Hurricane Debby was the strongest tropical cyclone of the 1982 Atlantic hurricane season, with winds peaking at . The fourth named storm, second hurricane, and the only major hurricane of the season, Debby developed near the north coast of Hispaniola from a westward moving tropical wave on September 13, 1982. Forming as a tropical depression, it headed northwestward, and eventually strengthened into Tropical Storm Debby the following day. Thereafter, Debby rapidly intensified into a hurricane early on September 15. The hurricane then curved northeastward and grazed Bermuda as a Category 2 hurricane on September 16. It continued to strengthen, and by September 18, Debby briefly peaked as a Category 4 hurricane on the Saffir–Simpson Hurricane Scale, with winds at and a minimum pressure of 950 mbar (hPa; 28.05 inHg). After reaching peak intensity, Debby slowly weakened, and was between Category 2 and 1 when it passed south of Newfoundland early on September 19. Thereafter, the storm accelerated and was moving at roughly towards the east. Debby was rapidly approaching the British Isles on September 20, shortly before it transitioned into an extratropical cyclone. Overall, impact was minor in the Lesser Antilles, with only light to moderate rainfall in Dominican Republic, Puerto Rico, and the United States Virgin Islands. On Bermuda, high winds caused some power outages and knocked over trees, though damage on the island was minimal. In addition, Debby dropped rainfall and produced moderately strong winds on Newfoundland. Meteorological history A weather system moved off the coast of Africa on September 3. The disturbance was small and became unidentifiable within 24 hours of formation. Satellite imagery indicated that the disturbance may have acquired a circulation on September 7, but the circulation was gone by the next day. The remaining tropical wave moved into the Lesser Antilles on September 11 and a reconnaissance aircraft was deployed. The aircraft found circulation; however, by the next day, only a strong wave was detected. Atmospheric conditions became more favorable for development, yielding lower wind shear near Hispaniola for several days. The system moved into this area as the latest Reconnaissance aircraft was deployed, declaring it a tropical depression on September 13 near the Dominican Republic. The next Reconnaissance aircraft that investigated the system discovered a minimal pressure of 1005 mbar (28.67 inHg) and winds of in the depression's center, prompting an upgrade to Tropical Storm Debby on the morning of September 14. Uncertainty