The 1861 season

Unnamed hurricane (1861)

Unnamed hurricane reached Category 2 in the North Atlantic between August 24, 1861 and August 31, 1861.

Track and intensity

The whole track of Unnamed hurricane, colored by strength, with the other storms of the 1861 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 24, 1861 to August 31, 1861
Peak strength
Category 2, 90 kt (104 mph)
Landfall
No; closest approach 717 km (446 mi)
Accumulated cyclone energy
16.7
Identifier
AL031861

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 24, 12:0034.5N 64.0WTropical storm
Aug 24, 18:0035.1N 63.3WTropical storm
Aug 25, 00:0034.4N 62.0W80 ktHurricane
Aug 25, 06:0035.0N 61.8W80 ktHurricane
Aug 25, 12:0035.5N 61.6W80 ktHurricane
Aug 25, 18:0036.2N 61.2W80 ktHurricane
Aug 26, 00:0036.8N 60.6W80 ktHurricane
Aug 26, 06:0037.4N 59.9W80 ktHurricane
Aug 26, 12:0038.0N 59.0W80 ktHurricane
Aug 26, 18:0038.5N 58.0W80 ktHurricane
Aug 27, 00:0039.0N 57.0W80 ktHurricane
Aug 27, 06:0039.7N 55.8W80 ktHurricane
Aug 27, 12:0040.3N 54.3W80 ktHurricane
Aug 27, 18:0040.8N 52.5W80 ktHurricane
Aug 28, 00:0041.3N 50.9W80 ktHurricane
Aug 28, 06:0041.7N 49.3W80 ktHurricane
Aug 28, 12:0042.0N 47.8W80 ktHurricane
Aug 28, 18:0042.3N 46.3W80 ktHurricane
Aug 29, 00:0042.5N 44.7W90 ktHurricane
Aug 29, 06:0043.0N 43.3W90 ktHurricane
Aug 29, 12:0043.5N 41.8W90 ktHurricane
Aug 29, 18:0044.3N 39.9W90 ktHurricane
Aug 30, 00:0045.4N 38.0W90 ktHurricane
Aug 30, 06:0046.5N 36.3W90 ktHurricane
Aug 30, 12:0047.7N 34.8W90 ktHurricane
Aug 30, 18:0049.0N 32.7W90 ktHurricane
Aug 31, 00:0047.0N 37.3WExtratropical
Aug 31, 06:0048.3N 36.0WExtratropical
Aug 31, 12:0049.5N 34.8WExtratropical

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.