The 1921 season

Unnamed hurricane (1921)

Unnamed hurricane reached Category 4 in the North Atlantic between October 20, 1921 and October 30, 1921, with a lowest pressure of 941 mb, and made landfall.

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
October 20, 1921 to October 30, 1921
Peak strength
Category 4, 120 kt (138 mph)
Lowest pressure
941 mb (27.79 inHg)
Landfall
Yes
Accumulated cyclone energy
27.4
Fastest the center moved
41 kt (47 mph)
Identifier
AL061921

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 25, 20:00Palm Harbor, FL, 4 km away28.1N 82.8W100 kt (115 mph)958 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
Oct 20, 00:0012.7N 80.1W35 ktTropical storm
Oct 20, 06:0013.1N 80.4W35 ktTropical storm
Oct 20, 12:0013.5N 80.6W35 ktTropical storm
Oct 20, 18:0013.8N 80.9W40 ktTropical storm
Oct 21, 00:0014.2N 81.2W45 ktTropical storm
Oct 21, 06:0014.6N 81.5W50 ktTropical storm
Oct 21, 12:0015.0N 81.8W50 ktTropical storm
Oct 21, 18:0015.5N 82.2W55 ktTropical storm
Oct 22, 00:0016.0N 82.6W65 ktHurricane
Oct 22, 06:0016.5N 83.0W70 ktHurricane
Oct 22, 12:0017.0N 83.5W75 ktHurricane
Oct 22, 18:0017.6N 84.0W80 ktHurricane
Oct 23, 00:0018.3N 84.5W90 ktHurricane
Oct 23, 06:0019.1N 85.0W100 ktHurricane
Oct 23, 12:0020.0N 85.3W110 ktHurricane
Oct 23, 18:0020.9N 85.4W120 kt941 mbHurricane
Oct 24, 00:0021.8N 85.5W120 ktHurricane
Oct 24, 06:0022.8N 85.5W120 ktHurricane
Oct 24, 12:0023.8N 85.5W120 ktHurricane
Oct 24, 18:0024.7N 85.2W120 ktHurricane
Oct 25, 00:0025.6N 84.8W120 kt943 mbHurricane
Oct 25, 06:0026.4N 84.4W115 ktHurricane
Oct 25, 12:0027.1N 83.9W105 ktHurricane
Oct 25, 18:0027.8N 83.1W100 kt958 mbHurricane
Oct 25, 20:00 landfall28.1N 82.8W100 kt958 mbHurricane
Oct 26, 00:0028.5N 82.2W80 ktHurricane
Oct 26, 06:0029.0N 81.0W70 ktHurricane
Oct 26, 12:0029.5N 79.6W75 ktHurricane
Oct 26, 18:0029.5N 78.0W75 ktHurricane
Oct 27, 00:0029.4N 76.3W80 ktHurricane
Oct 27, 06:0029.2N 74.6W80 ktHurricane
Oct 27, 12:0029.0N 73.1W75 ktHurricane
Oct 27, 18:0028.7N 71.8W75 ktHurricane
Oct 28, 00:0028.4N 70.7W75 ktHurricane
Oct 28, 06:0028.1N 69.7W75 ktHurricane
Oct 28, 12:0027.8N 68.8W75 ktHurricane
Oct 28, 18:0027.3N 67.8W70 ktHurricane
Oct 29, 00:0026.8N 66.7W70 ktHurricane
Oct 29, 06:0026.6N 65.5W70 ktHurricane
Oct 29, 12:0026.5N 64.0W70 ktHurricane
Oct 29, 18:0027.0N 62.0W60 ktTropical storm
Oct 30, 00:0028.5N 59.0W50 ktExtratropical
Oct 30, 06:0030.5N 55.0W40 ktExtratropical

Other North Atlantic storms of 1921

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.