The 1887 season

Unnamed hurricane (1887)

Unnamed hurricane reached Category 2 in the North Atlantic between August 28, 1887 and September 6, 1887, with a lowest pressure of 963 mb.

Track and intensity

The whole track of Unnamed hurricane, colored by strength, with the other storms of the 1887 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 28, 1887 to September 6, 1887
Peak strength
Category 2, 90 kt (104 mph)
Lowest pressure
963 mb (28.44 inHg)
Landfall
No; closest approach 66 km (41 mi)
Accumulated cyclone energy
7.4
Identifier
AL081887

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 28, 12:0012.1N 37.0WTropical storm
Aug 28, 18:0012.9N 38.3WTropical storm
Aug 29, 00:0013.7N 39.5WTropical storm
Aug 29, 06:0014.5N 40.8WTropical storm
Aug 29, 12:0015.2N 42.0WTropical storm
Aug 29, 18:0016.0N 43.3WTropical storm
Aug 30, 00:0016.8N 44.5WTropical storm
Aug 30, 06:0017.6N 45.8WTropical storm
Aug 30, 12:0018.5N 47.0WTropical storm
Aug 30, 18:0019.4N 48.3WTropical storm
Aug 31, 00:0020.5N 49.5WTropical storm
Aug 31, 06:0021.7N 50.8WTropical storm
Aug 31, 12:0023.0N 52.0WTropical storm
Aug 31, 18:0024.2N 53.3WTropical storm
Sep 1, 00:0028.1N 53.7W35 ktTropical storm
Sep 1, 06:0028.6N 54.4W40 ktTropical storm
Sep 1, 12:0029.0N 55.0W45 ktTropical storm
Sep 1, 18:0029.6N 55.9W50 ktTropical storm
Sep 2, 00:0030.4N 57.0W55 ktTropical storm
Sep 2, 06:0031.1N 57.8W65 ktHurricane
Sep 2, 12:0032.0N 58.5W75 ktHurricane
Sep 2, 18:0034.2N 58.7W80 ktHurricane
Sep 3, 00:0036.7N 57.8W85 ktHurricane
Sep 3, 06:0038.8N 56.4W90 ktHurricane
Sep 3, 12:0041.0N 54.0W90 ktHurricane
Sep 3, 18:0043.7N 49.7W90 ktHurricane
Sep 4, 00:0046.4N 44.5W90 kt963 mbHurricane
Sep 4, 06:0049.2N 39.7W90 ktHurricane
Sep 4, 12:0052.0N 35.0W80 ktExtratropical
Sep 4, 18:0053.0N 32.4W70 ktExtratropical
Sep 5, 00:0054.0N 29.7W60 ktExtratropical
Sep 5, 06:0054.9N 26.9W60 ktExtratropical
Sep 5, 12:0055.7N 23.0W60 ktExtratropical
Sep 5, 18:0055.3N 18.1W60 ktExtratropical
Sep 6, 00:0055.2N 14.6W55 ktExtratropical
Sep 6, 06:0055.4N 11.0W50 ktExtratropical
Sep 6, 12:0055.9N 7.2W50 ktExtratropical

Other North Atlantic storms of 1887

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.