The 1851 season

Unnamed hurricane (1851)

Unnamed hurricane reached Category 3 in the North Atlantic between August 16, 1851 and August 28, 1851, and made landfall.

Track and intensity

The whole track of Unnamed hurricane, colored by strength, with the other storms of the 1851 season in the same basin behind it, and its wind and pressure hour by hour. Every fix is in the track table below.

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The storm

Basin
North Atlantic
Dates
August 16, 1851 to August 28, 1851
Peak strength
Category 3, 100 kt (115 mph)
Landfall
Yes
Accumulated cyclone energy
21.8
Identifier
AL041851

Deaths and damage

No source this site reads publishes a machine-readable casualty or damage figure for a storm of this era. The National Hurricane Center’s season tables begin in 1995 and carry deaths and damage only from 2005 in the Atlantic and 2020 in both basins; the US Storm Events record begins in 1996.

Track

Time (UTC)PositionWindPressureStatus
Aug 16, 00:0013.4N 48.0W40 ktTropical storm
Aug 16, 06:0013.7N 49.5W40 ktTropical storm
Aug 16, 12:0014.0N 51.0W50 ktTropical storm
Aug 16, 18:0014.4N 52.8W50 ktTropical storm
Aug 17, 00:0014.9N 54.6W60 ktTropical storm
Aug 17, 06:0015.4N 56.5W60 ktTropical storm
Aug 17, 12:0015.9N 58.5W70 ktHurricane
Aug 17, 18:0016.1N 60.4W70 ktHurricane
Aug 18, 00:0016.6N 62.5W80 ktHurricane
Aug 18, 06:0016.9N 64.1W80 ktHurricane
Aug 18, 12:0017.2N 66.0W90 ktHurricane
Aug 18, 18:0017.6N 67.6W90 ktHurricane
Aug 19, 00:0018.0N 69.3W90 ktHurricane
Aug 19, 06:0018.4N 71.1W70 ktHurricane
Aug 19, 12:0018.9N 72.6W60 ktTropical storm
Aug 19, 18:0019.4N 74.3W60 ktTropical storm
Aug 20, 00:0019.9N 75.9W70 ktHurricane
Aug 20, 06:0020.5N 77.6W70 ktHurricane
Aug 20, 12:0021.2N 79.0W70 ktHurricane
Aug 20, 18:0021.9N 80.4W70 ktHurricane
Aug 21, 00:0022.6N 81.4W60 ktTropical storm
Aug 21, 06:0023.2N 82.5W60 ktTropical storm
Aug 21, 12:0023.9N 83.6W70 ktHurricane
Aug 21, 18:0024.4N 84.3W70 ktHurricane
Aug 22, 00:0025.0N 84.9W80 ktHurricane
Aug 22, 06:0025.6N 85.5W80 ktHurricane
Aug 22, 12:0026.2N 86.0W90 ktHurricane
Aug 22, 18:0026.8N 86.3W90 ktHurricane
Aug 23, 00:0027.4N 86.5W100 ktHurricane
Aug 23, 06:0028.0N 86.6W100 ktHurricane
Aug 23, 12:0028.5N 86.6W100 ktHurricane
Aug 23, 18:0029.6N 86.1W100 ktHurricane
Aug 23, 21:00 landfall30.1N 85.7W100 ktHurricane
Aug 24, 00:0030.7N 85.1W90 ktHurricane
Aug 24, 06:0031.6N 84.1W70 ktHurricane
Aug 24, 12:0032.5N 83.0W60 ktTropical storm
Aug 24, 18:0033.4N 81.4W50 ktTropical storm
Aug 25, 00:0034.0N 80.0W40 ktTropical storm
Aug 25, 06:0034.8N 78.6W40 ktTropical storm
Aug 25, 12:0035.8N 77.0W40 ktTropical storm
Aug 25, 18:0036.8N 75.1W40 ktTropical storm
Aug 26, 00:0037.8N 73.6W40 ktTropical storm
Aug 26, 06:0038.9N 71.8W40 ktTropical storm
Aug 26, 12:0040.0N 70.0W40 ktTropical storm
Aug 26, 18:0041.3N 66.8W40 ktTropical storm
Aug 27, 00:0042.8N 63.3W40 ktTropical storm
Aug 27, 06:0044.5N 60.2W40 ktTropical storm
Aug 27, 12:0046.4N 57.2W40 ktTropical storm
Aug 27, 18:0048.5N 54.2W40 ktTropical storm
Aug 28, 00:0051.0N 49.5WExtratropical
Aug 28, 06:0054.5N 46.0WExtratropical

Other North Atlantic storms of 1851

What this means

A best track is the record a warning agency settles on after the storm, not what it said at the time: position, maximum sustained wind and central pressure every six hours, revised against every observation that came in later. Category is the Saffir-Simpson scale, which runs from Category 1 at 64 kt to Category 5 at 137 kt and reads wind only, so it says nothing about surge or rain. Accumulated cyclone energy adds up the square of the wind through the storm's life, so it counts strength and duration together.

Sources

Storm history from NOAA NCEI’s International Best Track Archive for Climate Stewardship (IBTrACS), which merges the official best track of every warning agency. Live storms, cones, watches and warnings from the National Hurricane Center and the Central Pacific Hurricane Center. Archived radar from NOAA’s Level II archive.

The National Hurricane Center has published no tropical cyclone report for this storm.