The 1959 season

Hurricane Cindy (1959)

Hurricane Cindy reached Category 1 in the North Atlantic between July 4, 1959 and July 12, 1959, with a lowest pressure of 995 mb, and made landfall.

Track and intensity

The whole track of Hurricane Cindy, 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
July 4, 1959 to July 12, 1959
Peak strength
Category 1, 65 kt (75 mph)
Lowest pressure
995 mb (29.38 inHg)
Landfall
Yes
Accumulated cyclone energy
4.2
Fastest the center moved
34 kt (39 mph)
Identifier
AL041959

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
Jul 9, 04:00Awendaw, SC, 4 km away33.0N 79.6W65 kt (75 mph)995 mb
Jul 11, 12:00Weweantic, MA, 5 km away41.7N 70.7W50 kt (58 mph)998 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 1,695 rain gauge totals over the contiguous United States to this storm. The wettest reached 9.79 inches (249 mm).

StationTotalPosition
WINNSBORO9.79 in (249 mm)34.38N 81.08W
CATAWBA8.85 in (225 mm)34.85N 80.92W
SANDHILL RSCH ELGIN8.58 in (218 mm)34.13N 80.87W
BELLEPLAIN STN FOREST8.43 in (214 mm)39.27N 74.87W
CHESTER 1 SE7.52 in (191 mm)34.70N 81.20W
CAMDEN 3 W7.18 in (182 mm)34.25N 80.62W
GREAT FALLS7.15 in (182 mm)34.55N 80.88W
HENDERSON 2 NNW6.83 in (173 mm)36.32N 78.43W
MAYS LANDING 1 W6.75 in (171 mm)39.45N 74.73W
ALBEMARLE6.68 in (170 mm)35.35N 80.20W
PARR6.56 in (167 mm)34.27N 81.33W
COLUMBIA UNIV OF SC6.55 in (166 mm)34.00N 81.02W

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

Track

Time (UTC)PositionWindPressureStatus
Jul 4, 12:0031.5N 79.0W25 ktTropical depression
Jul 4, 18:0031.0N 79.0W25 ktTropical depression
Jul 5, 00:0030.5N 78.9W25 ktTropical depression
Jul 5, 06:0030.0N 78.7W25 ktTropical depression
Jul 5, 12:0029.8N 78.5W25 ktTropical depression
Jul 5, 18:0029.8N 78.3W25 ktTropical depression
Jul 6, 00:0030.0N 78.2W25 ktTropical depression
Jul 6, 06:0030.3N 78.0W25 ktTropical depression
Jul 6, 12:0030.5N 77.9W30 ktTropical depression
Jul 6, 18:0030.8N 77.7W35 ktTropical storm
Jul 7, 00:0031.3N 77.4W40 ktTropical storm
Jul 7, 06:0031.8N 77.2W40 ktTropical storm
Jul 7, 12:0032.0N 77.0W45 ktTropical storm
Jul 7, 18:0032.1N 76.9W50 ktTropical storm
Jul 8, 00:0032.2N 77.0W55 kt997 mbTropical storm
Jul 8, 06:0032.3N 77.5W60 kt996 mbTropical storm
Jul 8, 12:0032.4N 78.1W65 kt995 mbHurricane
Jul 8, 18:0032.4N 78.7W65 kt995 mbHurricane
Jul 9, 00:0032.6N 79.3W65 kt995 mbHurricane
Jul 9, 04:00 landfall33.0N 79.6W65 kt995 mbHurricane
Jul 9, 06:0033.2N 79.8W50 ktTropical storm
Jul 9, 12:0033.7N 80.1W35 ktTropical storm
Jul 9, 18:0034.1N 80.3W30 ktTropical depression
Jul 10, 00:0034.5N 79.9W30 ktTropical depression
Jul 10, 06:0035.1N 79.2W30 ktTropical depression
Jul 10, 12:0035.9N 77.9W35 ktTropical storm
Jul 10, 18:0036.9N 76.4W40 ktTropical storm
Jul 11, 00:0038.0N 74.6W45 ktTropical storm
Jul 11, 06:0039.5N 72.7W50 ktTropical storm
Jul 11, 12:00 landfall41.7N 70.7W50 kt998 mbTropical storm
Jul 11, 18:0044.3N 67.7W45 kt1000 mbExtratropical
Jul 12, 00:0046.3N 64.9W40 ktExtratropical
Jul 12, 06:0048.3N 62.0W35 ktExtratropical
Jul 12, 12:0050.5N 59.1W30 ktExtratropical
Jul 12, 18:0053.0N 56.2W25 ktExtratropical

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.