The 1971 season

Hurricane Fern (1971)

Hurricane Fern reached Category 1 in the North Atlantic between September 3, 1971 and September 13, 1971, with a lowest pressure of 978 mb, and made landfall.

Track and intensity

The whole track of Hurricane Fern, colored by strength, with the other storms of the 1971 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
September 3, 1971 to September 13, 1971
Peak strength
Category 1, 80 kt (92 mph)
Lowest pressure
978 mb (28.88 inHg)
Landfall
Yes
Accumulated cyclone energy
6.1
Fastest the center moved
7 kt (8 mph)
Identifier
AL111971

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.

Rainfall

The Weather Prediction Center attributes 848 rain gauge totals over the contiguous United States to this storm. The wettest reached 26.00 inches (660 mm).

StationTotalPosition
BEEVILLE 2 SSE26.00 in (660 mm)28.38N 97.72W
SKIDMORE 3 N25.80 in (655 mm)28.29N 97.81W
KAFFIE RANCH21.80 in (554 mm)27.08N 98.58W
PAPALOTE21.50 in (546 mm)28.17N 97.60W
BENAVIDES 3 NE20.57 in (522 mm)27.60N 98.42W
REFUGIO19.86 in (504 mm)28.30N 97.28W
MATHIS 3 NE19.71 in (501 mm)28.03N 97.87W
BEEVILLE CHASE NAAS19.06 in (484 mm)28.37N 97.67W
BEEVILLE 5 NE18.46 in (469 mm)28.45N 97.70W
SINTON14.66 in (372 mm)28.07N 97.58W
GOLIAD 1 SE14.25 in (362 mm)28.67N 97.40W
HEBBRONVILLE14.10 in (358 mm)27.32N 98.68W

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

Track

Time (UTC)PositionWindPressureStatus
Sep 3, 12:0027.5N 87.5W25 ktTropical depression
Sep 3, 18:0027.7N 87.7W25 ktTropical depression
Sep 4, 00:0028.0N 88.0W25 ktTropical depression
Sep 4, 06:0028.2N 88.6W25 ktTropical depression
Sep 4, 12:0028.6N 89.0W25 ktTropical depression
Sep 4, 18:0029.0N 89.3W25 ktTropical depression
Sep 5, 00:0029.5N 89.5W25 ktTropical depression
Sep 5, 06:0030.1N 89.6W25 ktTropical depression
Sep 5, 12:0030.7N 89.8W25 ktTropical depression
Sep 5, 18:0030.6N 89.9W25 ktTropical depression
Sep 6, 00:0030.3N 90.0W25 ktTropical depression
Sep 6, 06:0029.9N 90.3W25 ktTropical depression
Sep 6, 12:0029.5N 90.5W25 ktTropical depression
Sep 6, 18:0029.0N 91.0W25 ktTropical depression
Sep 7, 00:0028.6N 91.3W25 ktTropical depression
Sep 7, 06:0028.1N 91.6W25 ktTropical depression
Sep 7, 12:0027.7N 92.0W30 ktTropical depression
Sep 7, 18:0027.3N 92.3W30 ktTropical depression
Sep 8, 00:0026.9N 92.6W40 kt1000 mbTropical storm
Sep 8, 06:0026.6N 92.8W45 kt1000 mbTropical storm
Sep 8, 12:0026.4N 93.1W50 kt1000 mbTropical storm
Sep 8, 18:0026.3N 93.4W55 kt995 mbTropical storm
Sep 9, 00:0026.4N 93.7W65 kt987 mbHurricane
Sep 9, 06:0026.7N 94.0W80 kt993 mbHurricane
Sep 9, 12:0027.1N 94.3W80 kt992 mbHurricane
Sep 9, 18:0027.5N 94.5W75 kt992 mbHurricane
Sep 10, 00:0028.0N 94.8W70 kt988 mbHurricane
Sep 10, 06:0028.5N 95.3W65 kt988 mbHurricane
Sep 10, 12:0028.5N 96.0W60 kt979 mbTropical storm
Sep 10, 18:0028.3N 96.5W60 kt979 mbTropical storm
Sep 11, 00:0028.0N 96.9W55 kt988 mbTropical storm
Sep 11, 06:0027.7N 97.3W55 kt983 mbTropical storm
Sep 11, 12:0027.5N 97.6W45 kt978 mbTropical storm
Sep 11, 18:0027.3N 98.0W40 ktTropical storm
Sep 12, 00:0027.1N 98.4W35 ktTropical storm
Sep 12, 06:0027.1N 98.8W35 ktTropical storm
Sep 12, 12:0027.0N 99.2W35 ktTropical storm
Sep 12, 18:0026.9N 99.7W30 ktTropical depression
Sep 13, 00:0026.9N 100.3W25 ktTropical depression

Other North Atlantic storms of 1971

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.