 The first storm of the 1973 hurricane season , forming in mid @-@ April , developed more than a month before the official start of the season . Several other short @-@ lived , weak depressions formed before and during June ; however , none reached storm intensity . The first named storm , Alice , formed on July 1 . Tracking generally to the north , Alice also became the first hurricane of the season as well as the first known cyclone to impact Bermuda during July . Shortly after Alice dissipated over Atlantic Canada , another depression formed . By the end of July , two more non @-@ developing depressions formed and the first subtropical cyclone , given the name Alfa , developed off the east coast of the United States . This storm was short @-@ lived and dissipated on August 2 just offshore southern Maine . The first half August was relatively quiet , with only one depression forming . However , later in the month , the season 's second hurricane , Brenda , formed in the northwestern Caribbean . Peaking just below Category 2 status on the newly introduced Saffir – Simpson hurricane scale , Brenda made the first recorded landfall in the Mexican State of Campeche . 
