The 2003 season

Hurricane Erika (2003)

Hurricane Erika reached Category 1 in the North Atlantic between August 14, 2003 and August 17, 2003, with a lowest pressure of 986 mb, and made landfall. It killed 2 people and did $12,000 of damage, as Wikidata records it.

Track and intensity

The whole track of Hurricane Erika, colored by strength, with the other storms of the 2003 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
August 14, 2003 to August 17, 2003
Peak strength
Category 1, 65 kt (75 mph)
Lowest pressure
986 mb (29.12 inHg)
Landfall
Yes
Accumulated cyclone energy
2.1
Tropical-storm-force wind reached
120 nmi (222 km, 138 mi) from the center at its widest
Eyewall radius at its peak
25 nmi (46 km, 29 mi)
Overall size
150 nmi (278 km, 173 mi) to the outermost closed isobar
Fastest the center moved
23 kt (26 mph)
Identifier
AL082003

Radar at KBRO as it neared land, Aug 16, 10:30 UTC

Deaths and damage

The sources count different things and are not added together.

NOAA Storm Events

0 deaths (0 direct, 0 indirect)$10,000

What National Weather Service offices recorded county by county in 1 states and marine areas, in the United States only. Property and crop damage as each office estimated it, which is not a national loss total.

Wikidata

2 deaths$12,000

A community-maintained total, usually direct and indirect deaths together and damage worldwide. Joined to this storm by its IBTrACS serial, not by name.

Landfall

Time (UTC)WherePositionWindPressure
Aug 16, 10:30Valle Hermoso, Tamaulipas, Mexico, 59 km away25.3N 97.4W65 kt (75 mph)986 mb

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

In the United States

NOAA’s Storm Events database, the record National Weather Service offices compile months after a storm, as compiled March 2026.

Deaths
0 (0 direct, 0 indirect)
Injuries
0
Property damage
$10,000
Crop damage
none recorded
Events recorded
1 in 1 reports from 1 states and marine areas

State by state

State or marine areaDeathsInjuriesDamageEvents
Texas00$10,0001

What was recorded

1 strong wind.

Rainfall

The Weather Prediction Center attributes 337 rain gauge totals over the contiguous United States to this storm. The wettest reached 3.83 inches (97 mm).

StationTotalPosition
SAN_BENITO/RIO GRANDE TX3.83 in (97 mm)26.03N 97.73W
PEARLAND TX3.30 in (84 mm)29.59N 95.38W
VRBF12.62 in (67 mm)27.69N 80.43W
VRB2.36 in (60 mm)27.65N 80.42W
TMB2.15 in (55 mm)25.65N 80.43W
PBI1.80 in (46 mm)26.68N 80.10W
PITF11.74 in (44 mm)30.95N 85.84W
LOS FRESNOS TX1.65 in (42 mm)26.05N 97.17W
RAYMONDVILLE TX1.52 in (39 mm)26.49N 97.80W
NORF11.51 in (38 mm)26.18N 80.45W
PORT MANSFIELD TX1.46 in (37 mm)26.55N 97.43W
FPRF11.43 in (36 mm)27.43N 80.40W

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

Wind reports

The strongest winds National Weather Service offices recorded with this storm. An estimated figure is a forecaster’s judgment from the damage, not an instrument reading.

WindHowWhereStateTime (UTC)
50 kt (58 mph)EstimatedCameronTexasAug 19, 08:00

Track

Time (UTC)PositionWindPressureStatus
Aug 14, 18:0026.4N 83.3W35 kt1011 mbTropical storm
Aug 15, 00:0026.6N 85.7W40 kt1008 mbTropical storm
Aug 15, 06:0026.4N 88.3W40 kt1008 mbTropical storm
Aug 15, 12:0026.1N 90.5W45 kt1007 mbTropical storm
Aug 15, 18:0026.0N 92.5W50 kt1001 mbTropical storm
Aug 16, 00:0025.9N 94.4W55 kt995 mbTropical storm
Aug 16, 06:0025.6N 96.2W60 kt988 mbTropical storm
Aug 16, 10:30 landfall25.3N 97.4W65 kt986 mbHurricane
Aug 16, 12:0025.2N 97.6W65 kt988 mbHurricane
Aug 16, 18:0024.8N 98.9W35 kt1003 mbTropical storm
Aug 17, 00:0024.7N 100.3W25 kt1008 mbTropical depression

Other North Atlantic storms of 2003

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.