The 1857 season

Unnamed hurricane (1857)

Unnamed hurricane reached Category 2 in the North Atlantic between September 5, 1857 and September 18, 1857, with a lowest pressure of 961 mb, and made landfall.

Track and intensity

The whole track of Unnamed hurricane, colored by strength, with the other storms of the 1857 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
September 5, 1857 to September 18, 1857
Peak strength
Category 2, 90 kt (104 mph)
Lowest pressure
961 mb (28.38 inHg)
Landfall
Yes
Accumulated cyclone energy
22.4
Identifier
AL021857

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
Sep 5, 12:0026.8N 74.2WTropical storm
Sep 5, 18:0026.9N 74.2WTropical storm
Sep 6, 00:0027.0N 74.1WTropical storm
Sep 6, 06:0027.0N 74.1WTropical storm
Sep 6, 12:0027.1N 74.0WTropical storm
Sep 6, 18:0026.5N 73.0W40 ktTropical storm
Sep 7, 00:0026.7N 72.8W40 ktTropical storm
Sep 7, 06:0026.9N 72.6W40 ktTropical storm
Sep 7, 12:0027.2N 72.4W50 ktTropical storm
Sep 7, 18:0027.5N 72.3W50 ktTropical storm
Sep 8, 00:0027.7N 72.5W50 ktTropical storm
Sep 8, 06:0027.9N 72.7W50 ktTropical storm
Sep 8, 12:0028.1N 72.9W60 ktTropical storm
Sep 8, 18:0028.3N 73.0W60 ktTropical storm
Sep 9, 00:0028.7N 73.6W60 ktTropical storm
Sep 9, 06:0029.1N 74.2W70 ktHurricane
Sep 9, 12:0029.5N 74.7W70 ktHurricane
Sep 9, 18:0029.9N 75.3W70 ktHurricane
Sep 10, 00:0030.2N 75.8W70 ktHurricane
Sep 10, 06:0030.5N 76.2W70 ktHurricane
Sep 10, 12:0030.7N 76.7W80 ktHurricane
Sep 10, 18:0031.0N 77.1W80 ktHurricane
Sep 11, 00:0031.2N 77.4W90 ktHurricane
Sep 11, 06:0031.5N 77.7W90 ktHurricane
Sep 11, 12:0031.7N 78.0W90 ktHurricane
Sep 11, 18:0032.1N 78.2W90 ktHurricane
Sep 12, 00:0032.3N 78.2W90 ktHurricane
Sep 12, 06:0032.5N 78.3W90 ktHurricane
Sep 12, 12:0032.8N 78.3W90 ktHurricane
Sep 12, 18:0033.3N 78.3W90 kt961 mbHurricane
Sep 13, 00:00 landfall33.9N 78.0W90 ktHurricane
Sep 13, 06:0034.5N 77.5W80 ktHurricane
Sep 13, 12:0034.9N 77.1W70 ktHurricane
Sep 13, 18:0035.5N 76.5W60 ktTropical storm
Sep 14, 00:0036.0N 76.2W50 ktTropical storm
Sep 14, 06:0036.3N 75.8W50 ktTropical storm
Sep 14, 12:0036.5N 74.9W50 ktTropical storm
Sep 14, 18:0036.8N 73.5W60 ktTropical storm
Sep 15, 00:0037.6N 71.8W60 ktTropical storm
Sep 15, 06:0038.5N 69.8W70 ktHurricane
Sep 15, 12:0039.4N 67.6W80 ktHurricane
Sep 15, 18:0040.3N 65.2W80 ktHurricane
Sep 16, 00:0041.2N 61.7W80 ktHurricane
Sep 16, 06:0042.1N 58.9W80 ktHurricane
Sep 16, 12:0043.0N 56.0W80 ktHurricane
Sep 16, 18:0044.0N 53.0W80 ktHurricane
Sep 17, 00:0045.0N 50.0W80 ktHurricane
Sep 17, 06:0046.0N 46.0W70 ktHurricane
Sep 17, 12:0047.0N 42.0W60 ktTropical storm
Sep 17, 18:0048.0N 38.0W50 ktExtratropical
Sep 18, 00:0049.0N 34.0W40 ktExtratropical
Sep 18, 06:0050.0N 30.0W40 ktExtratropical

Other North Atlantic storms of 1857

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.