The 1870 season

Unnamed hurricane (1870)

Unnamed hurricane reached Category 3 in the North Atlantic between August 29, 1870 and September 13, 1870, with a lowest pressure of 948 mb.

Track and intensity

The whole track of Unnamed hurricane, colored by strength, with the other storms of the 1870 season in the same basin behind it, and its wind and pressure hour by hour. Every fix is in the track table below.

Open the live map with storms, cones and warnings

The storm

Basin
North Atlantic
Dates
August 29, 1870 to September 13, 1870
Peak strength
Category 3, 110 kt (127 mph)
Lowest pressure
948 mb (27.99 inHg)
Landfall
No; closest approach 491 km (305 mi)
Accumulated cyclone energy
18.6
Identifier
AL031870

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 29, 12:0013.0N 21.7WTropical storm
Aug 29, 18:0013.2N 22.9WTropical storm
Aug 30, 00:0013.5N 24.1WTropical storm
Aug 30, 06:0013.8N 25.3WTropical storm
Aug 30, 12:0014.0N 26.5WTropical storm
Aug 30, 18:0014.3N 27.7WTropical storm
Aug 31, 00:0014.5N 28.9WTropical storm
Aug 31, 06:0014.8N 30.1WTropical storm
Aug 31, 12:0015.0N 31.3WTropical storm
Aug 31, 18:0015.3N 32.5WTropical storm
Sep 1, 00:0016.0N 27.6W50 ktTropical storm
Sep 1, 06:0016.2N 29.0W50 ktTropical storm
Sep 1, 12:0016.4N 30.4W60 ktTropical storm
Sep 1, 18:0016.6N 32.0W60 ktTropical storm
Sep 2, 00:0016.7N 34.0W60 ktTropical storm
Sep 2, 06:0017.1N 36.0W60 ktTropical storm
Sep 2, 12:0017.2N 38.0W60 ktTropical storm
Sep 2, 18:0017.5N 39.8W60 ktTropical storm
Sep 3, 00:0017.7N 41.7W50 ktTropical storm
Sep 3, 06:0018.0N 43.7W50 ktTropical storm
Sep 3, 12:0018.2N 45.7W50 ktTropical storm
Sep 3, 18:0018.4N 47.3W50 ktTropical storm
Sep 4, 00:0018.7N 49.0W40 ktTropical storm
Sep 4, 06:0019.0N 50.9W40 ktTropical storm
Sep 4, 12:0019.2N 53.0W40 kt1004 mbTropical storm
Sep 4, 18:0019.7N 55.0W40 ktTropical storm
Sep 5, 00:0022.0N 51.6WTropical storm
Sep 5, 06:0022.7N 52.7WTropical storm
Sep 5, 12:0023.1N 53.8WTropical storm
Sep 5, 18:0023.5N 54.5WTropical storm
Sep 6, 00:0024.0N 55.6WTropical storm
Sep 6, 06:0024.2N 56.5WTropical storm
Sep 6, 12:0024.4N 57.4WTropical storm
Sep 6, 18:0024.2N 58.3WTropical storm
Sep 7, 00:0024.3N 59.2WTropical storm
Sep 7, 06:0024.4N 60.2WTropical storm
Sep 7, 12:0024.8N 61.0WTropical storm
Sep 7, 18:0025.1N 61.7WTropical storm
Sep 8, 00:0025.5N 62.2WTropical storm
Sep 8, 06:0025.8N 62.8WTropical storm
Sep 8, 12:0026.2N 63.6WTropical storm
Sep 8, 18:0026.6N 64.7WTropical storm
Sep 9, 00:0024.2N 64.0W70 ktHurricane
Sep 9, 06:0025.1N 64.4W70 ktHurricane
Sep 9, 12:0026.0N 65.0W80 ktHurricane
Sep 9, 18:0027.1N 65.6W80 ktHurricane
Sep 10, 00:0028.7N 66.3W90 ktHurricane
Sep 10, 06:0030.5N 66.6W90 ktHurricane
Sep 10, 12:0032.5N 66.3W100 ktHurricane
Sep 10, 18:0033.9N 65.4W100 ktHurricane
Sep 11, 00:0035.4N 64.1W110 ktHurricane
Sep 11, 06:0036.8N 62.6W110 ktHurricane
Sep 11, 12:0038.0N 61.2W110 ktHurricane
Sep 11, 18:0039.7N 59.4W110 ktHurricane
Sep 12, 00:0041.5N 57.4W100 kt948 mbHurricane
Sep 12, 06:0043.5N 55.4W100 ktHurricane
Sep 12, 12:0045.0N 53.0W90 ktHurricane
Sep 12, 18:0046.0N 51.0W90 ktHurricane
Sep 13, 00:0047.0N 48.2W80 ktExtratropical
Sep 13, 06:0047.8N 45.0W80 ktExtratropical
Sep 13, 12:0048.4N 42.0W70 ktExtratropical
Sep 13, 18:0049.0N 39.0W70 ktExtratropical

Other North Atlantic storms of 1870

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.