The 1871 season

Unnamed hurricane (1871)

Unnamed hurricane reached Category 3 in the North Atlantic between August 12, 1871 and August 23, 1871, with a lowest pressure of 952 mb, and made landfall.

Track and intensity

The whole track of Unnamed hurricane, colored by strength, with the other storms of the 1871 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 12, 1871 to August 23, 1871
Peak strength
Category 3, 100 kt (115 mph)
Lowest pressure
952 mb (28.11 inHg)
Landfall
Yes
Accumulated cyclone energy
21.0
Identifier
AL031871

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 12, 00:0026.0N 69.2WTropical storm
Aug 12, 06:0026.3N 69.7WTropical storm
Aug 12, 12:0026.5N 70.1WTropical storm
Aug 12, 18:0026.8N 70.6WTropical storm
Aug 13, 00:0027.0N 71.0WTropical storm
Aug 13, 06:0027.1N 71.6WTropical storm
Aug 13, 12:0027.2N 72.1WTropical storm
Aug 13, 18:0027.3N 72.6WTropical storm
Aug 14, 00:0026.5N 72.4W80 ktHurricane
Aug 14, 06:0026.6N 73.0W80 ktHurricane
Aug 14, 12:0026.7N 73.6W80 ktHurricane
Aug 14, 18:0026.7N 74.3W80 ktHurricane
Aug 15, 00:0026.8N 75.0W90 ktHurricane
Aug 15, 06:0026.8N 75.8W90 ktHurricane
Aug 15, 12:0026.8N 76.7W100 ktHurricane
Aug 15, 18:0026.8N 77.7W100 ktHurricane
Aug 16, 00:0026.8N 78.5W100 kt952 mbHurricane
Aug 16, 06:0026.8N 79.1W100 kt955 mbHurricane
Aug 16, 12:0026.8N 79.5W100 ktHurricane
Aug 16, 18:0026.9N 79.8W100 ktHurricane
Aug 17, 00:0027.0N 80.1W100 ktHurricane
Aug 17, 02:00 landfall27.1N 80.2W100 ktHurricane
Aug 17, 06:0027.2N 80.5W90 ktHurricane
Aug 17, 12:0027.6N 81.1W80 ktHurricane
Aug 17, 18:0028.3N 81.7W70 ktHurricane
Aug 18, 00:0029.0N 82.1W70 ktHurricane
Aug 18, 06:0029.7N 82.5W60 ktTropical storm
Aug 18, 12:0030.4N 82.3W60 ktTropical storm
Aug 18, 18:0030.8N 81.9W50 ktTropical storm
Aug 19, 00:0031.3N 81.4W50 ktTropical storm
Aug 19, 06:0031.8N 80.8W60 ktTropical storm
Aug 19, 12:0032.1N 80.2W60 ktTropical storm
Aug 19, 18:0032.3N 79.6W60 ktTropical storm
Aug 20, 00:0032.5N 78.8W60 ktTropical storm
Aug 20, 06:0032.7N 77.6W60 ktTropical storm
Aug 20, 12:0032.6N 76.8W60 ktTropical storm
Aug 20, 18:0032.4N 76.4W60 ktTropical storm
Aug 21, 00:0032.0N 76.1W60 ktTropical storm
Aug 21, 06:0031.7N 76.3W60 ktTropical storm
Aug 21, 12:0031.4N 76.5W60 ktTropical storm
Aug 21, 18:0031.2N 77.1W60 ktTropical storm
Aug 22, 00:0031.1N 78.0W60 ktTropical storm
Aug 22, 06:0031.0N 78.6W60 ktTropical storm
Aug 22, 12:0031.0N 79.5W60 ktTropical storm
Aug 22, 18:0031.1N 80.4W60 ktTropical storm
Aug 23, 00:00 landfall31.2N 81.4W60 ktTropical storm
Aug 23, 06:0031.3N 82.4W50 ktTropical storm
Aug 23, 12:0031.4N 83.5W40 ktTropical storm
Aug 23, 18:0031.4N 84.5W30 ktTropical depression

Other North Atlantic storms of 1871

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.