The 1951 season

Hurricane Charlie (1951)

Hurricane Charlie reached Category 4 in the North Atlantic between August 12, 1951 and August 23, 1951, with a lowest pressure of 968 mb, and made landfall.

Track and intensity

The whole track of Hurricane Charlie, colored by strength, with the other storms of the 1951 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, 1951 to August 23, 1951
Peak strength
Category 4, 115 kt (132 mph)
Lowest pressure
968 mb (28.59 inHg)
Landfall
Yes
Accumulated cyclone energy
20.7
Fastest the center moved
20 kt (23 mph)
Identifier
AL041951

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.

Landfalls

Time (UTC)WherePositionWindPressure
Aug 18, 03:00Portmore, Saint Catherine Parish, Jamaica, 8 km away17.9N 76.9W110 kt (127 mph)
Aug 20, 02:00Cozumel, Quintana Roo, Mexico, 23 km away20.3N 87.0W115 kt (132 mph)
Aug 20, 03:00Tulum, Quintana Roo, Mexico, 27 km away20.4N 87.3W115 kt (132 mph)
Aug 22, 19:00Ciudad Madero, Tamaulipas, Mexico, 7 km away22.3N 97.8W100 kt (115 mph)968 mb

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

Track

Time (UTC)PositionWindPressureStatus
Aug 12, 00:0012.1N 44.1W30 ktTropical depression
Aug 12, 06:0012.1N 45.3W30 ktTropical depression
Aug 12, 12:0012.2N 46.2W30 ktTropical depression
Aug 12, 18:0012.4N 46.9W30 ktTropical depression
Aug 13, 00:0012.6N 47.6W30 ktTropical depression
Aug 13, 06:0012.7N 48.4W30 ktTropical depression
Aug 13, 12:0012.8N 49.2W30 ktTropical depression
Aug 13, 18:0012.9N 50.0W30 ktTropical depression
Aug 14, 00:0013.0N 50.8W35 ktTropical storm
Aug 14, 06:0013.2N 51.6W40 ktTropical storm
Aug 14, 12:0013.4N 52.4W40 ktTropical storm
Aug 14, 18:0013.6N 53.6W40 ktTropical storm
Aug 15, 00:0013.8N 55.3W45 ktTropical storm
Aug 15, 06:0014.1N 57.1W50 ktTropical storm
Aug 15, 12:0014.4N 58.9W55 kt999 mbTropical storm
Aug 15, 18:0014.8N 60.7W60 ktTropical storm
Aug 16, 00:0015.2N 62.6W60 ktTropical storm
Aug 16, 06:0015.6N 64.6W65 ktHurricane
Aug 16, 12:0015.9N 66.7W65 kt992 mbHurricane
Aug 16, 18:0016.2N 68.6W70 ktHurricane
Aug 17, 00:0016.3N 70.2W75 ktHurricane
Aug 17, 06:0016.4N 71.7W80 ktHurricane
Aug 17, 12:0016.6N 73.1W85 kt978 mbHurricane
Aug 17, 18:0017.1N 74.6W95 kt971 mbHurricane
Aug 18, 00:0017.6N 76.2W110 ktHurricane
Aug 18, 03:00 landfall17.9N 76.9W110 ktHurricane
Aug 18, 06:0018.1N 77.8W85 ktHurricane
Aug 18, 12:0018.3N 79.4W75 ktHurricane
Aug 18, 18:0018.6N 80.9W75 ktHurricane
Aug 19, 00:0018.9N 82.2W80 kt982 mbHurricane
Aug 19, 06:0019.2N 83.4W85 kt979 mbHurricane
Aug 19, 12:0019.4N 84.5W85 kt976 mbHurricane
Aug 19, 18:0019.8N 85.6W100 ktHurricane
Aug 20, 00:0020.2N 86.7W115 ktHurricane
Aug 20, 02:00 landfall20.3N 87.0W115 ktHurricane
Aug 20, 03:00 landfall20.4N 87.3W115 ktHurricane
Aug 20, 06:0020.6N 87.9W90 ktHurricane
Aug 20, 12:0021.0N 89.2W70 ktHurricane
Aug 20, 18:0021.4N 90.4W65 ktHurricane
Aug 21, 00:0021.6N 91.6W65 kt989 mbHurricane
Aug 21, 06:0021.6N 92.7W65 ktHurricane
Aug 21, 12:0021.6N 93.7W65 ktHurricane
Aug 21, 18:0021.6N 94.3W65 kt988 mbHurricane
Aug 22, 00:0021.7N 94.9W70 kt982 mbHurricane
Aug 22, 06:0021.9N 95.7W80 kt977 mbHurricane
Aug 22, 12:0022.1N 96.6W85 kt972 mbHurricane
Aug 22, 18:0022.2N 97.5W100 kt968 mbHurricane
Aug 22, 19:00 landfall22.3N 97.8W100 kt968 mbHurricane
Aug 23, 00:0022.3N 98.2W65 ktHurricane
Aug 23, 06:0022.4N 98.8W45 ktTropical storm
Aug 23, 12:0022.4N 99.4W35 ktTropical storm
Aug 23, 18:0022.4N 99.9W25 ktTropical depression

Other North Atlantic storms of 1951

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.