Hurricane Fiona

Hurricane Fiona was a large, powerful, and destructive tropical cyclone in mid-to-late September 2022. The storm affected many Caribbean countries, Bermuda, and Atlantic Canada. It caused at least 29 deaths and 3 billion US dollars in damages across 7 countries, with the majority of deaths and damage occurring in Puerto Rico. It was the most intense post-tropical cyclone to hit Canada on record, and also the costliest cyclone to hit Canada until this record was broken by Debby in 2024. It was the sixth named storm, third hurricane and first major hurricane of the 2022 Atlantic hurricane season.

Fiona developed from a tropical wave that emerged from West Africa, before developing into a tropical depression east of the Leeward Islands on September 14. Though under the influence of moderate to strong wind shear, the system was able to strengthen, becoming Tropical Storm Fiona later that same day. On September 16, Fiona passed over Guadeloupe and entered the Caribbean Sea, where atmospheric conditions improved, and strengthened into a hurricane as it approached Puerto Rico two days later. A few hours afterward, the eye of Fiona made landfall along the southwestern coast of Puerto Rico, near Punta Tocon, between the municipalities of Lajas and Cabo Rojo. The hurricane made landfall in the Dominican Republic shortly thereafter, and then strengthened into the first major hurricane of the season. As the storm slowly moved through the Turks and Caicos, it continued to strengthen and reached Category 4 status the following day, while accelerating north. The storm reached peak 1-minute sustained winds of 140 mph (220 km/h) and a minimum pressure of 931 mbar (27.49 inHg). After passing Bermuda and weakening to Category 3 intensity, Fiona quickly transitioned into a large and powerful extratropical cyclone and struck Nova Scotia with sustained winds of 100 mph (155 km/h) early on September 24. Post-tropical Fiona then quickly weakened as it moved through the Gulf of St. Lawrence and over the southeastern Labrador Peninsula. The remnants then dissipated over the Labrador Sea near the southwest coast of Greenland on September 27.

Guadeloupe received near-record rainfall, leaving 40% of the population without water for a few days. Puerto Rico suffered from the worst flooding since Hurricane Maria of 2017, and an island-wide blackout occurred. A third of the territory's population was left without water, and at least 25 people died. In the Dominican Republic and the Turks and Caicos, the islands were pounded by heavy rainfall and strong winds, causing flooding and blackouts. Fiona was the strongest cyclone on record to make landfall in Canada based on atmospheric pressure and was one of the wettest ever recorded in the country as well.

Early on September 12, 2022, the NHC began to monitor a tropical wave over the central tropical Atlantic for gradual development, though environmental conditions for development were assessed as only marginally favorable. Even so, shower and thunderstorm activity within the disturbance began to become more concentrated later that same day, then increased and became better organized during the next day. The circulation associated with the system became more defined and persisted overnight and into the morning of September 14, attaining sufficient organization to designated as Tropical Depression Seven later that day. Despite the continued effects of moderate westerly shear and dry mid-level air flow, new satellite imagery indicated the depression had strengthened, thus at 01:45 UTC on September 15, it became Tropical Storm Fiona.

The storm passed over Guadeloupe with 50 mph (45 kn; 80 km/h) winds on September 16, as it entered the eastern Caribbean. Early on September 18, the storm strengthened into a hurricane as it approached Puerto Rico. A few hours later, the eye of Fiona made landfall along the southwestern coast of Puerto Rico near Punta Tocon between the municipalities of Lajas and Cabo Rojo at 19:20 UTC on September 18, with maximum sustained winds of 85 miles per hour (135 km/h) and a minimum central pressure of 986 mbar (29.12 inHg). The storm emerged over the Mona Passage and strengthened slightly further before making landfall in the Dominican Republic near Boca de Yuma around 07:30 UTC the next morning, with maximum sustained winds of 80 knots (90 mph; 150 km/h) and a minimum central pressure of 977 mbar (28.85 inHg). Fiona weakened slightly over land, but after emerging off the northern coast of the Dominican Republic and back over the Atlantic Ocean, it began to intensify again, reaching Category 2 intensity at 21:00 UTC on September 19.

Fiona then reached Category 3 intensity at 06:00 UTC the next morning, becoming the first major hurricane of the season. Gradual strengthening continued and Fiona became a Category 4 hurricane at 06:00 UTC September 21. By 00:00 UTC on September 23, Fiona attained a minimum central pressure of 931 mbar (27.5 inHg) (its lowest pressure while a tropical cyclone) at 30.8°N, the lowest such value at this latitude over the North Atlantic Ocean since at least 1979. Fiona then weakened slightly, dropping to Category 3 status at 09:00 UTC, but restrengthened back to Category 4 strength six hours later; at that time, with a central pressure of 936 mbar (27.6 inHg) or lower, the storm was also the most intense Category 4 Atlantic hurricane on record at such a northerly latitude. Six hours later, as it began interact with a mid- to upper-level trough, Fiona began to slowly weaken again and accelerated to the north-northeast at 40 miles per hour (64 km/h), and subsequently became a post-tropical cyclone as it became embedded within the larger-scale trough while still maintaining major hurricane-force winds of 115 mph (185 km/h). Steady weakening continued and by 07:00 UTC on September 24, the center of Fiona made landfall with estimated winds of 100 mph (160 km/h) on the Canso Peninsula, Nova Scotia, near Whitehead; based on observations from a nearby weather station at Hart Island and the East Chedabucto Bay buoy, the central pressure at the time was estimated to have been 931 mbar (27.5 inHg), the lowest measured on record in association with a landfalling post-tropical cyclone in Canada, and a new national record from any storm. Wind gusts across Nova Scotia recorded figures in excess of 160 km/h (99 mph), with Arisaig recording a peak of 179 km/h (111 mph). Extremely large waves reached the Atlantic coast of Nova Scotia late September 24. Buoy data indicated wave heights of 5 to 8 m (16 to 26 ft). The largest offshore waves were near and east of Fiona's path; this was indicated by satellite data and reports from a buoy over Banquereau Bank where waves averaged 12 to 15 m (39 to 49 ft) with peak waves as high as 30 m (98 ft).

Fiona then moved over Cape Breton Island with hurricane-strength winds and hit Prince Edward Island. It continued to weaken as it moved northward into the Gulf of St. Lawrence. When the NHC issued its final advisory on Fiona at 21:00 UTC that same day, it was centered about 80 miles (130 km) northwest of Port aux Basques, Newfoundland, and had maximum sustained winds of 70 mph (110 km/h). Fiona would continue to weaken as it moved erratically northward into the northwestern Atlantic before dissipating west of Greenland over Baffin Bay on September 27.

After the naming of Fiona, tropical storm watches were issued for the islands of Saba, St. Eustatius, St. Maarten, Antigua and Barbuda, St. Kitts and Nevis, Montserrat, and Anguilla. These were raised to tropical storm warnings two advisories later with watches extended south to Guadeloupe, St. Barthelemy, and St. Martin. As Fiona moved west, tropical storm watches then warnings were put in place for Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands. Parts of the Dominican Republic also had tropical storm watches put in place.