The 1955 season

Hurricane Janet (1955)

Hurricane Janet reached Category 5 in the North Atlantic between September 21, 1955 and September 30, 1955, with a lowest pressure of 914 mb, and made landfall.

Track and intensity

The whole track of Hurricane Janet, 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 21, 1955 to September 30, 1955
Peak strength
Category 5, 150 kt (173 mph)
Lowest pressure
914 mb (26.99 inHg)
Landfall
Yes
Accumulated cyclone energy
27.7
Fastest the center moved
22 kt (25 mph)
Identifier
AL101955

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
Sep 23, 00:00Calliaqua, Saint George Parish, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, 63 km away12.6N 61.4W90 kt (104 mph)
Sep 27, 17:00Coast unnamed here17.4N 83.9W140 kt (161 mph)
Sep 28, 05:00Chetumal, Quintana Roo, Mexico, 55 km away18.4N 87.8W150 kt (173 mph)914 mb
Sep 29, 18:00José Cardel, Veracruz, Mexico, 48 km away19.8N 96.4W95 kt (109 mph)

Landfall points the US agencies flagged in the best track. The nearest town is named from the site’s gazetteer, not from the report.

Track

Time (UTC)PositionWindPressureStatus
Sep 21, 12:0013.2N 52.6W40 ktTropical storm
Sep 21, 18:0013.2N 54.3W50 ktTropical storm
Sep 22, 00:0013.2N 56.0W60 ktTropical storm
Sep 22, 06:0013.1N 57.5W70 ktHurricane
Sep 22, 12:0013.0N 58.9W80 kt979 mbHurricane
Sep 22, 18:0012.8N 60.2W90 ktHurricane
Sep 23, 00:00 landfall12.6N 61.4W90 ktHurricane
Sep 23, 06:0012.5N 62.5W80 ktHurricane
Sep 23, 12:0012.7N 63.6W70 ktHurricane
Sep 23, 18:0013.0N 64.8W60 kt996 mbTropical storm
Sep 24, 00:0013.2N 65.9W60 ktTropical storm
Sep 24, 06:0013.5N 67.0W55 ktTropical storm
Sep 24, 12:0013.7N 68.2W55 kt996 mbTropical storm
Sep 24, 18:0013.8N 69.4W60 kt995 mbTropical storm
Sep 25, 00:0013.8N 70.7W65 ktHurricane
Sep 25, 06:0013.8N 71.8W65 ktHurricane
Sep 25, 12:0013.9N 72.9W65 kt993 mbHurricane
Sep 25, 18:0014.2N 74.2W70 kt988 mbHurricane
Sep 26, 00:0014.5N 75.4W70 ktHurricane
Sep 26, 06:0014.7N 76.4W80 ktHurricane
Sep 26, 12:0015.0N 77.2W90 kt970 mbHurricane
Sep 26, 18:0015.3N 78.0W100 ktHurricane
Sep 27, 00:0015.8N 78.9W110 ktHurricane
Sep 27, 06:0016.4N 80.2W120 ktHurricane
Sep 27, 12:0017.0N 82.1W130 ktHurricane
Sep 27, 17:00 landfall17.4N 83.9W140 ktHurricane
Sep 27, 18:0017.5N 84.1W140 ktHurricane
Sep 28, 00:0018.0N 86.1W150 ktHurricane
Sep 28, 05:00 landfall18.4N 87.8W150 kt914 mbHurricane
Sep 28, 06:0018.5N 88.2W150 kt914 mbHurricane
Sep 28, 12:0018.9N 90.2W105 kt950 mbHurricane
Sep 28, 18:0019.2N 91.7W90 ktHurricane
Sep 29, 00:0019.5N 93.1W90 ktHurricane
Sep 29, 06:0019.7N 94.2W95 ktHurricane
Sep 29, 12:0019.8N 95.3W95 ktHurricane
Sep 29, 18:00 landfall19.8N 96.4W95 ktHurricane
Sep 30, 00:0020.0N 97.7W60 ktTropical storm
Sep 30, 06:0020.3N 99.1W35 ktTropical storm
Sep 30, 12:0020.5N 100.5W25 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.