Pre-1600 Atlantic hurricane seasons

The **pre-1600 Atlantic hurricane seasons** talks about all known Atlantic tropical cyclones before to 1600. While info for every storm that happened is not available, some parts of the coastline had enough people to give info of hurricane happenings. Each season was an event in the annual cycle of tropical cyclone formation in the Atlantic basin. Most tropical cyclone formation occurs between June 1 and November 30.

<div id="toc" style="text-align:center; float:right; margin-left:1.5em;  margin-bottom:1em; width:20em; font-size: 90%;"><big>**Atlantic hurricane seasons**</big>

<big>**Pre-1600** 1600s/10s 1620s/30s</big></div>

Observation info for years before 1492 is completely unavailable because record keeping was non-existent in the pre-Columbian era, and any records that may have once existed have long since been lost. Even info from the early years of the Columbian era is suspect and incomplete because the difference between a hurricane and an extratropical system was not drawn by Renaissance scientists and sailors and because European exploration and colonization of the regions affected by hurricanes did not begin in earnest until the mid-16th century.

However, paleotempestological research allows reconstruction of pre-historic hurricane activity trends on timescales of centuries to millennia. A theory has been postulated that an anti-phase pattern exists between the Gulf of Mexico coast and the Atlantic coast. During the quiescent periods, a more northeasterly position of the Azores High would result in more hurricanes being steered towards the Atlantic coast. During the hyperactive period, more hurricanes were steered towards the Gulf coast as the Azores High—controlled by the North Atlantic Oscillation—was shifted to a more southwesterly position near the Caribbean. In fact, few major hurricanes struck the Gulf coast during 3000–1400 BC and again during the most recent millennium; these quiescent intervals were separated by a hyperactive period during 1400 BC and 1000 AD, when the Gulf coast was struck frequently by catastrophic hurricanes and their landfall probabilities increased by 3–5 times. On the Atlantic coast, chance of landfalling hurricanes has doubled in the recent millennium compared to the one and a half millennia before.

### Pre-1525

<div align="center">
|Year|Location|Date|Deaths|Damage/Notes|
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
|1494|Hispaniola|June 16|N/A|Possible hurricane; could have been the first hurricane in the Western Hemisphere observed and reported by Europeans.|
|1495|West Indies|N/A|N/A|3 ships sunk, earliest definite report of a hurricane, came from Christopher Columbus; "Nothing but the service of God and the extension of monarchy would expose me to such danger"|
|1500|Bahamas|July|N/A|2 ships destroyed|
|1502|Hispaniola|July 1|N/A|20 ships, all on board died|
|1502|Offshore Dominican Republic|11 July|500|N/A|
|1502|Honduras|16 September|N/A|1 ship sunk, all drowned aboard|
|1504|North Coast of Colombia|N/A|175|N/A|
|1508|Dominican Republic|12 August|Many|Destroyed entire population of Buenaventura|
|1509|Santo Domingo|29 July|N/A|Moderate damage|
|1515|Puerto Rico|July|Many natives|N/A|
|1519|Jamaica|N/A|N/A|Ship sunk, 18 survived|
|1520|Dominican Republic|N/A|N/A|N/A|
|1523|Florida west coast|N/A|N/A|2 ships and their crews lost|
|1524|Cuba|October|73|N/A|
</div>

### 1525-1549

<div align="center">
|Year|Location|Date|Deaths|Damage/Notes|
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
|1525|Western Cuba|Late October|73|N/A|
|1525|Honduras|N/A|N/A|N/A|
|1526|Wilmington, North Carolina|June|N/A|1 Spanish ship lost|
|1527|Western Cuba|October|70|Severe flooding|
|1527|near mouth of the Mississippi|23 October|unknown|possibly associated with previous storm; barges under Panifo de Narvaez tossed like driftwood|
|1527|Upper Texas Coast|November|200|1 of only 2 November Texas hurricanes, Merchant fleet destroyed|
|1527|Dominican Republic|N/A|N/A|made landfall at Santo Domingo|
|1529|Puerto Rico|July 28–29|N/A|made landfall at San Juan de Puerto Rico|
|1530|Puerto Rico|Aug. 31|"Uncounted number of deaths by drowning"|N/A|
|1533|Puerto Rico|N/A|Many slaves killed|Possibly 3 hurricanes|
|1537|Puerto Rico|N/A|Many slaves drowned|N/A|
|1537|Northwest Cuba|N/A|N/A|2 ships lost|
|1545|Dominican Republic|Aug. 20|Many|N/A|
|1545|Mexico|N/A|N/A|1 ship lost|
|1545|Cuba|N/A|N/A|made landfall at Havana|
|1546|Dominican Republic|N/A|N/A|N/A|
|1546|Puerto Rico|Aug. 24|N/A|made landfall at San Juan de Puerto Rico|
</div>

