTropical storm
Jun 6, 18:0030.4N 85.9W40 ktTropical storm
Jun 7, 00:0030.8N 85.8W25 ktTropical depression
Jun 7, 06:0031.1N 85.5W20 ktTropical depression

Other North Atlantic storms of 1953

What this means

A best track is the record a warning agency settles on after the storm, not what it said at the time: position, maximum sustained wind and central pressure every six hours, revised against every observation that came in later. Category is the Saffir-Simpson scale, which runs from Category 1 at 64 kt to Category 5 at 137 kt and reads wind only, so it says nothing about surge or rain. Accumulated cyclone energy adds up the square of the wind through the storm's life, so it counts strength and duration together.

Sources

Storm history from NOAA NCEI’s International Best Track Archive for Climate Stewardship (IBTrACS), which merges the official best track of every warning agency. Live storms, cones, watches and warnings from the National Hurricane Center and the Central Pacific Hurricane Center. Archived radar from NOAA’s Level II archive.

The National Hurricane Center has published no tropical cyclone report for this storm.