The 1969 season

Hurricane Francelia (1969)

Hurricane Francelia reached Category 2 in the North Atlantic between August 29, 1969 and September 4, 1969, with a lowest pressure of 973 mb, and made landfall.

Track and intensity

The whole track of Hurricane Francelia, 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.

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The storm

Basin
North Atlantic
Dates
August 29, 1969 to September 4, 1969
Peak strength
Category 2, 85 kt (98 mph)
Lowest pressure
973 mb (28.73 inHg)
Landfall
Yes
Accumulated cyclone energy
8.7
Fastest the center moved
20 kt (23 mph)
Identifier
AL131969

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
Sep 3, 21:00Lívingston, Izabal Department, Guatemala, 42 km away16.2N 88.8W85 kt (98 mph)

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
Aug 29, 00:0012.0N 62.0W30 ktTropical depression
Aug 29, 06:0012.1N 64.0W30 ktTropical depression
Aug 29, 12:0012.3N 65.9W30 ktTropical depression
Aug 29, 18:0012.7N 67.7W30 kt1005 mbTropical depression
Aug 30, 00:0013.1N 69.4W30 ktTropical depression
Aug 30, 06:0013.5N 71.0W40 ktTropical storm
Aug 30, 12:0013.8N 72.6W50 kt1001 mbTropical storm
Aug 30, 18:0014.1N 74.2W55 kt999 mbTropical storm
Aug 31, 00:0014.4N 75.7W55 ktTropical storm
Aug 31, 06:0014.8N 76.9W55 ktTropical storm
Aug 31, 12:0015.3N 77.8W55 ktTropical storm
Aug 31, 18:0015.8N 78.6W50 ktTropical storm
Sep 1, 00:0016.2N 79.5W45 kt1002 mbTropical storm
Sep 1, 06:0016.6N 80.7W45 ktTropical storm
Sep 1, 12:0017.0N 82.0W50 ktTropical storm
Sep 1, 18:0017.3N 83.3W55 kt995 mbTropical storm
Sep 2, 00:0017.2N 84.6W65 kt987 mbHurricane
Sep 2, 06:0016.9N 85.4W70 kt983 mbHurricane
Sep 2, 12:0016.6N 86.1W80 kt976 mbHurricane
Sep 2, 18:0016.4N 86.7W85 kt973 mbHurricane
Sep 3, 00:0016.3N 87.3W85 ktHurricane
Sep 3, 06:0016.3N 87.7W85 ktHurricane
Sep 3, 12:0016.2N 88.2W85 ktHurricane
Sep 3, 18:0016.2N 88.6W85 ktHurricane
Sep 3, 21:00 landfall16.2N 88.8W85 ktHurricane
Sep 4, 00:0016.2N 89.0W70 ktHurricane
Sep 4, 06:0016.2N 89.4W45 ktTropical storm
Sep 4, 12:0016.2N 89.8W25 ktTropical depression

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.