The 1954 season

Hurricane Carol (1954)

Hurricane Carol reached Category 3 in the North Atlantic between August 25, 1954 and September 1, 1954, with a lowest pressure of 955 mb, and made landfall.

Track and intensity

The whole track of Hurricane Carol, 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
August 25, 1954 to September 1, 1954
Peak strength
Category 3, 100 kt (115 mph)
Lowest pressure
955 mb (28.20 inHg)
Landfall
Yes
Accumulated cyclone energy
13.4
Fastest the center moved
38 kt (44 mph)
Identifier
AL061954

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 31, 14:00Wainscott, NY, 5 km away40.9N 72.2W100 kt (115 mph)955 mb
Aug 31, 15:00Groton Long Point, CT, 2 km away41.3N 72.0W100 kt (115 mph)957 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 1,704 rain gauge totals over the contiguous United States to this storm. The wettest reached 6.49 inches (165 mm).

StationTotalPosition
HATTERAS6.49 in (165 mm)35.22N 75.72W
WILLARD BROOK STATE FOREST6.00 in (152 mm)42.67N 71.80W
BREWERTON LOCK 235.84 in (148 mm)43.24N 76.20W
MANTEO5.76 in (146 mm)35.92N 75.68W
ASHBURNHAM5.66 in (144 mm)42.62N 71.92W
LAKEPORT5.45 in (138 mm)43.55N 71.47W
COLCHESTER 2 W5.34 in (136 mm)41.55N 72.37W
FITCHBURG 4 SE5.17 in (131 mm)42.55N 71.75W
EAST DEERING5.12 in (130 mm)43.07N 71.82W
WORCESTER5.07 in (129 mm)42.30N 71.82W
NEW LONDON5.02 in (128 mm)41.35N 72.10W
WORCESTER4.97 in (126 mm)42.27N 71.87W

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

Track

Time (UTC)PositionWindPressureStatus
Aug 25, 12:0023.8N 75.0W30 ktTropical depression
Aug 25, 18:0025.0N 75.5W30 ktTropical depression
Aug 26, 00:0026.1N 76.0W35 ktTropical storm
Aug 26, 06:0027.0N 76.3W40 ktTropical storm
Aug 26, 12:0027.8N 76.4W45 ktTropical storm
Aug 26, 18:0028.5N 76.3W45 kt1002 mbTropical storm
Aug 27, 00:0029.0N 76.2W45 kt1002 mbTropical storm
Aug 27, 06:0029.3N 76.3W50 kt1002 mbTropical storm
Aug 27, 12:0029.6N 76.4W60 kt995 mbTropical storm
Aug 27, 18:0029.8N 76.5W70 kt984 mbHurricane
Aug 28, 00:0030.0N 76.7W80 kt981 mbHurricane
Aug 28, 06:0030.2N 76.9W85 kt978 mbHurricane
Aug 28, 12:0030.3N 77.2W85 kt975 mbHurricane
Aug 28, 18:0030.4N 77.4W85 ktHurricane
Aug 29, 00:0030.4N 77.5W85 ktHurricane
Aug 29, 06:0030.3N 77.6W80 ktHurricane
Aug 29, 12:0030.5N 77.7W80 ktHurricane
Aug 29, 18:0030.8N 77.8W80 ktHurricane
Aug 30, 00:0031.1N 77.8W80 ktHurricane
Aug 30, 06:0031.6N 77.7W85 ktHurricane
Aug 30, 12:0032.2N 77.6W90 ktHurricane
Aug 30, 18:0033.0N 77.2W95 kt962 mbHurricane
Aug 31, 00:0034.2N 76.1W95 kt960 mbHurricane
Aug 31, 06:0036.6N 74.1W100 kt958 mbHurricane
Aug 31, 12:0039.5N 72.8W100 kt955 mbHurricane
Aug 31, 14:00 landfall40.9N 72.2W100 kt955 mbHurricane
Aug 31, 15:00 landfall41.3N 72.0W100 kt957 mbHurricane
Aug 31, 18:0043.1N 71.4W80 kt970 mbExtratropical
Sep 1, 00:0046.2N 70.9W50 kt987 mbExtratropical
Sep 1, 06:0048.5N 70.5W40 kt992 mbExtratropical

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.