The 1932 season

Unnamed hurricane (1932)

Unnamed hurricane reached Category 4 in the North Atlantic between August 12, 1932 and August 15, 1932, with a lowest pressure of 935 mb, and made landfall.

Track and intensity

The whole track of Unnamed hurricane, colored by strength, with the other storms of the 1932 season in the same basin behind it, and its wind and pressure hour by hour. Every fix is in the track table below.

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The storm

Basin
North Atlantic
Dates
August 12, 1932 to August 15, 1932
Peak strength
Category 4, 130 kt (150 mph)
Lowest pressure
935 mb (27.61 inHg)
Landfall
Yes
Accumulated cyclone energy
6.6
Eyewall radius at its peak
10 nmi (19 km, 12 mi)
Fastest the center moved
13 kt (15 mph)
Identifier
AL021932

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
Aug 14, 04:00Surfside Beach, TX, 11 km away29.0N 95.2W130 kt (150 mph)935 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
Aug 12, 00:0022.0N 90.3W35 ktTropical storm
Aug 12, 06:0023.0N 90.8W40 ktTropical storm
Aug 12, 12:0024.0N 91.3W45 ktTropical storm
Aug 12, 18:0024.7N 91.6W50 ktTropical storm
Aug 13, 00:0025.4N 91.9W55 ktTropical storm
Aug 13, 06:0026.1N 92.3W65 ktHurricane
Aug 13, 12:0027.0N 92.8W90 ktHurricane
Aug 13, 18:0027.9N 93.7W110 ktHurricane
Aug 14, 00:0028.6N 94.6W125 kt942 mbHurricane
Aug 14, 04:00 landfall29.0N 95.2W130 kt935 mbHurricane
Aug 14, 06:0029.1N 95.5W100 kt942 mbHurricane
Aug 14, 12:0029.7N 96.3W65 kt987 mbHurricane
Aug 14, 18:0030.5N 97.1W40 kt995 mbTropical storm
Aug 15, 00:0031.4N 97.9W30 kt1002 mbTropical depression
Aug 15, 06:0032.4N 98.7W25 ktTropical depression
Aug 15, 12:0033.5N 99.5W25 ktTropical depression
Aug 15, 18:0034.5N 100.3W20 ktTropical depression

Other North Atlantic storms of 1932

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.