TWO STORMS, ONE NAME...

When Christmas time approaches, the last thing we want to talk about is hurricane season. To be sure, December hurricanes are rare- but not impossible. 1954's Hurricane Alice is a unique example.

1954 was a busy year for tropical activity in the United States. A total of 12 storms formed that year, including Hurricane Hazel. Recall that Hazel was the strongest hurricane (officially) in the recorded history of southeastern NC. The storm was a late season event, occurring in mid-October. But the tropics stayed active well into December.

Following the strengthening and evolution of thunderstorms near the Leeward Islands in late December of '54, a hurricane was identified in January of 1955. This provided an interesting problem with the naming of the storm. In the mid 1950's, the same list of hurricane names was used each year (excluding any "retired" names). When the January '55 storm received it's name ("Alice"), it officially became the first storm of 1955.

However, post-storm analysis revealed that the storm may have reached tropical storm status much earlier (in late December). As a result, the storm was reclassified as part of the 1954 season. Another storm named Alice had already struck Mexico in June of the same year. As a result, the 1954 season started with "Alice" in June and ended with "Alice" in December!