The 1861 season

Unnamed hurricane (1861)

Unnamed hurricane reached Category 2 in the North Atlantic between July 4, 1861 and July 12, 1861.

Radar

Reflectivity now over Unnamed hurricane. Open it to see storms, cones and warnings on the map.

Open the live radar with storms, cones and warnings

Radar mosaic and map layers from NOAA MRMS. Boundaries from the Iowa Environmental Mesonet.

The storm

Basin
North Atlantic
Dates
July 4, 1861 to July 12, 1861
Peak strength
Category 2, 90 kt (104 mph)
Landfall
No; closest approach 110 km (68 mi)
Accumulated cyclone energy
12.8
Identifier
AL011861

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
Jul 4, 00:0014.5N 56.8WTropical storm
Jul 4, 06:0014.7N 57.3WTropical storm
Jul 4, 12:0014.9N 57.8WTropical storm
Jul 4, 18:0015.1N 58.3WTropical storm
Jul 5, 00:0015.3N 58.8WTropical storm
Jul 5, 06:0015.5N 59.3WTropical storm
Jul 5, 12:0015.7N 59.8WTropical storm
Jul 5, 18:0015.9N 60.3WTropical storm
Jul 6, 00:0015.1N 58.5W50 ktTropical storm
Jul 6, 06:0015.5N 59.3W50 ktTropical storm
Jul 6, 12:0015.8N 60.1W50 ktTropical storm
Jul 6, 18:0016.2N 60.9W50 ktTropical storm
Jul 7, 00:0016.7N 61.6W50 ktTropical storm
Jul 7, 06:0017.4N 62.4W50 ktTropical storm
Jul 7, 12:0018.0N 63.1W50 ktTropical storm
Jul 7, 18:0018.6N 63.8W50 ktTropical storm
Jul 8, 00:0019.4N 64.6W50 ktTropical storm
Jul 8, 06:0020.2N 65.5W50 ktTropical storm
Jul 8, 12:0021.2N 66.1W50 ktTropical storm
Jul 8, 18:0022.1N 66.6W50 ktTropical storm
Jul 9, 00:0023.1N 67.4W60 ktTropical storm
Jul 9, 06:0024.0N 67.9W60 ktTropical storm
Jul 9, 12:0025.0N 68.4W70 ktHurricane
Jul 9, 18:0026.0N 68.9W70 ktHurricane
Jul 10, 00:0026.9N 69.3W80 ktHurricane
Jul 10, 06:0027.8N 69.6W80 ktHurricane
Jul 10, 12:0028.7N 70.0W90 ktHurricane
Jul 10, 18:0029.5N 70.1W90 ktHurricane
Jul 11, 00:0030.1N 70.1W90 ktHurricane
Jul 11, 06:0030.7N 70.1W90 ktHurricane
Jul 11, 12:0031.4N 70.0W80 ktHurricane
Jul 11, 18:0032.5N 69.6W80 ktHurricane
Jul 12, 00:0033.9N 69.3W80 ktHurricane
Jul 12, 06:0035.0N 68.8W80 ktHurricane
Jul 12, 12:0036.0N 68.0W70 ktHurricane
Jul 12, 18:0037.0N 67.0W70 ktHurricane

Other North Atlantic storms of 1861

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.