page_title: 1948 Miami hurricane
section_title: Meteorological history
hierarchical_section_title: 1948 Miami hurricane / Meteorological history
caption_attribution_description: Saffir-Simpson Hurricane ScaleTDTS12345 English: 1948 Atlantic hurricane 8 track. Uses the color scheme from the Saffir-Simpson Hurricane Scale.
context_page_description: The 1948 Miami hurricane caused no fatalities in Florida, despite moving across the Miami area as a hurricane. The ninth tropical storm and fifth hurricane of the 1948 season, the storm developed from a large low pressure area over the northwestern Caribbean Sea on October 3. The storm intensified into a tropical storm early the next day and a hurricane several hours later. Fox then significantly deepened, peaking with winds of 125 mph early on October 5. Around that time, Fox made landfall in eastern Pinar del Río Province of Cuba. Fox crossed the island and emerged into the Straits of Florida. Late on October 5, the hurricane struck Bahia Honda Key, Florida, with winds of 105 mph and two hours later, hit Flamingo. Fox emerged into the Atlantic Ocean near Fort Lauderdale early on October 6. The storm moved northeastward and later curved to the east-northeast. Late on October 7, Fox made landfall on Bermuda with winds of 105 mph. Fox weakened over the next several days and later executed a large cyclonic loop. By October 16, it became extratropical while well east-southeast of Newfoundland.
  In Cuba, homes and cattle were swept away by flash flooding.
context_section_description: A very large but weak and elongated low pressure area first noted over the Intertropical Convergence Zone on October 1  developed into a tropical depression around 12:00 UTC on October 3, while situated about 55 mi (90 km) southeast of the Swan Islands. The storm intensified into a tropical storm early on October 4 and was designated as Tropical Storm Fox by the Air Weather Service in real time, although the name Fox is not included in HURDAT.  Several hours later, the storm intensified into a Category 1 hurricane on the Saffir–Simpson hurricane wind scale. A reconnaissance flight into the hurricane late on October 4 indicated winds near the center estimated at 90 mph (140 km/h). Early the following day, Fox became a Category 2 hurricane. At 06:00 UTC the system peaked as a Category 3 hurricane with maximum sustained winds of 125 mph (205 km/h). About an hour later, Fox made landfall at the same intensity in eastern Pinar del Río Province of Cuba. Shortly before 12:00 UTC on October 5, the storm emerged into the Straits of Florida. Prior to reanalysis in 2014, it was thought that Fox briefly strengthened into a Category 4 hurricane with winds of 130 mph (215 km/h), but reanalysis instead revealed that the storm weakened to 125 mph (205 km/h) because the aforementioned wind speed was a gust rather than a sustained wind.
  Fox weakened while moving northeastward and fell to Category 2 hurricane intensity by 18:00 UTC, at which time it made landfall on Bahia Honda Key, Florida, with winds of 105 mph (165  km/h). Continuing northeastward, the hurricane struck near Flamingo about two hours later at the same intensity. While passing near Miami early on October 6, Fox briefly weakened to a Category 1 hurricane. Shortly thereafter, it emerged into the Atlantic Ocean near Fort Lauderdale and quickly re-strengthened to a Category 2 hurricane. After brushing Grand Bahama island, the storm continued on its northeasterly trajectory into the open sea, until curving east-northward on October 7. Around 12:00 UTC, a ship observed a barometric pressure of 971 mbar (28.7 inHg), the lowest in relation to the cyclone. Ten hours later, Fox made landfall on Bermuda with winds of 105 mph (165 km/h). The storm fell to Category 1 early on October 8 and to tropical storm status after about 24 hours. Fox then meandered out in the central Atlantic for several days and executed a large cyclonic loop between October 11 and October 14. Fox turned northward on October 14 and began to accelerate. After curving northeastward, the storm transitioned into an extratropical cyclone early on October 16 while located about 535 mi (861 km) east-southeast of Cape Race, Newfoundland. The remnants were absorbed by a cold front several hours later.
caption: Map plotting the track and the intensity of the storm, according to the Saffir–Simpson scale
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