The 1963 season

Hurricane Ginny (1963)

Hurricane Ginny reached Category 2 in the North Atlantic between October 17, 1963 and October 30, 1963, with a lowest pressure of 948 mb, and made landfall.

Track and intensity

The whole track of Hurricane Ginny, 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.

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The storm

Basin
North Atlantic
Dates
October 17, 1963 to October 30, 1963
Peak strength
Category 2, 95 kt (109 mph)
Lowest pressure
948 mb (27.99 inHg)
Landfall
Yes
Accumulated cyclone energy
23.8
Fastest the center moved
35 kt (40 mph)
Identifier
AL081963

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.

Landfall

Time (UTC)WherePositionWindPressure
Oct 29, 17:30Coast unnamed here43.8N 65.8W90 kt (104 mph)948 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 1,113 rain gauge totals over the contiguous United States to this storm. The wettest reached 6.71 inches (170 mm).

StationTotalPosition
SOUTHPORT 5 N6.71 in (170 mm)34.00N 78.02W
CAPE HATTERAS AP5.99 in (152 mm)35.23N 75.62W
HATTERAS4.82 in (122 mm)35.22N 75.72W
MCCLELLANVILLE4.68 in (119 mm)33.07N 79.47W
MOREHEAD CITY 2 WNW4.56 in (116 mm)34.73N 76.73W
SHALLOTTE 4 WNW4.14 in (105 mm)34.00N 78.45W
MACHIAS3.92 in (100 mm)44.72N 67.45W
WILMINGTON INTL AP3.87 in (98 mm)34.27N 77.90W
NANTUCKET MEM AP3.82 in (97 mm)41.25N 70.07W
MANTEO3.78 in (96 mm)35.92N 75.68W
SULLIVANS ISLAND3.75 in (95 mm)32.77N 79.85W
BAR HARBOR 3 NW3.65 in (93 mm)44.42N 68.25W

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

Track

Time (UTC)PositionWindPressureStatus
Oct 17, 18:0025.5N 72.0W20 ktTropical depression
Oct 18, 00:0026.0N 71.7W20 ktTropical depression
Oct 18, 06:0026.5N 71.4W25 ktTropical depression
Oct 18, 12:0027.0N 71.2W30 ktTropical depression
Oct 18, 18:0027.8N 71.2W30 ktTropical depression
Oct 19, 00:0028.5N 71.2W30 ktTropical depression
Oct 19, 06:0029.5N 71.3W35 ktTropical storm
Oct 19, 12:0030.8N 71.8W45 ktTropical storm
Oct 19, 18:0032.0N 72.6W55 kt992 mbTropical storm
Oct 20, 00:0032.8N 73.5W60 kt989 mbTropical storm
Oct 20, 06:0033.4N 74.3W60 kt986 mbTropical storm
Oct 20, 12:0033.5N 75.0W65 kt983 mbHurricane
Oct 20, 18:0033.7N 75.5W70 ktHurricane
Oct 21, 00:0034.0N 75.5W75 ktHurricane
Oct 21, 06:0034.2N 75.0W80 ktHurricane
Oct 21, 12:0034.0N 74.6W80 ktHurricane
Oct 21, 18:0033.6N 74.2W80 ktHurricane
Oct 22, 00:0033.0N 74.0W75 ktHurricane
Oct 22, 06:0032.2N 74.4W70 ktHurricane
Oct 22, 12:0031.5N 74.8W65 ktHurricane
Oct 22, 18:0030.8N 75.3W65 kt989 mbHurricane
Oct 23, 00:0030.2N 76.0W65 kt991 mbHurricane
Oct 23, 06:0029.6N 76.9W65 kt988 mbHurricane
Oct 23, 12:0029.0N 77.7W65 kt990 mbHurricane
Oct 23, 18:0028.8N 78.2W65 kt990 mbHurricane
Oct 24, 00:0028.8N 78.6W70 kt988 mbHurricane
Oct 24, 06:0029.0N 79.0W70 kt989 mbHurricane
Oct 24, 12:0029.3N 79.5W70 kt990 mbHurricane
Oct 24, 18:0029.7N 79.7W70 kt985 mbHurricane
Oct 25, 00:0030.4N 79.7W75 kt982 mbHurricane
Oct 25, 06:0031.1N 79.7W80 kt979 mbHurricane
Oct 25, 12:0031.8N 79.6W80 kt976 mbHurricane
Oct 25, 18:0032.1N 79.0W70 kt985 mbHurricane
Oct 26, 00:0032.5N 78.2W70 kt985 mbHurricane
Oct 26, 06:0033.1N 77.5W70 kt983 mbHurricane
Oct 26, 12:0033.2N 76.9W70 kt986 mbHurricane
Oct 26, 18:0033.0N 76.5W75 kt978 mbHurricane
Oct 27, 00:0032.9N 76.2W75 kt979 mbHurricane
Oct 27, 06:0032.9N 75.9W80 kt972 mbHurricane
Oct 27, 12:0032.9N 75.4W80 kt974 mbHurricane
Oct 27, 18:0032.7N 74.6W80 kt975 mbHurricane
Oct 28, 00:0032.7N 73.7W85 kt970 mbHurricane
Oct 28, 06:0033.2N 73.0W85 kt969 mbHurricane
Oct 28, 12:0033.9N 72.3W90 kt968 mbHurricane
Oct 28, 18:0035.1N 71.5W95 kt963 mbHurricane
Oct 29, 00:0036.3N 70.3W95 ktHurricane
Oct 29, 06:0038.1N 68.8W95 ktHurricane
Oct 29, 12:0040.8N 67.2W95 kt948 mbHurricane
Oct 29, 17:30 landfall43.8N 65.8W90 kt948 mbHurricane
Oct 29, 18:0044.0N 65.7W90 kt948 mbHurricane
Oct 30, 00:0047.0N 64.0W70 ktExtratropical
Oct 30, 06:0049.0N 63.0W50 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.