The 1940 season

Unnamed hurricane (1940)

Unnamed hurricane reached Category 2 in the North Atlantic between September 22, 1940 and September 28, 1940, with a lowest pressure of 984 mb.

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.

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The storm

Basin
North Atlantic
Dates
September 22, 1940 to September 28, 1940
Peak strength
Category 2, 85 kt (98 mph)
Lowest pressure
984 mb (29.06 inHg)
Landfall
No; closest approach 1124 km (698 mi)
Accumulated cyclone energy
10.3
Identifier
AL071940

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 22, 00:0029.3N 49.4W50 ktTropical storm
Sep 22, 06:0029.5N 47.6W55 ktTropical storm
Sep 22, 12:0030.0N 45.5W60 ktTropical storm
Sep 22, 18:0031.0N 43.0W65 ktHurricane
Sep 23, 00:0033.0N 40.0W75 ktHurricane
Sep 23, 06:0035.2N 36.8W80 ktHurricane
Sep 23, 12:0037.0N 34.0W85 ktHurricane
Sep 23, 18:0037.6N 31.5W85 ktHurricane
Sep 24, 00:0037.9N 29.3W85 ktHurricane
Sep 24, 06:0038.0N 27.3W80 ktHurricane
Sep 24, 12:0038.0N 26.2W80 ktHurricane
Sep 24, 18:0038.1N 25.9W75 ktHurricane
Sep 25, 00:0038.3N 26.0W70 ktHurricane
Sep 25, 06:0038.5N 26.5W65 kt984 mbHurricane
Sep 25, 12:0038.7N 27.5W65 ktHurricane
Sep 25, 18:0038.9N 28.6W60 ktTropical storm
Sep 26, 00:0039.1N 29.7W55 ktTropical storm
Sep 26, 06:0039.3N 31.0W55 ktTropical storm
Sep 26, 12:0039.5N 32.5W55 ktTropical storm
Sep 26, 18:0039.7N 34.2W55 ktTropical storm
Sep 27, 00:0039.8N 36.2W50 ktTropical storm
Sep 27, 06:0039.9N 38.2W45 ktTropical storm
Sep 27, 12:0040.0N 40.0W40 ktTropical storm
Sep 27, 18:0040.1N 41.0W35 ktTropical storm
Sep 28, 00:0040.2N 41.5W35 ktTropical storm
Sep 28, 06:0040.3N 41.8W30 ktTropical depression
Sep 28, 12:0040.5N 42.0W30 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.