Hurricane Faith was a long-lived Cape Verde hurricane and was the sixth named storm and fifth hurricane of the 1966 Atlantic hurricane season. Faith developed from an area of disturbed weather between Cape Verde and the west coast of Africa on August 21. Tracking westward, the depression gradually intensified and became Tropical Storm Faith on the following day. Moving westward across the Atlantic Ocean, it continued to slowly strengthen, reaching hurricane status early on August 23. Over the next several days, the storm treked north of the Lesser Antilles, weakening into a tropical storm on August 26. Located near the Lesser Antilles, the outer bands of Faith produced gale-force winds in the region, especially Puerto Rico, the Virgin Islands, and Antigua. Minor coastal damage occurred as far south as Trinidad and Tobago.
On August 27, the storm would reach hurricane status again, and the next day, the storm would further intensify into a major hurricane after curving north-northwestward near The Bahamas. The next day, the storm weakened back to a Category 2 hurricane and began re-curving to the northeast. One person drowned in the western Atlantic after his ship sank. Heavy rainfall and strong winds pelted Bermuda, though no damage occurred. The storm would maintain hurricane intensity for several days, while tracking east of the United States. On September 3, Faith would reattain major hurricane status as it underwent extratropical transition, reaching peak winds of . Faith would weaken as it completed extratropical transition, finally losing tropical characteristics while east of Atlantic Canada. The system would continue traversing the Atlantic Ocean for several days, finally dissipating on September 15, while located just north of Franz Josef Land. Three other drowning deaths occurred in the North Sea near Denmark. A fifth death occurred after a man succumbed to injuries sustained during a boating incident related to the storm.
Meteorological history
Television Infrared Observation Satellite XI (TIROS XI) imagery indicated the presence of an area of disturbed weather over Ivory Coast on August 18. The system moved slowly westward and eventually reached the Atlantic Ocean. It is estimated that a tropical depression developed at 0000 UTC on August 21, while located about southeast of Cape Verde. Continuing westward, the depression intensified, and was upgraded to Tropical Storm Faith on the following day. Gradual intensification persisted as Tropical Storm Faith headed nearly due westward at . By August 23, Faith was upgraded to a Category 1 hurricane. Curving slightly west-northwestward, the storm reached Category 2 intensity and briefly peaked at sustained winds of . Hurricane Faith curved to the northwest and weakened back to a Category 1 hurricane while approaching the northeastern Leeward Islands on August 25. Initially, Faith was scheduled to be seeded as part of Project Stormfury. However, the scheduled seeding was cancelled as Faith was approaching The Bahamas. Bypassing the Leeward Islands, Faith remained at nearly the same intensity, until re-strengthening into Category 2 hurricane on August 28, near Turks and Caicos Islands. The storm quickly intensified further into a Category 3 hurricane only six hours later.