The 1870 season

Unnamed hurricane (1870)

Unnamed hurricane reached Category 3 in the North Atlantic between October 5, 1870 and October 18, 1870, with a lowest pressure of 959 mb, and made landfall.

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
October 5, 1870 to October 18, 1870
Peak strength
Category 3, 100 kt (115 mph)
Lowest pressure
959 mb (28.32 inHg)
Landfall
Yes
Accumulated cyclone energy
25.9
Identifier
AL061870

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 5, 00:0017.5N 74.0W40 ktTropical storm
Oct 5, 06:0018.1N 75.0W40 ktTropical storm
Oct 5, 12:0018.7N 76.0W50 ktTropical storm
Oct 5, 18:0019.1N 77.0W50 ktTropical storm
Oct 6, 00:0019.5N 78.0W60 ktTropical storm
Oct 6, 06:0020.0N 79.1W60 ktTropical storm
Oct 6, 12:0020.5N 80.0W70 ktHurricane
Oct 6, 18:0021.0N 80.4W70 ktHurricane
Oct 7, 00:0021.4N 80.9W80 ktHurricane
Oct 7, 06:0021.7N 81.3W90 ktHurricane
Oct 7, 12:0022.1N 81.6W100 kt959 mbHurricane
Oct 7, 18:0022.4N 81.9W100 ktHurricane
Oct 8, 00:0022.7N 82.1W90 ktHurricane
Oct 8, 06:0023.1N 82.1W80 ktHurricane
Oct 8, 12:0023.4N 82.0W90 ktHurricane
Oct 8, 18:0023.7N 81.9W90 ktHurricane
Oct 9, 00:0023.9N 81.8W90 ktHurricane
Oct 9, 06:0024.1N 81.6W90 ktHurricane
Oct 9, 12:0024.2N 81.4W90 ktHurricane
Oct 9, 18:0024.4N 81.1W90 ktHurricane
Oct 10, 00:0024.5N 81.0W90 ktHurricane
Oct 10, 06:0024.6N 80.8W90 ktHurricane
Oct 10, 12:0024.7N 80.6W90 ktHurricane
Oct 10, 18:0024.9N 80.3W90 ktHurricane
Oct 11, 00:0025.1N 80.0W90 ktHurricane
Oct 11, 06:0025.2N 79.8W90 ktHurricane
Oct 11, 12:0025.5N 79.5W90 ktHurricane
Oct 11, 18:0025.8N 79.0W90 ktHurricane
Oct 12, 00:0026.2N 78.6W90 ktHurricane
Oct 12, 06:0026.5N 78.1W90 ktHurricane
Oct 12, 12:0026.8N 77.6W80 ktHurricane
Oct 12, 18:0027.3N 77.0W80 ktHurricane
Oct 13, 00:0027.8N 76.3W80 ktHurricane
Oct 13, 06:0028.3N 75.6W80 ktHurricane
Oct 13, 12:0028.9N 74.9W70 ktHurricane
Oct 13, 18:0029.5N 74.0W70 ktHurricane
Oct 14, 00:0030.1N 72.9W70 ktHurricane
Oct 14, 06:0030.7N 71.8W70 ktHurricane
Oct 14, 12:0031.4N 70.5W70 ktHurricane
Oct 14, 18:0032.2N 69.1W70 ktHurricane
Oct 15, 00:0035.8N 65.7WTropical storm
Oct 15, 06:0036.9N 62.9WTropical storm
Oct 15, 12:0038.1N 60.0WTropical storm
Oct 15, 18:0039.2N 57.2WTropical storm
Oct 16, 00:0040.3N 54.4WTropical storm
Oct 16, 06:0041.5N 51.5WTropical storm
Oct 16, 12:0042.6N 48.7WTropical storm
Oct 16, 18:0043.8N 45.8WTropical storm
Oct 17, 00:0044.9N 43.0WExtratropical
Oct 17, 06:0046.1N 40.1WExtratropical
Oct 17, 12:0047.2N 37.2WExtratropical
Oct 17, 18:0047.9N 34.2WExtratropical
Oct 18, 00:0048.6N 30.6WExtratropical
Oct 18, 06:0049.3N 27.0WExtratropical
Oct 18, 12:0050.0N 23.5WExtratropical

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.