The 1969 season

Hurricane Laurie (1969)

Hurricane Laurie reached Category 1 in the North Atlantic between October 17, 1969 and October 27, 1969, with a lowest pressure of 973 mb, and made landfall.

Radar

Reflectivity now over Hurricane Laurie. 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 17, 1969 to October 27, 1969
Peak strength
Category 1, 80 kt (92 mph)
Lowest pressure
973 mb (28.73 inHg)
Landfall
Yes
Accumulated cyclone energy
7.9
Identifier
AL261969

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 17, 00:0018.0N 85.3W25 kt1007 mbTropical depression
Oct 17, 06:0018.3N 85.4W25 ktTropical depression
Oct 17, 12:0018.6N 85.5W25 ktTropical depression
Oct 17, 18:0018.9N 85.6W30 kt1005 mbTropical depression
Oct 18, 00:0019.1N 85.8W30 ktTropical depression
Oct 18, 06:0019.3N 86.2W30 ktTropical depression
Oct 18, 12:0019.6N 86.7W30 kt1006 mbTropical depression
Oct 18, 18:0020.0N 87.5W30 kt1006 mbTropical depression
Oct 19, 00:0020.6N 88.3W30 kt1005 mbTropical depression
Oct 19, 06:0021.2N 89.0W30 kt1003 mbTropical depression
Oct 19, 12:0021.8N 89.6W40 kt1000 mbTropical storm
Oct 19, 18:0022.4N 90.2W40 kt1000 mbTropical storm
Oct 20, 00:0023.2N 90.7W40 kt1000 mbTropical storm
Oct 20, 06:0023.8N 90.9W45 kt998 mbTropical storm
Oct 20, 12:0024.3N 91.0W55 kt993 mbTropical storm
Oct 20, 18:0025.0N 91.1W65 kt987 mbHurricane
Oct 21, 00:0025.7N 91.0W80 kt973 mbHurricane
Oct 21, 06:0026.3N 90.5W80 kt974 mbHurricane
Oct 21, 12:0026.5N 89.8W80 kt973 mbHurricane
Oct 21, 18:0026.5N 89.0W75 kt977 mbHurricane
Oct 22, 00:0026.3N 88.2W75 kt980 mbHurricane
Oct 22, 06:0025.9N 87.4W70 kt983 mbHurricane
Oct 22, 12:0025.5N 86.9W65 kt987 mbHurricane
Oct 22, 18:0025.1N 86.5W65 kt987 mbHurricane
Oct 23, 00:0024.7N 86.2W55 kt992 mbTropical storm
Oct 23, 06:0024.4N 86.1W50 kt996 mbTropical storm
Oct 23, 12:0024.1N 86.2W50 kt998 mbTropical storm
Oct 23, 18:0023.8N 86.7W45 kt1000 mbTropical storm
Oct 24, 00:0023.6N 87.3W45 ktTropical storm
Oct 24, 06:0023.5N 87.9W40 ktTropical storm
Oct 24, 12:0023.4N 88.6W40 kt1001 mbTropical storm
Oct 24, 18:0023.3N 89.4W35 kt1004 mbTropical storm
Oct 25, 00:0023.2N 90.4W35 ktTropical storm
Oct 25, 06:0022.9N 91.2W35 ktTropical storm
Oct 25, 12:0022.5N 91.9W35 ktTropical storm
Oct 25, 18:0022.0N 92.5W35 kt1003 mbTropical storm
Oct 26, 00:0021.4N 92.8W30 ktTropical depression
Oct 26, 06:0020.8N 93.0W30 ktTropical depression
Oct 26, 12:0020.1N 93.1W30 ktTropical depression
Oct 26, 18:0019.4N 93.1W30 kt1006 mbTropical depression
Oct 27, 00:0018.7N 93.1W25 ktTropical depression
Oct 27, 06:0018.0N 93.1W20 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.