The 1969 season

Hurricane Kara (1969)

Hurricane Kara reached Category 1 in the North Atlantic between October 7, 1969 and October 19, 1969, with a lowest pressure of 978 mb.

Radar

Reflectivity now over Hurricane Kara. 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 7, 1969 to October 19, 1969
Peak strength
Category 1, 80 kt (92 mph)
Lowest pressure
978 mb (28.88 inHg)
Landfall
No; closest approach 79 km (49 mi)
Accumulated cyclone energy
7.3
Identifier
AL251969

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 7, 12:0019.8N 68.2W30 kt1005 mbTropical depression
Oct 7, 18:0020.1N 69.0W30 ktTropical depression
Oct 8, 00:0020.5N 70.0W30 ktTropical depression
Oct 8, 06:0020.9N 71.1W30 ktTropical depression
Oct 8, 12:0021.5N 72.3W30 ktTropical depression
Oct 8, 18:0022.4N 73.2W30 ktTropical depression
Oct 9, 00:0023.5N 73.6W30 ktTropical depression
Oct 9, 06:0024.7N 73.7W30 ktTropical depression
Oct 9, 12:0025.8N 73.6W35 kt1006 mbTropical storm
Oct 9, 18:0026.8N 73.3W40 kt1002 mbTropical storm
Oct 10, 00:0027.8N 72.8W40 ktTropical storm
Oct 10, 06:0028.4N 72.4W40 ktTropical storm
Oct 10, 12:0028.9N 72.0W40 kt1001 mbTropical storm
Oct 10, 18:0029.4N 71.4W40 kt1000 mbTropical storm
Oct 11, 00:0030.0N 70.6W40 kt999 mbTropical storm
Oct 11, 06:0030.7N 69.9W40 kt999 mbTropical storm
Oct 11, 12:0032.1N 69.8W40 kt998 mbTropical storm
Oct 11, 18:0034.0N 70.2W40 kt1001 mbTropical storm
Oct 12, 00:0034.5N 70.6W45 kt998 mbSubtropical storm
Oct 12, 06:0034.8N 70.7W45 kt997 mbSubtropical storm
Oct 12, 12:0034.8N 70.9W45 kt997 mbSubtropical storm
Oct 12, 18:0034.3N 71.3W45 kt999 mbSubtropical storm
Oct 13, 00:0033.8N 71.4W45 kt997 mbSubtropical storm
Oct 13, 06:0033.2N 71.6W45 kt998 mbSubtropical storm
Oct 13, 12:0032.7N 72.7W45 kt995 mbSubtropical storm
Oct 13, 18:0031.9N 73.8W45 kt997 mbSubtropical storm
Oct 14, 00:0031.2N 74.5W45 kt998 mbSubtropical storm
Oct 14, 06:0031.4N 75.0W45 kt996 mbSubtropical storm
Oct 14, 12:0031.8N 75.5W55 kt990 mbTropical storm
Oct 14, 18:0031.6N 76.0W55 kt990 mbTropical storm
Oct 15, 00:0031.6N 75.3W60 kt988 mbTropical storm
Oct 15, 06:0032.0N 74.5W65 kt985 mbHurricane
Oct 15, 12:0032.7N 73.5W65 kt984 mbHurricane
Oct 15, 18:0033.1N 72.4W60 kt990 mbTropical storm
Oct 16, 00:0033.5N 71.2W60 kt992 mbTropical storm
Oct 16, 06:0034.1N 70.0W60 kt992 mbTropical storm
Oct 16, 12:0034.8N 68.7W60 kt994 mbTropical storm
Oct 16, 18:0035.7N 67.2W65 kt990 mbHurricane
Oct 17, 00:0036.9N 65.0W65 kt990 mbHurricane
Oct 17, 06:0038.3N 62.7W70 kt986 mbHurricane
Oct 17, 12:0039.6N 60.0W75 kt985 mbHurricane
Oct 17, 18:0041.1N 56.3W80 kt978 mbHurricane
Oct 18, 00:0043.3N 50.8W80 kt979 mbExtratropical
Oct 18, 06:0045.2N 45.3W75 kt980 mbExtratropical
Oct 18, 12:0046.1N 40.0W65 ktExtratropical
Oct 18, 18:0046.2N 35.1W60 ktExtratropical
Oct 19, 00:0046.0N 30.3W55 ktExtratropical
Oct 19, 06:0045.8N 28.0W45 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.