The 1969 season

Hurricane Camille (1969)

Hurricane Camille reached Category 5 in the North Atlantic between August 14, 1969 and August 22, 1969, with a lowest pressure of 900 mb, and made landfall.

Track and intensity

The whole track of Hurricane Camille, colored by strength, with the other storms of the 1969 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
August 14, 1969 to August 22, 1969
Peak strength
Category 5, 150 kt (173 mph)
Lowest pressure
900 mb (26.58 inHg)
Landfall
Yes
Accumulated cyclone energy
23.2
Fastest the center moved
39 kt (45 mph)
Identifier
AL091969

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
Aug 15, 22:00Guane, Pinar del Rio, Cuba, 40 km away21.9N 84.3W95 kt (109 mph)
Aug 18, 04:00Waveland, MS, 3 km away30.3N 89.4W150 kt (173 mph)900 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 2,651 rain gauge totals over the contiguous United States to this storm. The wettest reached 27.00 inches (686 mm).

StationTotalPosition
27.00 in (686 mm)37.83N 78.99W
25.00 in (635 mm)37.75N 78.93W
23.00 in (584 mm)37.66N 78.94W
20.40 in (518 mm)37.67N 78.93W
14.00 in (356 mm)37.84N 78.80W
14.00 in (356 mm)37.68N 78.84W
13.00 in (330 mm)37.87N 78.64W
ROCKFISH12.89 in (327 mm)37.80N 78.75W
12.00 in (305 mm)37.99N 78.70W
LOUISA11.33 in (288 mm)38.05N 78.00W
11.00 in (279 mm)37.88N 78.91W
11.00 in (279 mm)37.81N 78.88W

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

Track

Time (UTC)PositionWindPressureStatus
Aug 14, 00:0018.3N 79.7W30 ktTropical depression
Aug 14, 06:0018.5N 80.5W35 ktTropical storm
Aug 14, 12:0018.8N 81.3W45 ktTropical storm
Aug 14, 18:0019.1N 82.0W50 ktTropical storm
Aug 15, 00:0019.5N 82.7W55 kt991 mbTropical storm
Aug 15, 06:0020.0N 83.3W65 kt980 mbHurricane
Aug 15, 12:0020.6N 83.8W90 kt969 mbHurricane
Aug 15, 18:0021.3N 84.1W95 kt966 mbHurricane
Aug 15, 22:00 landfall21.9N 84.3W95 ktHurricane
Aug 16, 00:0022.3N 84.4W90 ktHurricane
Aug 16, 06:0023.1N 85.2W105 ktHurricane
Aug 16, 12:0023.8N 86.0W130 ktHurricane
Aug 16, 18:0024.3N 86.6W150 kt908 mbHurricane
Aug 17, 00:0025.2N 87.2W150 kt905 mbHurricane
Aug 17, 06:0026.0N 87.7W145 ktHurricane
Aug 17, 12:0027.0N 88.3W140 ktHurricane
Aug 17, 18:0028.2N 88.7W135 kt919 mbHurricane
Aug 18, 00:0029.4N 89.0W140 kt908 mbHurricane
Aug 18, 04:00 landfall30.3N 89.4W150 kt900 mbHurricane
Aug 18, 06:0030.7N 89.6W115 ktHurricane
Aug 18, 12:0032.0N 89.9W75 ktHurricane
Aug 18, 18:0033.4N 90.1W50 ktTropical storm
Aug 19, 00:0034.7N 90.0W35 ktTropical storm
Aug 19, 06:0036.0N 89.3W30 ktTropical depression
Aug 19, 12:0037.0N 88.0W30 ktTropical depression
Aug 19, 18:0037.6N 86.0W25 ktTropical depression
Aug 20, 00:0037.6N 84.0W25 ktTropical depression
Aug 20, 06:0037.4N 80.6W25 ktTropical depression
Aug 20, 12:0037.2N 77.3W30 ktTropical depression
Aug 20, 18:0037.0N 75.3W45 kt1000 mbTropical storm
Aug 21, 00:0036.7N 73.6W50 ktTropical storm
Aug 21, 06:0036.7N 70.9W55 ktTropical storm
Aug 21, 12:0037.1N 68.1W60 ktTropical storm
Aug 21, 18:0037.8N 64.7W60 ktTropical storm
Aug 22, 00:0039.2N 61.8W55 ktTropical storm
Aug 22, 06:0040.8N 58.2W45 ktTropical storm
Aug 22, 12:0043.0N 54.0W35 ktExtratropical

Other North Atlantic storms of 1969

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.