Hurricane Edith was a moderately strong tropical cyclone that 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.

Curving north-northwest on September 26, Edith made landfall near La Romana, Dominican Republic, early on the following day as a minimal hurricane.

In Martinique, a wind gust of 127 mph (204 km/h) was observed at Le Lamentin Airport; tides about 8 ft (2.4 m) above normal and heavy rainfall impacted the island.

In Puerto Rico, the storm brought heavy rainfall to the southwest corner of the island and abnormally high tides to the south coast.

[nb 1] An area of disturbed weather in the Intertropical Convergence Zone was first observed on September 22 by the Dutch tanker Aceteon.

With a reconnaissance aircraft observing winds of 29 mph (47 km/h),[1] a tropical depression developed at 12:00 UTC on September 23 about 525 mi (845 km) east-southeast of Barbados.

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 990 mbar (29 inHg).

[2][4] 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 690 mi (1,110 km) from Edith.

As a result, the pressure gradient in the Bahamas region weakened significantly, disrupting the easterly flow north of Edith.

Edith curved northeastward and weakened to a tropical depression early on September 29, shortly before dissipating about 70 mi (110 km) northeast of Mayaguana island in the Bahamas.

As Edith approached Saint Lucia around 08:00 UTC on September 25, a hurricane watch was issued for Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands.

[3] The warnings and advice given by the San Juan Weather Bureau were credited for limiting damage and loss of life on Martinique.

[7] After Edith entered the Caribbean later on September 25, the watch was spread to Haiti and the Dominican Republic, while gale warnings were issued for the south coast of Hispaniola, east of Santo Domingo, as well as Puerto Rico the Virgin Islands.

At 08:00 UTC on September 26, hurricane warnings were issued for southern Haiti and southwestern Dominican Republic due to the impending threat.

[13] Cabo Rojo bore the brunt of the storm with the center passing within 50 mi (80 km), resulting major flooding and extensive wind damage.

[15] Approximately 4,000 acres (1,600 ha) of sugar cane fields were flooded in and around Añasco, Cabo Rojos, Hormigueros, and Lajas.