The 1885 season

Unnamed hurricane (1885)

Unnamed hurricane reached Category 2 in the North Atlantic between August 21, 1885 and August 28, 1885, with a lowest pressure of 958 mb, and made landfall.

Track and intensity

The whole track of Unnamed hurricane, colored by strength, with the other storms of the 1885 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 21, 1885 to August 28, 1885
Peak strength
Category 2, 90 kt (104 mph)
Lowest pressure
958 mb (28.29 inHg)
Landfall
Yes
Accumulated cyclone energy
13.7
Identifier
AL021885

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 21, 00:0021.2N 67.0W40 ktTropical storm
Aug 21, 06:0021.2N 68.4W40 ktTropical storm
Aug 21, 12:0021.4N 69.8W40 ktTropical storm
Aug 21, 18:0021.5N 71.4W40 ktTropical storm
Aug 22, 00:0021.7N 72.5W50 ktTropical storm
Aug 22, 06:0022.0N 73.8W50 ktTropical storm
Aug 22, 12:0022.2N 75.1W50 ktTropical storm
Aug 22, 18:0022.6N 76.3W50 ktTropical storm
Aug 23, 00:0023.0N 77.1W60 ktTropical storm
Aug 23, 06:0023.5N 78.0W60 ktTropical storm
Aug 23, 12:0024.2N 78.6W60 ktTropical storm
Aug 23, 18:0025.1N 79.1W60 ktTropical storm
Aug 24, 00:0026.1N 79.5W70 ktHurricane
Aug 24, 06:0027.0N 79.9W70 ktHurricane
Aug 24, 12:0028.3N 80.3W80 ktHurricane
Aug 24, 18:0029.4N 80.6W90 ktHurricane
Aug 25, 00:0030.4N 80.8W90 ktHurricane
Aug 25, 06:0031.4N 80.7W90 ktHurricane
Aug 25, 12:00 landfall32.6N 80.1W90 kt970 mbHurricane
Aug 25, 18:0033.8N 78.9W80 ktHurricane
Aug 26, 00:0035.0N 76.9W70 ktHurricane
Aug 26, 06:0036.0N 74.8W70 ktHurricane
Aug 26, 12:0037.0N 72.0W80 ktHurricane
Aug 26, 18:0038.4N 67.9W80 ktHurricane
Aug 27, 00:0040.4N 62.9W90 kt958 mbHurricane
Aug 27, 06:0042.5N 57.8W90 ktHurricane
Aug 27, 12:0044.3N 53.5W80 ktHurricane
Aug 27, 18:0046.0N 50.0W80 ktHurricane
Aug 28, 00:0047.5N 46.5W70 ktExtratropical
Aug 28, 06:0048.9N 43.0W70 ktExtratropical
Aug 28, 12:0050.0N 40.0W60 ktExtratropical
Aug 28, 18:0051.0N 37.0W60 ktExtratropical

Other North Atlantic storms of 1885

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.