The 1898 season

Unnamed hurricane (1898)

Unnamed hurricane reached Category 4 in the North Atlantic between September 25, 1898 and October 6, 1898, with a lowest pressure of 938 mb, and made landfall.

Track and intensity

The whole track of Unnamed hurricane, colored by strength, with the other storms of the 1898 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
September 25, 1898 to October 6, 1898
Peak strength
Category 4, 115 kt (132 mph)
Lowest pressure
938 mb (27.70 inHg)
Landfall
Yes
Accumulated cyclone energy
24.5
Fastest the center moved
48 kt (55 mph)
Identifier
AL071898

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.

Landfall

Time (UTC)WherePositionWindPressure
Oct 2, 16:00Jekyll Island, GA, 19 km away30.9N 81.4W115 kt (132 mph)938 mb

Landfall points the US agencies flagged in the best track. The nearest town is named from the site’s gazetteer, not from the report.

Track

Time (UTC)PositionWindPressureStatus
Sep 25, 00:0016.2N 58.3W35 ktTropical storm
Sep 25, 06:0016.6N 58.7W40 ktTropical storm
Sep 25, 12:0017.1N 59.2W40 ktTropical storm
Sep 25, 18:0017.7N 59.8W45 ktTropical storm
Sep 26, 00:0018.4N 60.8W50 ktTropical storm
Sep 26, 06:0019.1N 61.7W60 ktTropical storm
Sep 26, 12:0019.7N 62.5W65 ktHurricane
Sep 26, 18:0020.5N 63.4W65 ktHurricane
Sep 27, 00:0021.3N 64.3W65 ktHurricane
Sep 27, 06:0021.9N 65.1W70 ktHurricane
Sep 27, 12:0022.5N 66.0W75 ktHurricane
Sep 27, 18:0023.2N 67.0W80 kt977 mbHurricane
Sep 28, 00:0023.7N 67.8W85 ktHurricane
Sep 28, 06:0024.4N 68.9W90 ktHurricane
Sep 28, 12:0025.0N 70.0W95 ktHurricane
Sep 28, 18:0025.4N 70.6W95 ktHurricane
Sep 29, 00:0025.8N 71.2W95 ktHurricane
Sep 29, 06:0026.2N 71.9W95 ktHurricane
Sep 29, 12:0026.5N 72.5W95 ktHurricane
Sep 29, 18:0026.8N 73.0W95 ktHurricane
Sep 30, 00:0027.1N 73.5W95 ktHurricane
Sep 30, 06:0027.2N 73.9W95 ktHurricane
Sep 30, 12:0027.5N 74.5W95 ktHurricane
Sep 30, 18:0027.9N 75.2W95 ktHurricane
Oct 1, 00:0028.3N 75.9W95 ktHurricane
Oct 1, 06:0028.7N 76.6W100 ktHurricane
Oct 1, 12:0029.0N 77.3W105 ktHurricane
Oct 1, 18:0029.3N 78.0W110 ktHurricane
Oct 2, 00:0029.6N 78.7W115 ktHurricane
Oct 2, 06:0029.9N 79.6W115 ktHurricane
Oct 2, 12:0030.4N 80.6W115 kt938 mbHurricane
Oct 2, 16:00 landfall30.9N 81.4W115 kt938 mbHurricane
Oct 2, 18:0031.1N 81.8W90 ktHurricane
Oct 3, 00:0031.9N 83.1W65 ktHurricane
Oct 3, 06:0032.7N 84.2W45 ktTropical storm
Oct 3, 12:0033.5N 85.2W35 ktTropical storm
Oct 3, 18:0034.3N 86.1W30 ktTropical depression
Oct 4, 00:0035.2N 86.9W30 ktTropical depression
Oct 4, 06:0036.4N 87.5W30 ktTropical depression
Oct 4, 12:0037.6N 87.9W30 ktTropical depression
Oct 4, 18:0039.1N 87.6W30 ktTropical depression
Oct 5, 00:0041.0N 86.2W25 ktTropical depression
Oct 5, 06:0042.9N 83.8W25 ktTropical depression
Oct 5, 12:0044.5N 80.8W25 ktTropical depression
Oct 5, 18:0045.6N 77.0W25 ktTropical depression
Oct 6, 00:0046.4N 72.0W25 ktTropical depression
Oct 6, 06:0046.8N 65.8W25 ktTropical depression
Oct 6, 12:0047.0N 58.8W25 ktTropical depression
Oct 6, 18:0048.0N 52.8W25 ktTropical depression

Other North Atlantic storms of 1898

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.