Hurricane Kate (2003)

Hurricane Kate was a long-lived and erratic tropical cyclone that caused minor impacts across the Atlantic Ocean from late September to early October 2003. The sixteenth tropical cyclone, eleventh tropical storm, seventh hurricane, and third major hurricane of the 2003 Atlantic hurricane season, Kate developed from a tropical wave in the central tropical Atlantic on September 25. Its unusual track included four major changes in direction. The storm moved northwestward until a weakness in the subtropical ridge forced it eastward. Kate strengthened to a hurricane, turned sharply westward while moving around a mid-level low, and intensified to a 125 mph (201 km/h) major hurricane on October 4. Kate turned sharply northward around the periphery of an anticyclone, weakened, and became extratropical after passing to the east of Newfoundland. The extratropical storm persisted for three days until losing its identity near Scandinavia.

The storm had minimal effects on land, limited to moderately strong winds and heavy rainfall over Newfoundland. Kate threatened Atlantic Canada just one week after Hurricane Juan caused severe damage in Nova Scotia.