The 1920 season

Unnamed hurricane (1920)

Unnamed hurricane reached Category 2 in the North Atlantic between September 7, 1920 and September 16, 1920.

Radar

Reflectivity now over Unnamed hurricane. Open it to see storms, cones and warnings on the map.

Open the live radar with storms, cones and warnings

Radar mosaic and map layers from NOAA MRMS. Boundaries from the Iowa Environmental Mesonet.

The storm

Basin
North Atlantic
Dates
September 7, 1920 to September 16, 1920
Peak strength
Category 2, 95 kt (109 mph)
Landfall
No; closest approach 1140 km (708 mi)
Accumulated cyclone energy
16.4
Identifier
AL011920

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 7, 00:0011.1N 36.6W35 ktTropical storm
Sep 7, 06:0011.5N 37.8W35 ktTropical storm
Sep 7, 12:0012.0N 39.0W35 ktTropical storm
Sep 7, 18:0012.7N 40.1W35 ktTropical storm
Sep 8, 00:0013.4N 41.1W35 ktTropical storm
Sep 8, 06:0014.1N 42.1W40 ktTropical storm
Sep 8, 12:0014.8N 43.0W40 ktTropical storm
Sep 8, 18:0015.4N 44.0W45 ktTropical storm
Sep 9, 00:0016.1N 45.0W50 ktTropical storm
Sep 9, 06:0016.8N 46.0W55 ktTropical storm
Sep 9, 12:0017.5N 47.0W60 ktTropical storm
Sep 9, 18:0018.3N 48.0W65 ktHurricane
Sep 10, 00:0019.2N 49.0W70 ktHurricane
Sep 10, 06:0020.1N 50.0W75 ktHurricane
Sep 10, 12:0021.0N 50.8W75 ktHurricane
Sep 10, 18:0021.9N 51.5W80 ktHurricane
Sep 11, 00:0022.8N 51.8W80 ktHurricane
Sep 11, 06:0023.7N 51.9W85 ktHurricane
Sep 11, 12:0024.6N 52.0W85 ktHurricane
Sep 11, 18:0025.6N 52.1W85 ktHurricane
Sep 12, 00:0026.7N 52.2W90 ktHurricane
Sep 12, 06:0027.8N 52.3W95 ktHurricane
Sep 12, 12:0029.0N 52.2W95 ktHurricane
Sep 12, 18:0030.2N 51.9W95 ktHurricane
Sep 13, 00:0031.3N 51.4W90 ktHurricane
Sep 13, 06:0032.4N 50.8W90 ktHurricane
Sep 13, 12:0033.5N 50.0W85 ktHurricane
Sep 13, 18:0034.6N 49.1W85 ktHurricane
Sep 14, 00:0035.8N 48.1W80 ktHurricane
Sep 14, 06:0036.9N 47.0W80 ktHurricane
Sep 14, 12:0038.0N 45.5W75 ktHurricane
Sep 14, 18:0039.0N 43.5W70 ktHurricane
Sep 15, 00:0039.9N 41.0W60 ktExtratropical
Sep 15, 06:0040.7N 38.2W50 ktExtratropical
Sep 15, 12:0041.4N 35.0W45 ktExtratropical
Sep 15, 18:0041.8N 31.9W40 ktExtratropical
Sep 16, 00:0042.0N 28.5W35 ktExtratropical
Sep 16, 06:0042.1N 24.9W30 ktExtratropical

Other North Atlantic storms of 1920

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.