Hurricane Fox (1952)

Hurricane Fox

Category 4 major hurricane (SSHWS/NWS)
October 25, 1952 weather map, featuring Hurricane Fox
Formed	October 20, 1952
Dissipated	October 28, 1952
Highest winds	1-minute sustained: 150 mph (240 km/h)
Lowest pressure	934 mbar (hPa); 27.58 inHg
Fatalities	41
Damage	$10 million (1952 USD)
Areas affected	Cuba, southeast Florida, the Bahamas
Part of the 1952 Atlantic hurricane season

Hurricane Fox was the strongest and deadliest tropical cyclone of the below average 1952 Atlantic hurricane season. The seventh tropical storm, sixth Atlantic hurricane, and the third major hurricane of the season, Fox was a small and intense Caribbean storm that developed northwest of Cartagena, Colombia, in the southern Caribbean Sea. It moved steadily northwest, intensifying to a tropical storm on October 21. The next day, it rapidly strengthened into a hurricane and turned north. The cyclone attained peak winds of 150 mph (240 km/h) as it struck Cayo Guano del Este off the coast of Cienfuegos. Fox made landfall on Cuba at maximum intensity, producing peak gusts of 170–180 mph (275–290 km/h). It weakened over land, but it re-strengthened as it turned east over the Bahamas. On October 26, it weakened and took an erratic path, dissipating west-southwest of Bermuda on October 28.

Hurricane Fox was the second most intense hurricane to strike Cuba until Hurricane Michelle in the 2001 Atlantic hurricane season. It was originally believed to have been the second Category 4 hurricane in Cuba prior to the Atlantic hurricane reanalysis. At the time, the cyclone produced the fourth lowest pressure in a landfalling Cuban hurricane; only the 1917, 1924, and 1932 hurricanes were more intense. Hurricane Fox killed at least 40 people across the island, causing severe crop damages in rural areas. The hurricane also ruined 30 percent of the tomato crops on Eleuthera in the Bahamas. Across the archipelago, Fox produced wind gusts in excess of 110 mph (175 km/h). Total damages reached $10 million in Cuba. Fox was the second hurricane to hit land during the season, after Hurricane Able struck South Carolina.