The 1950 season

Hurricane Able (1950)

Hurricane Able reached Category 3 in the North Atlantic between August 12, 1950 and August 24, 1950, with a lowest pressure of 953 mb, and made landfall.

Track and intensity

The whole track of Hurricane Able, colored by strength, with the other storms of the 1950 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, 1950 to August 24, 1950
Peak strength
Category 3, 110 kt (127 mph)
Lowest pressure
953 mb (28.14 inHg)
Landfall
Yes
Accumulated cyclone energy
26.1
Fastest the center moved
34 kt (39 mph)
Identifier
AL011950

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 21, 16:00Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada, 11 km away44.6N 63.7W65 kt (75 mph)

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

Rainfall

The Weather Prediction Center attributes 1,836 rain gauge totals over the contiguous United States to this storm. The wettest reached 6.89 inches (175 mm).

StationTotalPosition
BEECHWOOD6.89 in (175 mm)42.23N 70.82W
SHRUB OAK6.58 in (167 mm)41.33N 73.83W
NEWPORT RIVER6.47 in (164 mm)40.47N 77.12W
WELLSBORO6.35 in (161 mm)41.73N 77.30W
COHASSET6.08 in (154 mm)42.23N 70.80W
EAST BRANCH5.98 in (152 mm)41.40N 73.58W
SUSQUEHANNA5.90 in (150 mm)41.93N 75.60W
EAGLES MERE5.67 in (144 mm)41.40N 76.58W
RIVERDALE5.65 in (144 mm)38.97N 76.93W
ASHLAND5.59 in (142 mm)42.25N 71.47W
TITICUS5.41 in (137 mm)41.33N 73.65W
ROCKVILLE5.40 in (137 mm)41.87N 72.43W

WPC’s storm rainfall file, 1900 to 2020, compiled by David Roth.

Track

Time (UTC)PositionWindPressureStatus
Aug 12, 00:0017.1N 55.5W35 ktTropical storm
Aug 12, 06:0017.7N 56.3W40 ktTropical storm
Aug 12, 12:0018.2N 57.4W45 ktTropical storm
Aug 12, 18:0019.0N 58.6W50 ktTropical storm
Aug 13, 00:0020.0N 60.0W50 ktTropical storm
Aug 13, 06:0020.7N 61.1W50 ktTropical storm
Aug 13, 12:0021.3N 62.2W55 ktTropical storm
Aug 13, 18:0022.0N 63.2W55 kt997 mbTropical storm
Aug 14, 00:0022.7N 63.8W60 kt995 mbTropical storm
Aug 14, 06:0023.1N 64.6W60 kt995 mbTropical storm
Aug 14, 12:0023.4N 65.4W60 kt995 mbTropical storm
Aug 14, 18:0023.9N 66.0W65 kt989 mbHurricane
Aug 15, 00:0024.4N 66.2W65 ktHurricane
Aug 15, 06:0024.8N 66.5W65 ktHurricane
Aug 15, 12:0025.2N 66.8W70 kt987 mbHurricane
Aug 15, 18:0025.5N 67.5W75 ktHurricane
Aug 16, 00:0025.7N 68.1W80 ktHurricane
Aug 16, 06:0025.7N 68.7W80 ktHurricane
Aug 16, 12:0025.5N 69.3W80 kt980 mbHurricane
Aug 16, 18:0025.4N 69.8W85 ktHurricane
Aug 17, 00:0025.4N 70.6W90 ktHurricane
Aug 17, 06:0025.4N 71.5W95 ktHurricane
Aug 17, 12:0025.5N 72.6W100 kt962 mbHurricane
Aug 17, 18:0025.9N 73.3W100 ktHurricane
Aug 18, 00:0026.7N 73.9W100 ktHurricane
Aug 18, 06:0027.3N 74.4W100 ktHurricane
Aug 18, 12:0027.9N 74.9W100 kt958 mbHurricane
Aug 18, 18:0028.4N 75.3W105 ktHurricane
Aug 19, 00:0029.1N 75.5W105 ktHurricane
Aug 19, 06:0029.9N 75.5W105 ktHurricane
Aug 19, 12:0030.7N 75.5W105 kt953 mbHurricane
Aug 19, 18:0031.7N 75.5W110 ktHurricane
Aug 20, 00:0032.8N 75.2W110 ktHurricane
Aug 20, 06:0034.4N 74.3W105 ktHurricane
Aug 20, 12:0036.0N 72.7W100 ktHurricane
Aug 20, 18:0037.6N 71.0W90 ktHurricane
Aug 21, 00:0039.3N 69.4W80 ktHurricane
Aug 21, 06:0041.2N 67.3W70 ktHurricane
Aug 21, 12:0043.3N 65.0W65 ktHurricane
Aug 21, 16:00 landfall44.6N 63.7W65 ktHurricane
Aug 21, 18:0045.5N 62.6W45 ktTropical storm
Aug 22, 00:0047.9N 59.8W35 ktExtratropical
Aug 22, 06:0050.0N 56.8W30 ktExtratropical
Aug 22, 12:0052.0N 53.8W30 ktExtratropical
Aug 22, 18:0053.6N 50.7W30 ktExtratropical
Aug 23, 00:0054.7N 47.7W35 ktExtratropical
Aug 23, 06:0055.3N 44.8W35 ktExtratropical
Aug 23, 12:0055.3N 41.8W35 ktExtratropical
Aug 23, 18:0054.5N 37.7W30 ktExtratropical
Aug 24, 00:0053.5N 33.7W30 ktExtratropical
Aug 24, 06:0052.5N 30.3W30 ktExtratropical

Other North Atlantic storms of 1950

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.