The 1886 season

Unnamed hurricane (1886)

Unnamed hurricane reached Category 2 in the North Atlantic between September 20, 1886 and October 2, 1886.

Track and intensity

The whole track of Unnamed hurricane, colored by strength, with the other storms of the 1886 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
September 20, 1886 to October 2, 1886
Peak strength
Category 2, 85 kt (98 mph)
Landfall
No; closest approach 185 km (115 mi)
Accumulated cyclone energy
21.8
Identifier
AL091886

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 20, 00:0018.2N 62.5WTropical storm
Sep 20, 06:0018.8N 62.8WTropical storm
Sep 20, 12:0019.4N 63.0WTropical storm
Sep 20, 18:0020.0N 63.3WTropical storm
Sep 21, 00:0020.5N 63.5WTropical storm
Sep 21, 06:0021.1N 64.0WTropical storm
Sep 21, 12:0021.6N 64.4WTropical storm
Sep 21, 18:0022.1N 64.8WTropical storm
Sep 22, 00:0022.9N 66.7W50 ktTropical storm
Sep 22, 06:0023.2N 66.6W50 ktTropical storm
Sep 22, 12:0023.5N 66.5W55 ktTropical storm
Sep 22, 18:0023.7N 66.4W55 ktTropical storm
Sep 23, 00:0024.0N 66.3W60 ktTropical storm
Sep 23, 06:0024.4N 66.1W65 ktHurricane
Sep 23, 12:0024.7N 66.0W70 ktHurricane
Sep 23, 18:0024.8N 66.0W75 ktHurricane
Sep 24, 00:0025.0N 65.9W80 ktHurricane
Sep 24, 06:0025.2N 65.7W85 ktHurricane
Sep 24, 12:0025.3N 65.5W85 ktHurricane
Sep 24, 18:0025.4N 65.4W85 ktHurricane
Sep 25, 00:0025.5N 65.2W85 ktHurricane
Sep 25, 06:0025.7N 65.0W85 ktHurricane
Sep 25, 12:0025.8N 65.0W85 ktHurricane
Sep 25, 18:0026.0N 65.0W85 ktHurricane
Sep 26, 00:0026.1N 65.1W85 ktHurricane
Sep 26, 06:0026.2N 65.2W85 ktHurricane
Sep 26, 12:0026.3N 65.3W85 ktHurricane
Sep 26, 18:0026.6N 65.7W85 ktHurricane
Sep 27, 00:0026.7N 66.0W85 ktHurricane
Sep 27, 06:0026.8N 66.3W85 ktHurricane
Sep 27, 12:0027.0N 67.0W85 ktHurricane
Sep 27, 18:0027.2N 67.4W85 ktHurricane
Sep 28, 00:0027.5N 67.9W85 ktHurricane
Sep 28, 06:0027.9N 68.3W85 ktHurricane
Sep 28, 12:0028.3N 68.7W85 ktHurricane
Sep 28, 18:0028.8N 68.9W85 ktHurricane
Sep 29, 00:0029.2N 69.1W85 ktHurricane
Sep 29, 06:0029.7N 69.2W85 ktHurricane
Sep 29, 12:0030.0N 69.3W85 ktHurricane
Sep 29, 18:0030.5N 69.5W85 ktHurricane
Sep 30, 00:0031.0N 69.7W80 ktHurricane
Sep 30, 06:0031.4N 69.9W75 ktHurricane
Sep 30, 12:0031.7N 70.0W50 ktTropical storm
Sep 30, 18:0032.2N 70.1W35 ktTropical storm
Oct 1, 00:0034.5N 68.0WTropical storm
Oct 1, 06:0036.5N 65.3WTropical storm
Oct 1, 12:0038.5N 63.5WTropical storm
Oct 1, 18:0041.8N 62.5WExtratropical
Oct 2, 00:0045.0N 58.0WExtratropical

Other North Atlantic storms of 1886

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.