The 1956 season

Hurricane Greta (1956)

Hurricane Greta reached Category 2 in the North Atlantic between October 31, 1956 and November 7, 1956, with a lowest pressure of 970 mb, and made landfall.

Track and intensity

The whole track of Hurricane Greta, colored by strength, with the other storms of the 1956 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
October 31, 1956 to November 7, 1956
Peak strength
Category 2, 85 kt (98 mph)
Lowest pressure
970 mb (28.64 inHg)
Landfall
Yes
Accumulated cyclone energy
9.6
Fastest the center moved
46 kt (53 mph)
Identifier
AL081956

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.

Track

Time (UTC)PositionWindPressureStatus
Oct 31, 00:0020.0N 74.7W25 ktTropical depression
Oct 31, 06:0020.4N 74.8W25 ktTropical depression
Oct 31, 12:0020.8N 75.0W25 ktTropical depression
Oct 31, 18:0021.9N 75.3W30 kt1003 mbTropical depression
Nov 1, 00:0023.0N 75.0W30 ktTropical depression
Nov 1, 06:0024.2N 74.2W35 ktTropical storm
Nov 1, 12:0025.7N 73.0W45 ktTropical storm
Nov 1, 18:0027.2N 72.2W50 ktTropical storm
Nov 2, 00:0028.5N 72.3W50 kt992 mbTropical storm
Nov 2, 06:0028.4N 72.8W50 ktTropical storm
Nov 2, 12:0027.8N 72.7W50 ktTropical storm
Nov 2, 18:0027.3N 72.5W55 ktTropical storm
Nov 3, 00:0027.0N 72.3W55 ktTropical storm
Nov 3, 06:0026.5N 72.2W60 ktTropical storm
Nov 3, 12:0025.7N 72.1W60 kt982 mbTropical storm
Nov 3, 18:0024.6N 71.6W60 ktTropical storm
Nov 4, 00:0023.8N 70.7W65 ktHurricane
Nov 4, 06:0023.1N 69.6W70 ktHurricane
Nov 4, 12:0022.6N 68.4W80 ktHurricane
Nov 4, 18:0022.2N 67.1W85 kt970 mbHurricane
Nov 5, 00:0022.2N 65.7W85 ktHurricane
Nov 5, 06:0023.5N 63.9W85 ktHurricane
Nov 5, 12:0025.3N 61.7W85 kt970 mbHurricane
Nov 5, 18:0027.1N 59.5W85 ktHurricane
Nov 6, 00:0028.2N 57.5W85 ktHurricane
Nov 6, 06:0029.3N 55.8W85 ktHurricane
Nov 6, 12:0030.4N 53.0W85 ktExtratropical
Nov 6, 18:0031.4N 50.2W75 ktExtratropical
Nov 7, 00:0032.5N 47.0W65 ktExtratropical
Nov 7, 06:0033.7N 42.0W55 ktExtratropical

Other North Atlantic storms of 1956

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.