 The 1940 Atlantic hurricane season was a generally average period of tropical cyclogenesis in 1940 . Though the season had no official bounds , most tropical cyclone activity occurred during August and September . Throughout the year , fourteen tropical cyclones formed , of which nine reached tropical storm intensity ; six were hurricanes . None of the hurricanes reached major hurricane intensity . Tropical cyclones that did not approach populated areas or shipping lanes , especially if they were relatively weak and of short duration , may have remained undetected . Because technologies such as satellite monitoring were not available until the 1960s , historical data on tropical cyclones from this period are often not reliable . As a result of a reanalysis project which analyzed the season in 2012 , an additional hurricane was added to HURDAT . The year 's first tropical storm formed on May 19 off the northern coast of Hispaniola . At the time , this was a rare occurrence , as only four other tropical disturbances were known to have formed prior during this period ; since then , reanalysis of previous seasons has concluded that there were more than four tropical cyclones in May before 1940 . The season 's final system was a tropical disturbance situated in the Greater Antilles , which dissipated on November 8 . 
