The 1862 season

Unnamed hurricane (1862)

Unnamed hurricane reached Category 2 in the North Atlantic between September 8, 1862 and September 21, 1862.

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
September 8, 1862 to September 21, 1862
Peak strength
Category 2, 90 kt (104 mph)
Landfall
No; closest approach 216 km (134 mi)
Accumulated cyclone energy
23.4
Identifier
AL031862

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 8, 00:0015.0N 34.8WTropical storm
Sep 8, 06:0015.4N 36.1WTropical storm
Sep 8, 12:0015.7N 37.4WTropical storm
Sep 8, 18:0016.0N 38.7WTropical storm
Sep 9, 00:0016.3N 39.9WTropical storm
Sep 9, 06:0016.8N 41.2WTropical storm
Sep 9, 12:0017.3N 42.5WTropical storm
Sep 9, 18:0017.8N 43.8WTropical storm
Sep 10, 00:0018.3N 45.0WTropical storm
Sep 10, 06:0018.8N 46.3WTropical storm
Sep 10, 12:0019.3N 47.6WTropical storm
Sep 10, 18:0019.8N 48.9WTropical storm
Sep 11, 00:0020.2N 50.1WTropical storm
Sep 11, 06:0020.6N 51.3WTropical storm
Sep 11, 12:0021.0N 52.5WTropical storm
Sep 11, 18:0021.4N 54.0WTropical storm
Sep 12, 00:0022.2N 56.0W60 ktTropical storm
Sep 12, 06:0022.4N 57.0W60 ktTropical storm
Sep 12, 12:0022.5N 58.0W60 ktTropical storm
Sep 12, 18:0022.7N 59.2W60 ktTropical storm
Sep 13, 00:0023.1N 60.4W70 ktHurricane
Sep 13, 06:0023.4N 61.5W70 ktHurricane
Sep 13, 12:0023.7N 62.8W70 ktHurricane
Sep 13, 18:0024.2N 64.0W70 ktHurricane
Sep 14, 00:0024.6N 65.3W80 ktHurricane
Sep 14, 06:0025.0N 66.5W80 ktHurricane
Sep 14, 12:0025.6N 67.6W80 ktHurricane
Sep 14, 18:0026.0N 68.3W80 ktHurricane
Sep 15, 00:0026.6N 69.0W90 ktHurricane
Sep 15, 06:0027.2N 69.8W90 ktHurricane
Sep 15, 12:0027.8N 70.5W90 ktHurricane
Sep 15, 18:0028.5N 71.1W90 ktHurricane
Sep 16, 00:0029.2N 71.5W90 ktHurricane
Sep 16, 06:0030.0N 71.9W90 ktHurricane
Sep 16, 12:0030.7N 72.3W90 ktHurricane
Sep 16, 18:0031.4N 72.6W90 ktHurricane
Sep 17, 00:0032.0N 72.8W90 ktHurricane
Sep 17, 06:0032.5N 72.9W90 ktHurricane
Sep 17, 12:0033.0N 73.0W90 ktHurricane
Sep 17, 18:0033.8N 73.1W90 ktHurricane
Sep 18, 00:0034.8N 73.0W90 ktHurricane
Sep 18, 06:0036.0N 72.6W90 ktHurricane
Sep 18, 12:0037.0N 72.1W90 ktHurricane
Sep 18, 18:0038.0N 71.5W90 ktHurricane
Sep 19, 00:0039.0N 70.1W90 ktHurricane
Sep 19, 06:0040.0N 68.5W90 ktHurricane
Sep 19, 12:0040.8N 66.5W90 ktHurricane
Sep 19, 18:0041.5N 64.0W90 ktHurricane
Sep 20, 00:0042.0N 61.0W80 ktHurricane
Sep 20, 06:0042.5N 57.0W80 ktHurricane
Sep 20, 12:0044.7N 49.8WTropical storm
Sep 20, 18:0046.5N 45.0WExtratropical
Sep 21, 00:0049.5N 40.0WExtratropical

Other North Atlantic storms of 1862

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.