The 1961 season

Hurricane Anna (1961)

Hurricane Anna reached Category 2 in the North Atlantic between July 17, 1961 and July 25, 1961, with a lowest pressure of 976 mb, and made landfall.

Radar

Reflectivity now over Hurricane Anna. Open it to see storms, cones and warnings on the map.

Open the live radar with storms, cones and warnings

Radar mosaic and map layers from NOAA MRMS. Boundaries from the Iowa Environmental Mesonet.

The storm

Basin
North Atlantic
Dates
July 17, 1961 to July 25, 1961
Peak strength
Category 2, 90 kt (104 mph)
Lowest pressure
976 mb (28.82 inHg)
Landfall
Yes
Accumulated cyclone energy
11.2
Fastest the center moved
20 kt (23 mph)
Identifier
AL011961

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 23, 12:00Iriona, Colon Department, Honduras, 87 km away15.8N 84.3W70 kt (81 mph)992 mb
Jul 24, 01:00La Ceiba, Atlantida Department, Honduras, 38 km away16.1N 86.9W75 kt (86 mph)989 mb
Jul 24, 10:00Lívingston, Izabal Department, Guatemala, 69 km away16.4N 88.5W75 kt (86 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.

Track

Time (UTC)PositionWindPressureStatus
Jul 17, 18:0010.5N 46.0W30 ktTropical depression
Jul 18, 00:0010.6N 47.6W30 ktTropical depression
Jul 18, 06:0010.7N 49.3W30 ktTropical depression
Jul 18, 12:0010.8N 51.0W35 ktTropical storm
Jul 18, 18:0011.0N 52.5W35 ktTropical storm
Jul 19, 00:0011.2N 54.0W40 ktTropical storm
Jul 19, 06:0011.4N 55.5W40 ktTropical storm
Jul 19, 12:0011.5N 57.0W45 ktTropical storm
Jul 19, 18:0011.6N 58.5W45 ktTropical storm
Jul 20, 00:0011.7N 60.2W50 ktTropical storm
Jul 20, 06:0011.8N 62.0W55 ktTropical storm
Jul 20, 12:0011.9N 63.8W60 ktTropical storm
Jul 20, 18:0012.4N 65.6W65 kt999 mbHurricane
Jul 21, 00:0012.9N 67.5W65 kt1002 mbHurricane
Jul 21, 06:0013.2N 69.5W75 kt992 mbHurricane
Jul 21, 12:0013.4N 71.3W80 kt980 mbHurricane
Jul 21, 18:0013.6N 73.1W80 kt981 mbHurricane
Jul 22, 00:0013.7N 74.8W80 kt984 mbHurricane
Jul 22, 06:0014.0N 76.5W80 kt983 mbHurricane
Jul 22, 12:0014.5N 78.2W90 kt976 mbHurricane
Jul 22, 18:0015.1N 79.9W85 kt983 mbHurricane
Jul 23, 00:0015.2N 81.4W70 kt990 mbHurricane
Jul 23, 06:0015.3N 82.9W70 kt991 mbHurricane
Jul 23, 12:00 landfall15.8N 84.3W70 kt992 mbHurricane
Jul 23, 18:0016.1N 85.7W80 kt981 mbHurricane
Jul 24, 00:0016.1N 86.7W75 kt989 mbHurricane
Jul 24, 01:00 landfall16.1N 86.9W75 kt989 mbHurricane
Jul 24, 06:0016.2N 87.7W75 ktHurricane
Jul 24, 10:00 landfall16.4N 88.5W75 ktHurricane
Jul 24, 12:0016.5N 88.7W65 ktHurricane
Jul 24, 18:0016.8N 89.7W45 ktTropical storm
Jul 25, 00:0017.0N 90.7W30 ktTropical depression

Other North Atlantic storms of 1961

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.