Unnamed hurricane (1938)

Basin

North Atlantic

Dates

September 9, 1938 to September 23, 1938

Peak strength

Category 5, 140 kt (161 mph)

Lowest pressure

940 mb (27.76 inHg)

Landfall

Yes

Accumulated cyclone energy

41.0

Fastest the center moved

42 kt (48 mph)

Identifier

AL061938

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

• Unnamed hurricaneNorth Atlantic · 1938Cat 170 kt
• Unnamed tropical stormNorth Atlantic · 1938Tropical Storm60 kt
• Unnamed hurricaneNorth Atlantic · 1938Cat 285 kt
• Unnamed hurricaneNorth Atlantic · 1938Cat 3105 kt · 979 mb
• Unnamed tropical stormNorth Atlantic · 1938Tropical Storm35 kt
• Unnamed tropical stormNorth Atlantic · 1938Tropical Storm50 kt · 996 mb
• Unnamed tropical stormNorth Atlantic · 1938Tropical Storm35 kt · 1004 mb
• Unnamed tropical stormNorth Atlantic · 1938Tropical Storm60 kt

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.

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.

• Wikipedia article: 1938 New England hurricane