The 1940 season

Unnamed hurricane (1940)

Unnamed hurricane reached Category 2 in the North Atlantic between September 7, 1940 and September 19, 1940, and made landfall.

Track and intensity

The whole track of Unnamed hurricane, colored by strength, with the other storms of the 1940 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
September 7, 1940 to September 19, 1940
Peak strength
Category 2, 85 kt (98 mph)
Landfall
Yes
Accumulated cyclone energy
13.9
Fastest the center moved
33 kt (38 mph)
Identifier
AL051940

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, 18:0015.2N 47.3W25 ktTropical depression
Sep 8, 00:0015.4N 48.4W25 ktTropical depression
Sep 8, 06:0015.7N 49.5W25 ktTropical depression
Sep 8, 12:0016.2N 50.5W25 ktTropical depression
Sep 8, 18:0016.7N 51.4W25 ktTropical depression
Sep 9, 00:0017.2N 52.3W30 ktTropical depression
Sep 9, 06:0017.7N 53.2W30 ktTropical depression
Sep 9, 12:0018.2N 54.1W30 ktTropical depression
Sep 9, 18:0018.7N 55.0W30 ktTropical depression
Sep 10, 00:0019.1N 55.9W30 ktTropical depression
Sep 10, 06:0019.4N 56.8W35 ktTropical storm
Sep 10, 12:0019.6N 57.7W35 ktTropical storm
Sep 10, 18:0019.7N 58.5W35 ktTropical storm
Sep 11, 00:0019.8N 59.3W40 ktTropical storm
Sep 11, 06:0019.9N 60.1W40 ktTropical storm
Sep 11, 12:0020.1N 61.0W45 ktTropical storm
Sep 11, 18:0020.4N 62.2W45 ktTropical storm
Sep 12, 00:0020.7N 63.3W50 ktTropical storm
Sep 12, 06:0021.1N 64.4W50 ktTropical storm
Sep 12, 12:0021.5N 65.6W55 ktTropical storm
Sep 12, 18:0021.8N 66.9W65 ktHurricane
Sep 13, 00:0022.2N 68.2W70 ktHurricane
Sep 13, 06:0022.6N 69.5W80 ktHurricane
Sep 13, 12:0023.2N 70.6W85 ktHurricane
Sep 13, 18:0024.0N 71.2W85 ktHurricane
Sep 14, 00:0025.3N 71.5W85 ktHurricane
Sep 14, 06:0026.6N 71.2W85 ktHurricane
Sep 14, 12:0027.8N 70.6W85 ktHurricane
Sep 14, 18:0029.0N 70.1W85 ktHurricane
Sep 15, 00:0030.1N 70.1W85 ktHurricane
Sep 15, 06:0031.4N 70.0W85 ktHurricane
Sep 15, 12:0032.8N 69.8W85 ktHurricane
Sep 15, 18:0034.2N 69.6W80 ktHurricane
Sep 16, 00:0035.7N 69.2W80 ktHurricane
Sep 16, 06:0037.3N 68.5W75 ktHurricane
Sep 16, 12:0039.0N 67.6W75 ktHurricane
Sep 16, 18:0040.8N 66.6W75 ktHurricane
Sep 17, 00:0043.0N 65.7W75 ktHurricane
Sep 17, 06:0045.2N 64.7W65 ktHurricane
Sep 17, 12:0046.5N 63.5W60 ktExtratropical
Sep 17, 18:0047.4N 62.0W60 ktExtratropical
Sep 18, 00:0047.7N 60.3W60 ktExtratropical
Sep 18, 06:0047.9N 58.3W55 ktExtratropical
Sep 18, 12:0048.0N 56.0W50 ktExtratropical
Sep 18, 18:0048.1N 53.4W40 ktExtratropical
Sep 19, 00:0048.2N 50.5W35 ktExtratropical
Sep 19, 06:0048.4N 46.7W30 ktExtratropical
Sep 19, 12:0048.8N 42.0W30 ktExtratropical
Sep 19, 18:0049.5N 37.0W30 ktExtratropical

Other North Atlantic storms of 1940

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.