1920-1924

1920

All storms in this season formed and died in September. None were particularly notable, though one did make landfall on the LA coast.

1921

Four hurricanes hit Florida in 2004, and the strongest at landfall was the first, Charley. It was initially forecast to hit Tampa and St. Petersburg, but turned instead to SW Florida, to Punta Gorda and Port Charlotte, devastating those cities. What if it had hit Tampa? Complete devastation would result, naturally. In 1921 it hit Tampa. This was apparently the last hurricane to directly hit Tampa, although I'm not sure about that. Anyway, it did plenty of damage, but not all that much, because Florida was pretty lightly populated then. In fact, it was undergoing quite a building boom in the 1920s, and the Tampa Bay hurricane was but a temporary interruption. (This is what writers call foreshadowing.)

1922

Nothing of note hit the US. This storm looks intriguingly damaging, though there is little information about it on Wikipedia. The closeness of the dots indicates it moved fairly slowly, thus causing extensive flood damage.

1923

Not much interesting this season. Although a storm can cross from the Atlantic to the Pacific, it seldom happens. Cesar 1996 is the most recent example. Crossing from the Pacific to the Atlantic is even rarer, and this storm is an example of that happening.

1924

It's tough to record if a storm is a Cat-5 hurricane, because the winds are so strong they break most (all?) anemometers and because the strongest winds occur over a small area. Anyway, 1924 had the first recorded Cat-5 in the Atlantic basin, although doubtless there were many before 1924. This storm struck Western Cuba with the force of a tornado. No shit. Except tornados are pretty small. Hurricanes completely surround you. Total destruction. The hurricane also hit SW Florida, although it was much less damaging there. The storm had the 10th lowest central pressure ever recorded, tied with Ivan (2004).