The 1965 season

Hurricane Elena (1965)

Hurricane Elena reached Category 2 in the North Atlantic between October 12, 1965 and October 20, 1965, with a lowest pressure of 977 mb.

Radar

Reflectivity now over Hurricane Elena. 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
October 12, 1965 to October 20, 1965
Peak strength
Category 2, 95 kt (109 mph)
Lowest pressure
977 mb (28.85 inHg)
Landfall
No; closest approach 130 km (81 mi)
Accumulated cyclone energy
9.1
Identifier
AL061965

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
Oct 12, 12:0016.5N 47.5W30 ktTropical depression
Oct 12, 18:0017.5N 48.5W30 ktTropical depression
Oct 13, 00:0018.5N 49.5W30 ktTropical depression
Oct 13, 06:0019.5N 50.5W35 ktTropical storm
Oct 13, 12:0020.5N 51.6W35 ktTropical storm
Oct 13, 18:0021.4N 52.7W35 kt1005 mbTropical storm
Oct 14, 00:0022.3N 53.7W40 ktTropical storm
Oct 14, 06:0023.1N 54.7W40 ktTropical storm
Oct 14, 12:0023.9N 55.7W40 ktTropical storm
Oct 14, 18:0024.7N 56.6W45 kt1005 mbTropical storm
Oct 15, 00:0025.1N 57.4W45 kt1005 mbTropical storm
Oct 15, 06:0025.5N 58.0W45 kt1005 mbTropical storm
Oct 15, 12:0025.9N 58.5W50 kt1001 mbTropical storm
Oct 15, 18:0026.3N 58.9W55 kt995 mbTropical storm
Oct 16, 00:0026.8N 59.4W55 kt995 mbTropical storm
Oct 16, 06:0027.3N 59.9W60 kt991 mbTropical storm
Oct 16, 12:0028.0N 60.3W60 kt992 mbTropical storm
Oct 16, 18:0028.9N 60.2W55 kt992 mbTropical storm
Oct 17, 00:0030.0N 59.4W55 kt992 mbTropical storm
Oct 17, 06:0031.5N 58.3W60 kt992 mbTropical storm
Oct 17, 12:0033.2N 56.3W70 kt988 mbHurricane
Oct 17, 18:0034.6N 53.4W75 kt986 mbHurricane
Oct 18, 00:0035.8N 50.5W85 ktHurricane
Oct 18, 06:0037.3N 47.0W90 ktHurricane
Oct 18, 12:0039.0N 42.8W95 kt977 mbHurricane
Oct 18, 18:0041.0N 38.9W95 ktHurricane
Oct 19, 00:0044.1N 35.0W85 ktHurricane
Oct 19, 06:0047.0N 32.0W75 ktExtratropical
Oct 19, 12:0050.0N 30.5W70 ktExtratropical
Oct 19, 18:0054.0N 30.0W70 ktExtratropical
Oct 20, 00:0057.0N 29.0W65 ktExtratropical
Oct 20, 06:0060.0N 27.5W60 ktExtratropical
Oct 20, 12:0064.0N 26.0W50 ktExtratropical

Other North Atlantic storms of 1965

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.