Hurricane Frances (1961)

Basin

North Atlantic

Dates

September 30, 1961 to October 10, 1961

Peak strength

Category 4, 115 kt (132 mph)

Lowest pressure

948 mb (27.99 inHg)

Landfall

Yes

Accumulated cyclone energy

19.7

Identifier

AL071961

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.

• Hurricane AnnaNorth Atlantic · 1961Cat 290 kt · 976 mb
• Hurricane BetsyNorth Atlantic · 1961Cat 4115 kt · 945 mb
• Hurricane CarlaNorth Atlantic · 1961Cat 4125 kt · 927 mb
• Hurricane DebbieNorth Atlantic · 1961Cat 180 kt · 961 mb
• Hurricane EstherNorth Atlantic · 1961Cat 5140 kt · 919 mb
• Unnamed tropical stormNorth Atlantic · 1961Tropical Storm60 kt · 995 mb
• Hurricane GerdaNorth Atlantic · 1961Cat 165 kt · 988 mb
• Hurricane HattieNorth Atlantic · 1961Cat 5145 kt · 914 mb
• Hurricane JennyNorth Atlantic · 1961Cat 170 kt · 974 mb
• Tropical Storm IngaNorth Atlantic · 1961Tropical Storm60 kt · 997 mb
• Unnamed tropical stormNorth Atlantic · 1961Tropical Storm50 kt · 1004 mb

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.

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.