Hurricane Edith brought flooding and wind damage to portions of the Greater and Lesser Antilles. The sixth tropical storm and fifth hurricane of the 1963 season, Edith developed east of the Windward Islands on September 23 from an Intertropical Convergence Zone (ITCZ) disturbance. Initially a tropical depression, it strengthened into Tropical Storm Edith the next day. Shortly thereafter, Edith reached hurricane status. Edith fluctuated between Category 1 and 2 status as it moved west-northwest. Upon reaching Category 2 intensity on September 25, the storm peaked with winds of 100 mph (155 km/h). After striking Saint Lucia on September 25, the storm traversed the eastern Caribbean Sea. Curving north-northwest on September 26, Edith made landfall near La Romana, Dominican Republic, early on the following day as a minimal hurricane. Interaction with land and an upper-level trough caused Edith to weaken to a tropical storm on September 28 and to a tropical depression by the next day. The storm dissipated just east of the Bahamas on September 29.
In Martinique, a wind gust of was observed at Le Lamentin Airport; tides about above normal and heavy rainfall impacted the island. Throughout the island, about 6,000 homes were demolished and 13,000 others were severely impacted. Agriculture suffered significantly, with bananas and other food crops destroyed, while sugar cane experienced significant damage. Winds up to caused significant damage on Dominica and strong winds on Saint Lucia ruined about half of the island's banana crop. In Puerto Rico, the storm brought heavy rainfall to the southwest corner of the island and abnormally high tides to the south coast. Several beach front properties were badly damaged, particularly in the Salinas municipality. Overall, Edith caused 10 deaths, all on Martinique, and approximately $46.6 million (1963 USD) in damage.
Meteorological history
An area of disturbed weather in the Intertropical Convergence Zone was first observed on September 22 by the Dutch tanker Aceteon. On the following day, imagery from TIROS VII indicated that a surface circulation developed. With a reconnaissance aircraft observing winds of , a tropical depression developed at 12:00 UTC on September 23 about east-southeast of Barbados. Later that day, the U.S. Weather Bureau initiated advisories on the system. Another flight on September 24 indicated that the depression strengthened into Tropical Storm Edith by 12:00 UTC. Six hours later, the system intensified into a Category 1 hurricane on the modern day Saffir–Simpson hurricane wind scale. Around 00:00 UTC on September 25, Edith strengthened into a Category 2 hurricane while situated north of Barbados. However, after six hours, the storm weakened to a Category 1 hurricane. Shortly after 06:00 UTC on September 25, Edith struck Saint Lucia with winds of 85 mph (140 km/h). Subsequently, entering the Caribbean Sea, the cyclone re-intensified into a Category 2 hurricane and soon peaked with maximum sustained winds of 100 mph (160 km/h) and a minimum barometric pressure of .
However, the storm began weakening again and fell to a Category 1 hurricane early on September 26. Around midday, Edith turned north-northwestward toward the Mona Passage. It made landfall slightly west of La Romana, Dominican Republic, around 08:00 UTC on September 27 with winds of 75 mph (120 km/h). Edith crossed the island in about eight hours and maintained hurricane status. However, the cyclone weakened over the Atlantic and eastern Bahamas due to further land interaction and a frontal low pressure area, which developed near South Florida a few days earlier and moved east-northeastward to a location about from Edith. As a result, the pressure gradient in the Bahamas region weakened significantly, disrupting the easterly flow north of Edith. At 00:00 UTC on September 28, the hurricane weakened to a tropical storm. Edith struck North Caicos in the Turks and Caicos Islands about 18 hours later with winds of 40 mph (65 km/h). Edith curved northeastward and weakened to a tropical depression early on September 29, shortly before dissipating about northeast of Mayaguana island in the Bahamas. The remnants of Edith were lasted noted moving in tandem with the frontal low well east of Bermuda.