Hurricane Edith was the strongest hurricane to form during the 1971 Atlantic hurricane season and the southernmost landfalling Category 5 hurricane on record in the Atlantic at the time. Edith developed from a tropical wave on September 5 and quickly strengthened into a hurricane in the Caribbean Sea. Edith rapidly intensified on September 9 and made landfall on Cape Gracias a Dios as a Category 5 hurricane on the Saffir-Simpson Hurricane Scale. Being a category 5 hurricane, Edith peaked at only 943 mbar (hPa), making Edith the least intense category 5 Atlantic hurricane on record. It quickly lost intensity over Central America and after briefly entering the Gulf of Honduras it crossed the Yucatán Peninsula in Mexico. After moving across the Gulf of Mexico a trough turned the storm to the northeast and Edith, after having restrengthened while accelerating towards the coast, made landfall on Louisiana with winds of 105 mph (169 km/h) on September 16. Edith steadily weakened over land and dissipated over Georgia on September 18.

The 1971 Atlantic hurricane season was an active Atlantic hurricane season overall, producing 13 named storms, of which 6 strengthened into hurricanes. The season officially began on June 1, 1971, and lasted until November 30, 1971. These dates conventionally delimit the period of each year when most tropical cyclones form in the Atlantic basin. This season, the first storm, Arlene, developed on July 4, while the last, Laura, dissipated on November 22.