The 1909 season

Unnamed hurricane (1909)

Unnamed hurricane reached Category 3 in the North Atlantic between July 13, 1909 and July 22, 1909, with a lowest pressure of 959 mb, and made landfall.

Track and intensity

The whole track of Unnamed hurricane, colored by strength, with the other storms of the 1909 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
July 13, 1909 to July 22, 1909
Peak strength
Category 3, 100 kt (115 mph)
Lowest pressure
959 mb (28.32 inHg)
Landfall
Yes
Accumulated cyclone energy
9.8
Fastest the center moved
15 kt (17 mph)
Identifier
AL041909

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
Jul 21, 17:00Surfside Beach, TX, 5 km away28.9N 95.3W100 kt (115 mph)

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
Jul 13, 12:0012.3N 60.5W30 ktTropical depression
Jul 13, 18:0012.3N 62.0W30 ktTropical depression
Jul 14, 00:0012.4N 63.5W30 ktTropical depression
Jul 14, 06:0012.6N 64.9W30 ktTropical depression
Jul 14, 12:0013.0N 66.2W30 ktTropical depression
Jul 14, 18:0013.5N 67.4W30 ktTropical depression
Jul 15, 00:0014.0N 68.6W30 ktTropical depression
Jul 15, 06:0014.5N 69.8W30 ktTropical depression
Jul 15, 12:0014.9N 71.0W30 ktTropical depression
Jul 15, 18:0015.2N 72.2W30 ktTropical depression
Jul 16, 00:0015.5N 73.3W30 ktTropical depression
Jul 16, 06:0015.8N 74.4W30 ktTropical depression
Jul 16, 12:0016.0N 75.5W30 ktTropical depression
Jul 16, 18:0016.2N 76.7W30 ktTropical depression
Jul 17, 00:0016.4N 77.8W35 ktTropical storm
Jul 17, 06:0016.7N 78.9W40 ktTropical storm
Jul 17, 12:0017.2N 80.0W45 ktTropical storm
Jul 17, 18:0018.0N 81.0W50 ktTropical storm
Jul 18, 00:0019.0N 82.0W55 ktTropical storm
Jul 18, 06:0020.0N 83.0W60 ktTropical storm
Jul 18, 12:0021.0N 84.0W60 ktTropical storm
Jul 18, 18:0022.0N 85.0W65 ktHurricane
Jul 19, 00:0023.0N 85.9W70 ktHurricane
Jul 19, 06:0024.0N 86.7W70 ktHurricane
Jul 19, 12:0025.0N 87.5W70 ktHurricane
Jul 19, 18:0025.6N 88.3W70 ktHurricane
Jul 20, 00:0026.1N 88.9W70 ktHurricane
Jul 20, 06:0026.6N 89.7W70 ktHurricane
Jul 20, 12:0027.0N 90.6W70 ktHurricane
Jul 20, 18:0027.4N 91.5W70 kt985 mbHurricane
Jul 21, 00:0027.8N 92.5W80 ktHurricane
Jul 21, 06:0028.2N 93.5W90 ktHurricane
Jul 21, 12:0028.6N 94.5W100 ktHurricane
Jul 21, 17:00 landfall28.9N 95.3W100 ktHurricane
Jul 21, 18:0029.0N 95.5W90 kt959 mbHurricane
Jul 22, 00:0029.3N 96.5W65 ktHurricane
Jul 22, 06:0029.6N 97.6W30 ktTropical depression
Jul 22, 12:0030.2N 98.8W25 ktTropical depression

Other North Atlantic storms of 1909

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.