The 1859 season

Unnamed hurricane (1859)

Unnamed hurricane reached Category 1 in the North Atlantic between October 23, 1859 and October 29, 1859, with a lowest pressure of 989 mb, and made landfall.

Track and intensity

The whole track of Unnamed hurricane, colored by strength, with the other storms of the 1859 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
October 23, 1859 to October 29, 1859
Peak strength
Category 1, 80 kt (92 mph)
Lowest pressure
989 mb (29.21 inHg)
Landfall
Yes
Accumulated cyclone energy
9.0
Identifier
AL081859

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
Oct 23, 12:0020.0N 93.5WTropical storm
Oct 23, 18:0020.1N 93.4WTropical storm
Oct 24, 00:0020.2N 93.3W40 ktTropical storm
Oct 24, 06:0020.3N 93.3W40 ktTropical storm
Oct 24, 12:0020.4N 93.3W40 ktTropical storm
Oct 24, 18:0020.6N 93.2W40 ktTropical storm
Oct 25, 00:0020.7N 93.2W40 ktTropical storm
Oct 25, 06:0020.8N 93.2W50 ktTropical storm
Oct 25, 12:0021.0N 93.1W50 ktTropical storm
Oct 25, 18:0021.2N 93.0W50 ktTropical storm
Oct 26, 00:0021.4N 92.9W60 ktTropical storm
Oct 26, 06:0021.6N 92.8W60 ktTropical storm
Oct 26, 12:0021.8N 92.6W70 ktHurricane
Oct 26, 18:0022.0N 92.5W80 ktHurricane
Oct 27, 00:0022.3N 92.1W80 ktHurricane
Oct 27, 06:0022.5N 91.7W80 ktHurricane
Oct 27, 12:0023.1N 91.0W80 ktHurricane
Oct 27, 18:0023.9N 90.0W80 ktHurricane
Oct 28, 00:0024.8N 88.7W80 ktHurricane
Oct 28, 06:0025.7N 87.1W80 ktHurricane
Oct 28, 12:0026.7N 85.0W80 ktHurricane
Oct 28, 18:00 landfall27.7N 82.8W80 ktHurricane
Oct 29, 00:0029.2N 79.2W70 kt989 mbHurricane
Oct 29, 06:0030.3N 75.2W60 ktExtratropical
Oct 29, 12:0031.7N 69.9W50 ktExtratropical
Oct 29, 18:0032.7N 63.5W40 ktExtratropical

Other North Atlantic storms of 1859

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.