The 1959 season

Hurricane Hannah (1959)

Hurricane Hannah reached Category 3 in the North Atlantic between September 27, 1959 and October 8, 1959, with a lowest pressure of 959 mb.

Track and intensity

The whole track of Hurricane Hannah, 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
September 27, 1959 to October 8, 1959
Peak strength
Category 3, 105 kt (121 mph)
Lowest pressure
959 mb (28.32 inHg)
Landfall
No; closest approach 654 km (406 mi)
Accumulated cyclone energy
27.0
Identifier
AL091959

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
Sep 27, 12:0026.8N 49.9W30 ktTropical depression
Sep 27, 18:0026.9N 50.5W30 ktTropical depression
Sep 28, 00:0027.0N 51.2W35 ktTropical storm
Sep 28, 06:0027.2N 51.9W40 ktTropical storm
Sep 28, 12:0027.5N 52.8W45 ktTropical storm
Sep 28, 18:0027.6N 54.0W55 ktTropical storm
Sep 29, 00:0027.4N 55.4W60 kt996 mbTropical storm
Sep 29, 06:0026.7N 57.2W65 ktHurricane
Sep 29, 12:0026.3N 59.0W70 ktHurricane
Sep 29, 18:0026.2N 61.0W75 ktHurricane
Sep 30, 00:0026.2N 62.6W80 ktHurricane
Sep 30, 06:0026.4N 63.8W85 ktHurricane
Sep 30, 12:0026.9N 64.7W90 kt975 mbHurricane
Sep 30, 18:0027.9N 65.6W105 kt959 mbHurricane
Oct 1, 00:0028.8N 66.4W105 ktHurricane
Oct 1, 06:0029.6N 67.2W100 ktHurricane
Oct 1, 12:0030.5N 68.1W100 kt967 mbHurricane
Oct 1, 18:0031.6N 69.0W100 kt963 mbHurricane
Oct 2, 00:0032.6N 69.2W100 ktHurricane
Oct 2, 06:0033.5N 68.9W100 ktHurricane
Oct 2, 12:0034.1N 68.0W100 ktHurricane
Oct 2, 18:0034.5N 67.2W95 kt961 mbHurricane
Oct 3, 00:0035.0N 66.5W95 ktHurricane
Oct 3, 06:0035.3N 65.7W90 ktHurricane
Oct 3, 12:0035.7N 64.7W85 kt966 mbHurricane
Oct 3, 18:0036.1N 63.4W85 ktHurricane
Oct 4, 00:0036.4N 62.3W85 ktHurricane
Oct 4, 06:0036.7N 61.5W85 ktHurricane
Oct 4, 12:0036.9N 60.1W85 ktHurricane
Oct 4, 18:0037.1N 58.4W85 kt970 mbHurricane
Oct 5, 00:0037.1N 56.5W85 ktHurricane
Oct 5, 06:0036.9N 54.1W85 ktHurricane
Oct 5, 12:0036.6N 51.5W90 ktHurricane
Oct 5, 18:0036.4N 48.1W90 ktHurricane
Oct 6, 00:0036.1N 44.5W90 ktHurricane
Oct 6, 06:0035.5N 41.1W90 ktHurricane
Oct 6, 12:0035.0N 38.1W90 kt971 mbHurricane
Oct 6, 18:0035.5N 34.7W90 ktHurricane
Oct 7, 00:0036.6N 30.8W85 ktHurricane
Oct 7, 06:0037.8N 27.8W85 ktExtratropical
Oct 7, 12:0039.2N 24.9W85 ktExtratropical
Oct 7, 18:0041.0N 21.5W85 ktExtratropical
Oct 8, 00:0045.0N 18.0W80 ktExtratropical
Oct 8, 06:0049.0N 19.5W80 kt967 mbExtratropical
Oct 8, 12:0053.0N 20.9W70 ktExtratropical
Oct 8, 18:0056.0N 25.0W65 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.