The 1954 season

Tropical Storm Barbara (1954)

Tropical Storm Barbara peaked at 50 kt in the North Atlantic between July 27, 1954 and July 30, 1954, with a lowest pressure of 999 mb, and made landfall.

Track and intensity

The whole track of Tropical Storm Barbara, colored by strength, with the other storms of the 1954 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
July 27, 1954 to July 30, 1954
Peak strength
Tropical Storm, 50 kt (58 mph)
Lowest pressure
999 mb (29.50 inHg)
Landfall
Yes
Accumulated cyclone energy
1.4
Fastest the center moved
11 kt (13 mph)
Identifier
AL051954

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
Jul 29, 10:00Lake Arthur, LA, 44 km away29.7N 92.8W50 kt (58 mph)999 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.

Rainfall

The Weather Prediction Center attributes 1,315 rain gauge totals over the contiguous United States to this storm. The wettest reached 12.78 inches (325 mm).

StationTotalPosition
HOUSTON SATSUMA12.78 in (325 mm)29.93N 95.63W
FRANKLIN 3 NW12.08 in (307 mm)29.82N 91.54W
JEANERETTE 5 NW11.21 in (285 mm)29.96N 91.71W
CLEVELAND10.63 in (270 mm)30.36N 95.08W
HUMBLE9.15 in (232 mm)30.00N 95.25W
HOUMA8.54 in (217 mm)29.64N 90.82W
THIBODAUX 4 SE8.29 in (211 mm)29.75N 90.78W
NEW IBERIA8.25 in (210 mm)29.99N 91.78W
NEW CANEY 2 E7.52 in (191 mm)30.14N 95.18W
HOUSTON BARKER7.33 in (186 mm)29.81N 95.73W
BURAS6.92 in (176 mm)29.34N 89.52W
LAFAYETTE REGIONAL AP6.92 in (176 mm)30.20N 91.99W

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

Track

Time (UTC)PositionWindPressureStatus
Jul 27, 12:0027.8N 90.1W25 ktTropical depression
Jul 27, 18:0028.0N 90.3W30 ktTropical depression
Jul 28, 00:0028.2N 90.5W30 ktTropical depression
Jul 28, 06:0028.3N 90.7W35 ktTropical storm
Jul 28, 12:0028.3N 91.1W40 ktTropical storm
Jul 28, 18:0028.5N 91.5W50 ktTropical storm
Jul 29, 00:0028.7N 92.0W50 ktTropical storm
Jul 29, 06:0029.2N 92.5W50 ktTropical storm
Jul 29, 10:00 landfall29.7N 92.8W50 kt999 mbTropical storm
Jul 29, 12:0029.9N 93.0W50 kt999 mbTropical storm
Jul 29, 18:0030.4N 93.7W40 kt1002 mbTropical storm
Jul 30, 00:0030.7N 94.6W30 ktTropical depression
Jul 30, 06:0031.0N 95.6W25 ktTropical depression
Jul 30, 12:0031.5N 96.7W25 ktTropical depression

Other North Atlantic storms of 1954

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.