The 1963 season

Hurricane Flora (1963)

Hurricane Flora reached Category 4 in the North Atlantic between September 28, 1963 and October 17, 1963, with a lowest pressure of 933 mb, and made landfall.

Track and intensity

The whole track of Hurricane Flora, colored by strength, with the other storms of the 1963 season in the same basin behind it, and its wind and pressure hour by hour. Every fix is in the track table below.

Open the live map with storms, cones and warnings

The storm

Basin
North Atlantic
Dates
September 28, 1963 to October 17, 1963
Peak strength
Category 4, 130 kt (150 mph)
Lowest pressure
933 mb (27.55 inHg)
Landfall
Yes
Accumulated cyclone energy
40.1
Fastest the center moved
40 kt (46 mph)
Identifier
AL071963

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
Sep 30, 18:00Scarborough, Tobago, Trinidad and Tobago, 4 km away11.2N 60.7W90 kt (104 mph)974 mb
Oct 4, 01:00Miragoâne, Nippes, Haiti, 29 km away18.2N 73.0W130 kt (150 mph)
Oct 4, 18:00Guantánamo, Guantanamo Province, Cuba, 36 km away20.0N 74.9W105 kt (121 mph)973 mb
Oct 7, 00:00Santa Cruz del Sur, Camaguey, Cuba, 11 km away20.7N 78.1W85 kt (98 mph)
Oct 10, 06:00Coast unnamed here26.9N 66.5W95 kt (109 mph)967 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.

Track

Time (UTC)PositionWindPressureStatus
Sep 28, 12:009.2N 46.3W30 ktTropical depression
Sep 28, 18:009.5N 47.9W30 ktTropical depression
Sep 29, 00:009.7N 49.5W30 ktTropical depression
Sep 29, 06:009.9N 51.1W30 ktTropical depression
Sep 29, 12:0010.0N 52.8W40 ktTropical storm
Sep 29, 18:0010.1N 54.4W55 ktTropical storm
Sep 30, 00:0010.3N 56.0W70 ktHurricane
Sep 30, 06:0010.4N 57.6W75 ktHurricane
Sep 30, 12:0010.7N 59.1W70 kt994 mbHurricane
Sep 30, 18:00 landfall11.2N 60.7W90 kt974 mbHurricane
Oct 1, 00:0011.6N 62.0W90 kt975 mbHurricane
Oct 1, 06:0012.0N 63.3W90 ktHurricane
Oct 1, 12:0012.5N 64.7W90 ktHurricane
Oct 1, 18:0013.0N 66.0W95 kt967 mbHurricane
Oct 2, 00:0013.6N 67.3W100 kt962 mbHurricane
Oct 2, 06:0014.2N 68.3W105 kt956 mbHurricane
Oct 2, 12:0014.7N 69.2W105 kt957 mbHurricane
Oct 2, 18:0015.1N 70.0W105 kt957 mbHurricane
Oct 3, 00:0015.5N 70.7W110 ktHurricane
Oct 3, 06:0015.9N 71.4W120 ktHurricane
Oct 3, 12:0016.5N 72.0W125 ktHurricane
Oct 3, 18:0017.2N 72.5W130 kt933 mbHurricane
Oct 4, 00:0018.1N 72.9W130 ktHurricane
Oct 4, 01:00 landfall18.2N 73.0W130 ktHurricane
Oct 4, 06:0018.8N 73.8W105 ktHurricane
Oct 4, 12:0019.4N 74.4W105 kt970 mbHurricane
Oct 4, 18:00 landfall20.0N 74.9W105 kt973 mbHurricane
Oct 5, 00:0020.6N 75.7W100 ktHurricane
Oct 5, 06:0020.7N 76.4W85 ktHurricane
Oct 5, 12:0020.5N 76.6W75 ktHurricane
Oct 5, 18:0020.3N 76.7W70 ktHurricane
Oct 6, 00:0020.4N 77.1W75 ktHurricane
Oct 6, 06:0020.4N 77.6W85 ktHurricane
Oct 6, 12:0020.4N 77.8W85 ktHurricane
Oct 6, 18:0020.5N 78.0W85 ktHurricane
Oct 7, 00:00 landfall20.7N 78.1W85 ktHurricane
Oct 7, 06:0020.9N 78.1W75 ktHurricane
Oct 7, 12:0021.1N 78.1W70 ktHurricane
Oct 7, 18:0021.3N 78.0W60 ktTropical storm
Oct 8, 00:0021.3N 77.8W60 ktTropical storm
Oct 8, 06:0021.1N 77.0W55 ktTropical storm
Oct 8, 12:0021.1N 76.2W50 ktTropical storm
Oct 8, 18:0021.3N 75.4W65 ktHurricane
Oct 9, 00:0021.7N 74.3W75 kt983 mbHurricane
Oct 9, 06:0022.3N 72.9W85 kt977 mbHurricane
Oct 9, 12:0023.3N 71.6W95 kt966 mbHurricane
Oct 9, 18:0024.6N 70.0W95 kt965 mbHurricane
Oct 10, 00:0025.8N 68.3W95 kt965 mbHurricane
Oct 10, 06:00 landfall26.9N 66.5W95 kt967 mbHurricane
Oct 10, 12:0028.0N 64.8W90 kt969 mbHurricane
Oct 10, 18:0029.9N 62.4W90 kt972 mbHurricane
Oct 11, 00:0032.2N 59.8W90 kt968 mbHurricane
Oct 11, 06:0034.2N 58.3W90 kt970 mbHurricane
Oct 11, 12:0036.2N 57.0W90 kt963 mbHurricane
Oct 11, 18:0038.1N 56.0W90 ktHurricane
Oct 12, 00:0039.8N 55.0W90 ktExtratropical
Oct 12, 06:0041.5N 54.0W85 ktExtratropical
Oct 12, 12:0043.0N 51.2W80 ktExtratropical
Oct 12, 18:0044.5N 47.5W75 ktExtratropical
Oct 13, 00:0046.0N 44.5W70 ktExtratropical
Oct 13, 06:0049.0N 44.0W70 ktExtratropical
Oct 13, 12:0053.0N 43.0W70 ktExtratropical
Oct 13, 18:0054.5N 40.5W70 ktExtratropical
Oct 14, 00:0057.0N 39.0W70 ktExtratropical
Oct 14, 06:0060.5N 37.0W65 ktExtratropical
Oct 14, 12:0062.5N 33.0W65 ktExtratropical
Oct 14, 18:0064.0N 30.0W60 ktExtratropical
Oct 15, 00:0065.0N 31.0W55 ktExtratropical
Oct 15, 06:0064.5N 32.0W50 ktExtratropical
Oct 15, 12:0064.0N 32.0W45 ktExtratropical
Oct 15, 18:0063.8N 32.0W40 ktExtratropical
Oct 16, 00:0063.6N 31.5W35 ktExtratropical
Oct 16, 06:0063.5N 31.5W35 ktExtratropical
Oct 16, 12:0063.3N 31.5W35 ktExtratropical
Oct 16, 18:0063.1N 31.5W35 ktExtratropical
Oct 17, 00:0063.0N 32.5W35 ktExtratropical
Oct 17, 06:0062.8N 33.5W35 ktExtratropical
Oct 17, 12:0062.6N 34.5W35 ktExtratropical
Oct 17, 18:0062.8N 33.5W30 ktExtratropical

Other North Atlantic storms of 1963

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.