The 1955 season

Hurricane Gladys (1955)

Hurricane Gladys reached Category 1 in the North Atlantic between September 3, 1955 and September 6, 1955, with a lowest pressure of 996 mb, and made landfall.

Track and intensity

The whole track of Hurricane Gladys, colored by strength, with the other storms of the 1955 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 3, 1955 to September 6, 1955
Peak strength
Category 1, 65 kt (75 mph)
Lowest pressure
996 mb (29.41 inHg)
Landfall
Yes
Accumulated cyclone energy
1.9
Fastest the center moved
10 kt (12 mph)
Identifier
AL071955

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
Sep 5, 22:00Altamira, Tamaulipas, Mexico, 80 km away23.1N 97.8W65 kt (75 mph)996 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 248 rain gauge totals over the contiguous United States to this storm. The wettest reached 17.02 inches (432 mm).

StationTotalPosition
Flour Bluff17.02 in (432 mm)27.65N 97.30W
CORPUS CHRISTI NAS15.80 in (401 mm)27.68N 97.28W
FALFURRIAS12.54 in (319 mm)27.13N 98.12W
SARITA 7 E12.47 in (317 mm)27.22N 97.68W
RAYMONDVILLE12.43 in (316 mm)26.47N 97.80W
ARANSAS PASS 212.29 in (312 mm)27.92N 97.13W
CORPUS CHRISTI10.45 in (265 mm)27.80N 97.40W
ROCKPORT MARINE LAB9.11 in (231 mm)28.02N 97.05W
CORPUS CHRISTI INTL AP8.92 in (227 mm)27.77N 97.50W
ROBSTOWN7.94 in (202 mm)27.78N 97.65W
SINTON7.79 in (198 mm)28.03N 97.48W
HARLINGEN RIO GRANDE AP7.22 in (183 mm)26.22N 97.65W

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

Track

Time (UTC)PositionWindPressureStatus
Sep 3, 18:0019.5N 93.3W25 ktTropical depression
Sep 4, 00:0019.6N 94.0W25 ktTropical depression
Sep 4, 06:0020.0N 94.7W25 ktTropical depression
Sep 4, 12:0020.8N 95.3W30 ktTropical depression
Sep 4, 18:0021.6N 95.7W35 ktTropical storm
Sep 5, 00:0022.3N 96.1W40 ktTropical storm
Sep 5, 06:0022.6N 96.5W50 ktTropical storm
Sep 5, 12:0023.0N 97.0W65 kt997 mbHurricane
Sep 5, 18:0023.3N 97.5W65 kt996 mbHurricane
Sep 5, 22:00 landfall23.1N 97.8W65 kt996 mbHurricane
Sep 6, 00:0022.9N 97.9W50 ktTropical storm
Sep 6, 06:0022.1N 97.9W40 ktTropical storm
Sep 6, 12:0021.4N 97.8W35 ktTropical storm
Sep 6, 18:0021.2N 97.5W25 ktTropical depression

Other North Atlantic storms of 1955

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.