The 1948 season

Unnamed hurricane (1948)

Unnamed hurricane reached Category 4 in the North Atlantic between September 4, 1948 and September 17, 1948.

Track and intensity

The whole track of Unnamed hurricane, colored by strength, with the other storms of the 1948 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 4, 1948 to September 17, 1948
Peak strength
Category 4, 115 kt (132 mph)
Landfall
No; closest approach 182 km (113 mi)
Accumulated cyclone energy
22.3
Fastest the center moved
44 kt (51 mph)
Identifier
AL061948

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 4, 06:0014.3N 20.2W35 ktTropical storm
Sep 4, 12:0014.2N 21.3W40 ktTropical storm
Sep 4, 18:0014.2N 22.4W40 ktTropical storm
Sep 5, 00:0014.3N 23.6W40 ktTropical storm
Sep 5, 06:0014.4N 24.8W40 ktTropical storm
Sep 5, 12:0014.5N 26.0W45 ktTropical storm
Sep 5, 18:0014.6N 27.3W45 ktTropical storm
Sep 6, 00:0014.8N 28.7W45 ktTropical storm
Sep 6, 06:0015.0N 30.1W45 ktTropical storm
Sep 6, 12:0015.2N 31.5W50 ktTropical storm
Sep 6, 18:0015.5N 32.9W50 ktTropical storm
Sep 7, 00:0016.0N 34.3W50 ktTropical storm
Sep 7, 06:0016.6N 35.7W50 ktTropical storm
Sep 7, 12:0017.0N 37.0W50 ktTropical storm
Sep 7, 18:0017.2N 38.3W50 ktTropical storm
Sep 8, 00:0017.3N 39.6W50 ktTropical storm
Sep 8, 06:0017.3N 40.8W50 ktTropical storm
Sep 8, 12:0017.3N 42.0W50 ktTropical storm
Sep 8, 18:0017.3N 43.2W50 ktTropical storm
Sep 9, 00:0017.3N 44.3W50 ktTropical storm
Sep 9, 06:0017.3N 45.4W50 ktTropical storm
Sep 9, 12:0017.3N 46.6W50 ktTropical storm
Sep 9, 18:0017.3N 47.9W50 ktTropical storm
Sep 10, 00:0017.4N 49.2W50 ktTropical storm
Sep 10, 06:0017.6N 50.5W50 ktTropical storm
Sep 10, 12:0018.0N 51.8W50 ktTropical storm
Sep 10, 18:0018.5N 53.1W50 ktTropical storm
Sep 11, 00:0019.4N 54.5W55 ktTropical storm
Sep 11, 06:0020.4N 55.9W65 ktHurricane
Sep 11, 12:0021.6N 57.4W80 ktHurricane
Sep 11, 18:0022.9N 59.0W90 ktHurricane
Sep 12, 00:0024.0N 61.0W100 ktHurricane
Sep 12, 06:0024.6N 62.0W105 ktHurricane
Sep 12, 12:0025.4N 62.8W110 ktHurricane
Sep 12, 18:0026.8N 63.6W110 ktHurricane
Sep 13, 00:0028.5N 64.4W115 ktHurricane
Sep 13, 06:0029.8N 65.2W115 ktHurricane
Sep 13, 12:0031.0N 65.8W115 ktHurricane
Sep 13, 18:0032.3N 65.8W110 ktHurricane
Sep 14, 00:0033.7N 65.5W105 ktHurricane
Sep 14, 06:0035.1N 64.9W100 ktHurricane
Sep 14, 12:0036.5N 64.0W95 ktHurricane
Sep 14, 18:0038.5N 62.6W85 ktHurricane
Sep 15, 00:0040.3N 60.4W80 ktHurricane
Sep 15, 06:0042.0N 57.4W75 ktExtratropical
Sep 15, 12:0044.6N 53.4W70 ktExtratropical
Sep 15, 18:0047.1N 48.8W65 ktExtratropical
Sep 16, 00:0049.8N 44.2W60 ktExtratropical
Sep 16, 06:0053.0N 40.0W55 ktExtratropical
Sep 16, 12:0056.3N 35.0W55 ktExtratropical
Sep 16, 18:0058.3N 29.0W55 ktExtratropical
Sep 17, 00:0060.0N 22.0W60 ktExtratropical
Sep 17, 06:0061.5N 14.0W60 ktExtratropical
Sep 17, 12:0062.5N 6.0W60 ktExtratropical

Other North Atlantic storms of 1948

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.