The 1996 season was an above average season due to an ongoing La Nina, even though ENSO conditions changed to Neutral by the middle of October. The 1996 season had 4 destructive hurricanes Cesar, Fran, Hortense, and Lili. Cesar was the first destructive storm of the 1996 season.

On July 18th a very disorganized tropical wave moved off the coast of Africa and slowly moved westward. Models showed the wave becoming a tropical system but not until it reached the Caribbean. Due to wind shear and some dry Sierra Dust the wave did not develop for a few days.

On July 23rd the tropical wave entered into the Caribbean and started to show rotation and more thunderstorm activity. The next day the National Hurricane Center declared it a tropical depression. They issued forecasts that the depression could become a hurricane in the Western Caribbean. The next day the winds in the depression increased to 45 mph and it was named Tropical Storm Cesar.

Cesar slowly intensified becoming a 60 mph tropical storm on the 26th. It had been close to the tip of South America which prevented Cesar from really ramping up. On the 26th Cesar started to be pulled northwestward and was able to tap into the very warm water. On July 27th Cesar started to organize and it became a hurricane later that night with winds 75 mph. Cesar also sped up and it was now clear it was going to make landfall in Nicaragua.

Cesar continued to strengthen until landfall on July 28th. On July 28th Cesar made landfall in Nicaragua at peak intensity with winds of 85 mph making Cesar a category 1 hurricane. On July 29th Cesar exited the Atlantic Basin and crossed over into the Eastern Pacific Basin. Since it was now a Eastern Pacific Hurricane it was renamed Douglass the next name in that basin. Douglass would become a category 4 hurricane. Cesar lasted from July 24th-July 29th in the Atlantic.

Cesar caused severe flooding in Nicaragua as well as a high storm surge and for over a day pounded the country with 75-85 mph winds. Cesar's heavy rains also triggered mudslides.Even though Cesar did not make landfall in Costa Rica the rain bands caused mudslides in that country as well. Overall 115 people are believed to have perished and over $250 million dollars worth of damage was done.

Due to the severe impacts the name Cesar was retired the following year and replaced with the name Cristobal. In addition, Cesar was also the deadliest hurricane of the 1996 Atlantic season and was a sign of what was to come as 3 more destructive hurricanes would occur in 1996. Moreover, Cesar was also historic because it was one of the few tropical systems to cross over into another basin while still a tropical system.