The 1959 season

Tropical Storm Arlene (1959)

Tropical Storm Arlene peaked at 55 kt in the North Atlantic between May 28, 1959 and June 2, 1959, with a lowest pressure of 993 mb, and made landfall.

Track and intensity

The whole track of Tropical Storm Arlene, colored by strength, with the other storms of the 1959 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
May 28, 1959 to June 2, 1959
Peak strength
Tropical Storm, 55 kt (63 mph)
Lowest pressure
993 mb (29.32 inHg)
Landfall
Yes
Accumulated cyclone energy
2.1
Fastest the center moved
25 kt (29 mph)
Identifier
AL011959

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
May 30, 22:00Franklin, LA, 24 km away29.6N 91.6W55 kt (63 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.

Rainfall

The Weather Prediction Center attributes 3,240 rain gauge totals over the contiguous United States to this storm. The wettest reached 13.55 inches (344 mm).

StationTotalPosition
MERRILL13.55 in (344 mm)30.98N 88.72W
PARADIS 7 S13.40 in (340 mm)29.78N 90.42W
HOUMA13.13 in (334 mm)29.58N 90.72W
NEW ORLEANS INTL AP10.47 in (266 mm)29.98N 90.25W
PURVIS 2N9.87 in (251 mm)31.17N 89.40W
SCHRIEVER9.35 in (237 mm)29.73N 90.82W
CITRONELLE9.18 in (233 mm)31.08N 88.23W
TRAY MTN9.16 in (233 mm)34.80N 83.70W
RESERVE9.06 in (230 mm)30.05N 90.57W
BEAUMONT8.99 in (228 mm)31.18N 88.92W
TALBOTTON8.34 in (212 mm)32.68N 84.52W
NEEL GAP8.28 in (210 mm)34.73N 83.92W

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

Track

Time (UTC)PositionWindPressureStatus
May 28, 06:0023.3N 86.5W25 ktTropical depression
May 28, 12:0024.0N 87.0W30 ktTropical depression
May 28, 18:0024.7N 87.5W30 ktTropical depression
May 29, 00:0025.5N 88.2W35 ktTropical storm
May 29, 06:0026.5N 89.0W40 ktTropical storm
May 29, 12:0027.4N 90.1W45 kt1000 mbTropical storm
May 29, 18:0027.7N 91.2W45 kt1002 mbTropical storm
May 30, 00:0027.8N 91.8W45 kt1000 mbTropical storm
May 30, 06:0028.0N 91.9W45 kt999 mbTropical storm
May 30, 12:0028.5N 91.9W50 kt996 mbTropical storm
May 30, 18:0029.2N 91.8W55 kt993 mbTropical storm
May 30, 22:00 landfall29.6N 91.6W55 ktTropical storm
May 31, 00:0029.8N 91.6W55 ktTropical storm
May 31, 06:0030.4N 91.4W40 ktTropical storm
May 31, 12:0030.9N 91.2W30 ktTropical depression
May 31, 18:0031.5N 90.9W25 ktTropical depression
Jun 1, 00:0032.1N 90.5W25 ktTropical depression
Jun 1, 06:0032.4N 89.9W25 ktTropical depression
Jun 1, 12:0032.6N 89.1W25 ktTropical depression
Jun 1, 18:0032.7N 88.3W25 ktTropical depression
Jun 2, 00:0032.8N 87.2W20 ktTropical depression
Jun 2, 06:0032.9N 85.0W20 ktTropical depression
Jun 2, 12:0033.5N 82.7W20 ktTropical depression
Jun 2, 18:0034.4N 80.0W20 ktTropical depression

Other North Atlantic storms of 1959

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.