Hurricane Betsy (1956)

Basin

North Atlantic

Dates

August 9, 1956 to August 21, 1956

Peak strength

Category 3, 105 kt (121 mph)

Lowest pressure

954 mb (28.17 inHg)

Landfall

Yes

Accumulated cyclone energy

28.4

Fastest the center moved

27 kt (31 mph)

Identifier

AL031956

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.

• Unnamed tropical stormNorth Atlantic · 1956Tropical Storm40 kt · 1002 mb
• Unnamed tropical stormNorth Atlantic · 1956Tropical Storm50 kt · 1001 mb
• Hurricane AnnaNorth Atlantic · 1956Cat 175 kt · 991 mb
• Tropical Storm CarlaNorth Atlantic · 1956Tropical Storm60 kt · 1000 mb
• Tropical Storm DoraNorth Atlantic · 1956Tropical Storm50 kt · 1000 mb
• Tropical Storm EthelNorth Atlantic · 1956Tropical Storm50 kt · 999 mb
• Hurricane FlossyNorth Atlantic · 1956Cat 180 kt · 974 mb
• Unnamed tropical stormNorth Atlantic · 1956Tropical Storm40 kt
• Unnamed tropical stormNorth Atlantic · 1956Tropical Storm55 kt · 996 mb
• Hurricane GretaNorth Atlantic · 1956Cat 285 kt · 970 mb
• Unnamed tropical stormNorth Atlantic · 1956Tropical Storm40 kt

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.

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.

• Wikipedia article: Hurricane Betsy