The 1969 season

Hurricane Martha (1969)

Hurricane Martha reached Category 1 in the North Atlantic between November 20, 1969 and November 25, 1969, with a lowest pressure of 979 mb, and made landfall.

Radar

Reflectivity now over Hurricane Martha. 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
November 20, 1969 to November 25, 1969
Peak strength
Category 1, 80 kt (92 mph)
Lowest pressure
979 mb (28.91 inHg)
Landfall
Yes
Accumulated cyclone energy
5.4
Fastest the center moved
4 kt (5 mph)
Identifier
AL291969

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
Nov 24, 18:00Santiago de Veraguas, Veraguas Province, Panama, 79 km away8.8N 81.1W40 kt (46 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
Nov 20, 12:0011.2N 79.8W25 ktTropical depression
Nov 20, 18:0011.0N 79.9W30 ktTropical depression
Nov 21, 00:0010.8N 80.0W35 kt1003 mbTropical storm
Nov 21, 06:0010.6N 80.2W45 ktTropical storm
Nov 21, 12:0010.5N 80.5W55 ktTropical storm
Nov 21, 18:0010.4N 80.8W65 ktHurricane
Nov 22, 00:0010.3N 81.0W75 ktHurricane
Nov 22, 06:0010.3N 81.0W80 ktHurricane
Nov 22, 12:0010.3N 81.0W80 kt979 mbHurricane
Nov 22, 18:0010.2N 81.0W75 kt982 mbHurricane
Nov 23, 00:0010.1N 81.0W70 kt986 mbHurricane
Nov 23, 06:0010.0N 81.0W55 kt993 mbTropical storm
Nov 23, 12:009.9N 81.0W45 kt999 mbTropical storm
Nov 23, 18:009.7N 81.0W45 kt1000 mbTropical storm
Nov 24, 00:009.4N 81.0W45 kt999 mbTropical storm
Nov 24, 06:009.2N 81.0W45 kt1000 mbTropical storm
Nov 24, 12:009.0N 81.0W45 kt1000 mbTropical storm
Nov 24, 18:00 landfall8.8N 81.1W40 ktTropical storm
Nov 25, 00:008.7N 81.3W30 ktTropical depression
Nov 25, 06:008.6N 81.6W30 ktTropical depression
Nov 25, 12:008.5N 82.0W25 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.