The 1953 season

Hurricane Dolly (1953)

Hurricane Dolly reached Category 1 in the North Atlantic between September 8, 1953 and September 16, 1953, with a lowest pressure of 989 mb, and made landfall.

Track and intensity

The whole track of Hurricane Dolly, colored by strength, with the other storms of the 1953 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 8, 1953 to September 16, 1953
Peak strength
Category 1, 65 kt (75 mph)
Lowest pressure
989 mb (29.21 inHg)
Landfall
Yes
Accumulated cyclone energy
5.8
Identifier
AL061953

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 8, 06:0018.3N 65.1W30 ktTropical depression
Sep 8, 12:0018.7N 66.4W35 ktTropical storm
Sep 8, 18:0019.1N 67.5W40 ktTropical storm
Sep 9, 00:0019.6N 68.5W45 ktTropical storm
Sep 9, 06:0020.2N 69.0W45 ktTropical storm
Sep 9, 12:0020.7N 69.4W50 kt1005 mbTropical storm
Sep 9, 18:0021.3N 69.7W55 ktTropical storm
Sep 10, 00:0022.1N 69.9W60 ktTropical storm
Sep 10, 06:0023.0N 70.1W60 kt999 mbTropical storm
Sep 10, 12:0023.9N 70.5W65 kt990 mbHurricane
Sep 10, 18:0024.9N 70.8W65 kt989 mbHurricane
Sep 11, 00:0025.9N 70.5W65 ktHurricane
Sep 11, 06:0027.0N 69.9W65 ktHurricane
Sep 11, 12:0028.5N 69.0W65 ktHurricane
Sep 11, 18:0029.9N 67.8W65 ktHurricane
Sep 12, 00:0031.3N 66.3W60 ktTropical storm
Sep 12, 05:00 landfall32.3N 64.8W55 kt996 mbTropical storm
Sep 12, 06:0032.7N 64.4W55 kt996 mbTropical storm
Sep 12, 12:0034.7N 61.8W55 kt994 mbTropical storm
Sep 12, 18:0036.8N 59.1W55 ktTropical storm
Sep 13, 00:0038.5N 56.4W50 ktExtratropical
Sep 13, 06:0040.0N 53.3W50 ktExtratropical
Sep 13, 12:0041.5N 49.5W50 ktExtratropical
Sep 13, 18:0042.4N 46.3W55 ktExtratropical
Sep 14, 00:0042.8N 44.1W55 ktExtratropical
Sep 14, 06:0043.2N 42.1W50 ktExtratropical
Sep 14, 12:0043.2N 40.7W45 ktExtratropical
Sep 14, 18:0043.0N 39.3W45 ktExtratropical
Sep 15, 00:0043.0N 37.8W45 ktExtratropical
Sep 15, 06:0043.0N 36.2W45 ktExtratropical
Sep 15, 12:0043.3N 34.4W45 ktExtratropical
Sep 15, 18:0043.2N 31.9W40 ktExtratropical
Sep 16, 00:0042.6N 28.3W40 ktExtratropical
Sep 16, 06:0042.3N 26.1W35 ktExtratropical
Sep 16, 12:0042.0N 23.8W30 ktExtratropical

Other North Atlantic storms of 1953

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.