1879 Atlantic hurricane season

The 1879 Atlantic hurricane season was the first season known to have featured two or more major hurricanes making landfall in the United States. In 1879, there were two tropical storms, four hurricanes, and two major hurricanes in the Atlantic basin. However, in the absence of modern satellite and other remote-sensing technologies, only storms that affected populated land areas or encountered ships at sea were recorded, so the actual total could be higher. An undercount bias of zero to six tropical cyclones per year between 1851 and 1885 and zero to four per year between 1886 and 1910 has been estimated.

Of the known 1879 cyclones, the first system was first documented by meteorologists José Fernández-Partagás and Henry F. Diaz in 1995. They also proposed large changes to the known tracks of the second, third, seventh, and eighth cyclones. Later, the Atlantic hurricane reanalysis project in the early 21st century determined that one storm was not a tropical cyclone at all and removed it from the official hurricane database (HURDAT), but they did not add any new systems and only made a major adjustment to the track of the second storm. However, climate researcher Michael Chenoweth authored a reanalysis study, published in 2014, which concluded that the 1879 season featured a total of thirteen tropical cyclones. This included the removal of the seventh and eighth systems and the addition of seven previously undocumented storms. Chenoweth also proposed some alterations to the track and intensity of each storm, but these changes have yet to be incorporated into HURDAT.

The season's first known system existed by August 9, based on weather observations over the Southeastern United States. Although this storm did not make landfall, two people presumably drowned after being swept overboard the Prince Louis. Thereafter, three consecutive known tropical cyclones eventually struck the United States at hurricane intensity. The first of the three caused 54 or more deaths, including 46 in the United States and at least 8 in the Lesser Antilles. Two people drowned offshore Louisiana due to the third cyclone as it struck Texas, while the fourth storm of the season, which made landfall in Louisiana, caused one fatality and about $500,000 (1879 USD) in damage. About a month passed before the fifth system was first detected on October 3 over the southwestern Caribbean Sea. Although this cyclone left only minor impacts, the following storm resulted in floods on Jamaica that killed 13 people. The seventh and eighth cyclones caused an unknown number of deaths after capsizing ships and both later impacted Atlantic Canada, with two fatalities due to the former in Nova Scotia. On November 18, the eighth system became extratropical to the southeast of New England, ending seasonal activity.