### 1550-1574

<div align="center">
|Year|Location|Date|Deaths|Damage/Notes|
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
|1550|Florida Keys|N/A|N/A|Ship lost near Havana|
|1551|Gulf of Honduras|N/A|Many|One ship sunk, all drowned|
|1552|Dominican Republic|Aug. 28–29|N/A|made landfall at Santo Domingo|
|1552|Mexico|Sep. 2–4|N/A|made landfall at Vera Cruz|
|1552|Florida|Sep. 3–6|N/A|N/A|
|1553|Western Florida|N/A|700|N/A|
|1553|Texas|N/A|Many drownings|Sixteen ships lost|
|1554|Cuba|November|N/A|One ship sank|
|1554|South Texas|N/A|N/A|Three ships lost|
|1559|Western Florida|August 20|500|N/A|
|1565|Offshore Eastern Florida|September 22|N/A|French ships lost at sea|
|1566|Eastern Florida|September 13|N/A|N/A|
|1566|Offshore Eastern Florida|September 24|N/A|N/A|
|1566|Gulf of Mexico|N/A|5+|Four ships destroyed|
|1567|Near Dominica|N/A|N/A|Six ships destroyed|
|1569|Bahamas|Sep.|N/A|passed the Bahamas Channel|
|1571|Cuba/Jamaica|Oct. 18–21|N/A|N/A|
|1571|St. Augustine, Florida|N/A|N/A|Heavy flooding, two ships lost|
</div>

### 1575-1599

<div align="center">
|Year|Location|Date|Deaths|Damage/Notes|
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
|1576|Dominican Republic|N/A|N/A|made landfall at Monte Cristi Province|
|1577|Cuba/Jamaica|Aug./Sep.|N/A|N/A|
|1578|Dominican Republic|N/A|N/A|made landfall at Ocoa|
|1578|Cuba/Jamaica|Oct.|N/A|N/A|
|1579|Atlantic Ocean|N/A|N/A|Spanish Armada's 600 ton Almirante sunk|
|1579|Jamaica|N/A|N/A|N/A|
|1579|Bermudas|Sep. 13|N/A|N/A|
|1579|Bermudas|Sep. 26|N/A|N/A|
|1583|Dominican Republic|Aug. 19|N/A|made landfall at Santo Domingo|
|1586|Roanoke Island|June 23- June 26|N/A|First of many storms to hit the first colonial settlement|
|1586|Bahamas|N/A|N/A|Nine ships lost, possibly related to above|
|1587|Roanoke Island|August 31|N/A|Sir Francis Drake took six days to regroup in Roanoke after the storm|
|1588|Roanoke Island|N/A|116|Third of four hurricanes to hit the area in five years|
|1588|Cuba|Sep. 20|N/A|made landfall near Havanna|
|1588|Colombia|Nov. 4–6|N/A|made landfall near Cartagena de Indias|
|1589|Leeward Islands|Aug. 7|N/A|N/A|
|1589|Bahamas|September 9|N/A|four ships sank|
|1590|Gulf of Mexico|"Early 1590"|1000|N/A|
|1591|Atlantic Ocean|August 10|501|Waves and rain, twenty two ships lost|
|1591|Florida|September|N/A|made landfall near Las Tortugas|
|1591|Puerto Rico|September 21|N/A|N/A|
|1591|Cuba|September 24|N/A|N/A|
|1594|Caribbean Sea|N/A|N/A|One ship lost|
|1595|Cuba|Aug. 29–30|N/A|N/A|
|1599|Florida|Sep. 22|N/A|made landfall near St. Augustine|
</div>

## Related pages

- List of Atlantic hurricane seasons

## Other websites

- http://www.nhc.noaa.gov/pastdeadlyapp1.shtml
- http://www.candoo.com/genresources/hurricane.htm
- http://www.hpc.ncep.noaa.gov/research/roth/vahur.htm
- http://www.srh.noaa.gov/lch/research/la18hu.php