The 1953 season

Hurricane Gail (1953)

Hurricane Gail reached Category 1 in the North Atlantic between October 2, 1953 and October 12, 1953, with a lowest pressure of 986 mb.

Track and intensity

The whole track of Hurricane Gail, 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.

Open the live map with storms, cones and warnings

The storm

Basin
North Atlantic
Dates
October 2, 1953 to October 12, 1953
Peak strength
Category 1, 70 kt (81 mph)
Lowest pressure
986 mb (29.12 inHg)
Landfall
No; closest approach 989 km (615 mi)
Accumulated cyclone energy
14.1
Identifier
AL101953

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
Oct 2, 06:0013.1N 35.5W45 ktTropical storm
Oct 2, 12:0013.5N 37.0W50 ktTropical storm
Oct 2, 18:0013.8N 38.5W55 ktTropical storm
Oct 3, 00:0014.1N 40.0W60 ktTropical storm
Oct 3, 06:0014.6N 41.4W65 ktHurricane
Oct 3, 12:0014.8N 42.8W70 kt986 mbHurricane
Oct 3, 18:0014.7N 43.6W70 ktHurricane
Oct 4, 00:0014.6N 44.0W70 ktHurricane
Oct 4, 06:0014.6N 44.3W70 ktHurricane
Oct 4, 12:0014.6N 44.5W65 ktHurricane
Oct 4, 18:0014.9N 44.5W65 ktHurricane
Oct 5, 00:0015.5N 44.2W60 ktTropical storm
Oct 5, 06:0016.8N 43.4W60 ktTropical storm
Oct 5, 12:0018.0N 42.5W60 ktTropical storm
Oct 5, 18:0019.2N 41.7W60 ktTropical storm
Oct 6, 00:0020.0N 41.7W60 ktTropical storm
Oct 6, 06:0020.5N 42.0W60 ktTropical storm
Oct 6, 12:0020.9N 42.7W60 ktTropical storm
Oct 6, 18:0021.2N 43.7W60 ktTropical storm
Oct 7, 00:0021.4N 44.8W60 ktTropical storm
Oct 7, 06:0021.6N 46.0W60 ktTropical storm
Oct 7, 12:0021.8N 47.3W60 ktTropical storm
Oct 7, 18:0022.0N 48.7W60 ktTropical storm
Oct 8, 00:0022.3N 50.1W60 ktTropical storm
Oct 8, 06:0022.6N 51.5W60 ktTropical storm
Oct 8, 12:0023.0N 53.0W60 ktTropical storm
Oct 8, 18:0023.2N 54.5W60 ktTropical storm
Oct 9, 00:0023.3N 56.0W60 ktTropical storm
Oct 9, 06:0023.7N 57.0W60 ktTropical storm
Oct 9, 12:0024.2N 57.6W60 ktTropical storm
Oct 9, 18:0024.8N 58.2W60 ktTropical storm
Oct 10, 00:0025.2N 59.0W60 ktTropical storm
Oct 10, 06:0025.7N 60.0W55 ktTropical storm
Oct 10, 12:0026.2N 61.0W55 ktTropical storm
Oct 10, 18:0027.0N 61.5W55 ktTropical storm
Oct 11, 00:0028.0N 61.7W50 ktTropical storm
Oct 11, 06:0029.1N 61.2W50 ktTropical storm
Oct 11, 12:0030.4N 60.5W50 ktTropical storm
Oct 11, 18:0031.6N 59.8W50 kt997 mbTropical storm
Oct 12, 00:0033.0N 59.0W55 ktTropical storm
Oct 12, 06:0034.5N 58.0W55 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.