At a Glance

Only 55 hurricanes have roamed the Atlantic in July since 1851.One has reached Category 5 strength and two were retired.

Hurricanes are a rarityin the Atlantic during July, with only . But July has still featured some notorious hurricanes despite how infrequently they occur.

Hurricanes on July 4th?

The most recent example of a hurricane affecting Independence Day plans was Hurricane Arthur, which made landfall in eastern North Carolina on July 4th in 2014.

The hurricane produced wind gusts up to 88 mph in the Outer Banks and a storm surge up to 5 feet near Hatteras.

Arthur traveled northward along most of the U.S. East Coast, causing the cancellation of plans and events in several states during the following weekend.

Radar imagery of Hurricane Arthur making landfall in Beaufort, Nort Carolina.

(NWS Morehead City, North Carolina )

While the hurricane caused relatively little damage in the United States, it caused significant economic losses where events were canceled. More significant damage was later done as Arthur moved into southeastern Canada.

One Category 5 July Hurricane

Emily in 2005 is the only July hurricane to reach the highest rating of Category 5 on the .

Emily's stint as aCategory 5 was a brief one, when it was centered just southwest of Jamaica late July 16 into early July 17, 2005.

Satellite image of Emily just before it reached Category 5 strength on July 16, 2005. (NASA)

After cruising through the northwest Caribbean, Emily struck Mexico's Yucatan Peninsula as a Category 4. Damage was fairly light because its strongest winds were across a small area. No deaths were reported in Mexico, partially due to massive evacuations that occurred before Emily's arrival.

Two Retired July Hurricanes

Just two July hurricanes have had their names retired. That accounts for 2 percent of the .

Damage from Dennis' storm surge and wind at Navarre Beach, Florida. (FEMA)

Hurricane Dennis in 2005 is the most recent July retiree.Dennis was an unusually strong early-season hurricane that caused destruction in the Caribbean before it roared into the Florida Panhandle on July 10, 2005.

Dennis' maximum strength as a Category 4 with 150 mph winds near Cuba on July 8 made it the strongest July Atlantic Basin hurricane on record. Just alittle more than a week later, Hurricane Emily broke that record.

There were 42 deaths directly related to the impacts from Dennis, mostly inHaiti and Cuba. In the United States, Dennis killed three people and caused $2.5 billion in damage.

Hurricane Cesar in 1996 is the only other July storm to have its name retired.

At least 51 were killed from Cesar's flooding and mudslides when it struck Nicaragua on July 28, 1996. Interestingly, Cesar crossed Central America and reintensified in the eastern Pacific where it was renamedHurricane Douglas.

Cape Verde Bertha Duo

The 1996 and 2008 versions of Hurricane Bertha are notable as they were rare July Cape Verde storms. Thisportion of the tropical Atlantic typically sees little activity early in the season before things ramp up in August and September.

was the "earliest Cape Verde hurricane ever witnessed to cross the Atlantic unscathed."

(MORE: What is a Cape Verde Hurricane?)

Bertha in 1996 is the most notorious of the two hurricanes since it had themost significant impact on land areas. The hurricanemoved on an arcing path through the northeast Caribbean Islands to east of the Bahamas before making landfall in southeastern North Carolina as a Category 2.

Satellite image of Bertha making landfall on the North Carolina coast in July 1996. (NOAA)

Bertha's maximum intensity as a Category 3 northwest of Puerto Rico made it the .

The U.S. Virgin Islands and North Carolina were after Bertha struck. About 5,000 homes were damaged in North Carolina, mainly from storm surge. Bertha was blamed for 12 deaths in the northeast Caribbean and the United States.

Hurricane Bertha in 2008went on to become the longest-lived July Atlantic tropical cyclone on record, lasting over 17 days from July 3-20. Fortunately, most of the track occurred over the open waters of the central Atlantic Ocean. Only Bermuda experienced tropical storm conditions from Bertha.

However, swells generated by the hurricane led to in Ocean City, Maryland, in the seven days beginning July 9, 2008. near the New Jersey coast.

Deadliest July Hurricanes in Past 100 Years

were killed by an unnamed hurricane in July 1926, making it the deadliest to occur in the month in the last 100 years.

The July 1926 hurricane first swept across the northeast Caribbean Islands as a Category 1-2, and then raked through the Bahamas as a Category 4 where major damage occurred. It's sometimes referred to as the since it made a direct hit on the Bahamian capital.

Hurricane Cesar is the most deadly recent July Atlantic hurricane. As mentioned earlier, it killed 51 people in Central America in July 1996.

Another deadly July storm in recent memory never attained hurricane strength. Flooding from Tropical Storm Alberto in 1994 . Despitethe high death toll, the name Alberto was not retired.

MORE ON WEATHER.COM: Retired Atlantic Tropical Storm and Hurricane Names

Hurricane Ian slammed ashore in southwest Florida at Category 4 intensity on Sept. 28, 2022. Its peak surge of over 15 feet and wind gusts to 140 mph leveled much of Fort Myers Beach and Sanibel Island. Ian produced record inland flooding in the Florida Peninsula, including near Orlando, that would last for weeks. Ian was the costliest hurricane on record to hit Florida. Ian later made a second landfall in South Carolina, spreading storm surge and high winds from northeast Florida to the Carolinas. (AP Photo/Wilfredo Lee)