The 1974 season

Hurricane Carmen (1974)

Hurricane Carmen reached Category 4 in the North Atlantic between August 29, 1974 and September 10, 1974, with a lowest pressure of 928 mb, and made landfall.

Track and intensity

The whole track of Hurricane Carmen, colored by strength, with the other storms of the 1974 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, 1974 to September 10, 1974
Peak strength
Category 4, 130 kt (150 mph)
Lowest pressure
928 mb (27.40 inHg)
Landfall
Yes
Accumulated cyclone energy
25.6
Fastest the center moved
24 kt (28 mph)
Identifier
AL101974

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 1,373 rain gauge totals over the contiguous United States to this storm. The wettest reached 12.00 inches (305 mm).

StationTotalPosition
ATMORE12.00 in (305 mm)31.02N 87.52W
FRISCO CITY 3 SSW10.61 in (269 mm)31.38N 87.42W
WHATLEY9.40 in (239 mm)31.65N 87.72W
MONTICELLO 5 SE8.39 in (213 mm)30.57N 83.87W
CLAIBORNE L & D8.00 in (203 mm)31.62N 87.55W
EVERGREEN7.90 in (201 mm)31.45N 86.95W
STANDARD7.83 in (199 mm)30.53N 89.37W
MOBILE REGIONAL AP7.61 in (193 mm)30.68N 88.25W
MC HENRY 5 ESE7.45 in (189 mm)30.68N 89.07W
ST MARKS 5 SSE7.42 in (188 mm)30.10N 84.17W
THOMASVILLE7.32 in (186 mm)31.53N 87.88W
WIGGINS7.27 in (185 mm)30.87N 89.13W

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

Track

Time (UTC)PositionWindPressureStatus
Aug 29, 06:0016.8N 55.8W30 kt1011 mbTropical depression
Aug 29, 12:0016.4N 58.0W30 ktTropical depression
Aug 29, 18:0016.5N 60.3W30 ktTropical depression
Aug 30, 00:0016.6N 62.7W30 ktTropical depression
Aug 30, 06:0016.8N 65.0W30 ktTropical depression
Aug 30, 12:0017.0N 67.4W35 ktTropical storm
Aug 30, 18:0017.0N 69.9W40 kt1001 mbTropical storm
Aug 31, 00:0017.0N 72.2W45 ktTropical storm
Aug 31, 06:0017.0N 74.2W50 ktTropical storm
Aug 31, 12:0017.0N 76.0W65 kt988 mbHurricane
Aug 31, 18:0017.2N 77.9W75 ktHurricane
Sep 1, 00:0017.3N 79.8W80 ktHurricane
Sep 1, 06:0017.5N 81.5W85 kt972 mbHurricane
Sep 1, 12:0017.7N 83.2W105 kt960 mbHurricane
Sep 1, 18:0017.8N 84.7W115 kt947 mbHurricane
Sep 2, 00:0018.0N 85.9W125 kt933 mbHurricane
Sep 2, 06:0018.4N 86.8W130 kt928 mbHurricane
Sep 2, 12:0018.6N 87.9W120 kt956 mbHurricane
Sep 2, 18:0018.8N 88.8W90 ktHurricane
Sep 3, 00:0019.1N 89.3W60 ktTropical storm
Sep 3, 06:0019.3N 89.7W60 ktTropical storm
Sep 3, 12:0019.6N 90.2W60 ktTropical storm
Sep 3, 18:0019.9N 90.4W60 kt1000 mbTropical storm
Sep 4, 00:0020.0N 90.7W55 ktTropical storm
Sep 4, 06:0020.1N 90.8W50 ktTropical storm
Sep 4, 12:0020.3N 91.0W50 ktTropical storm
Sep 4, 18:0020.5N 91.0W55 kt995 mbTropical storm
Sep 5, 00:0020.7N 90.9W50 ktTropical storm
Sep 5, 06:0020.9N 90.9W55 ktTropical storm
Sep 5, 12:0021.2N 90.8W65 kt985 mbHurricane
Sep 5, 18:0021.5N 90.7W65 kt984 mbHurricane
Sep 6, 00:0021.9N 90.5W65 kt983 mbHurricane
Sep 6, 06:0022.4N 90.5W70 kt971 mbHurricane
Sep 6, 12:0022.9N 90.4W80 kt969 mbHurricane
Sep 6, 18:0023.7N 90.4W95 kt968 mbHurricane
Sep 7, 00:0024.6N 90.3W100 kt967 mbHurricane
Sep 7, 06:0025.7N 90.3W105 kt959 mbHurricane
Sep 7, 12:0026.8N 90.3W110 kt950 mbHurricane
Sep 7, 18:0027.8N 90.4W115 kt944 mbHurricane
Sep 8, 00:0028.7N 90.8W130 kt937 mbHurricane
Sep 8, 06:0029.4N 91.3W105 ktHurricane
Sep 8, 12:0030.0N 92.1W75 ktHurricane
Sep 8, 18:0030.5N 92.6W45 ktTropical storm
Sep 9, 00:0030.8N 93.6W30 ktTropical depression
Sep 9, 06:0030.9N 94.4W25 ktTropical depression
Sep 9, 12:0031.0N 95.1W25 ktTropical depression
Sep 9, 18:0031.1N 95.6W25 ktTropical depression
Sep 10, 00:0031.2N 96.3W25 ktTropical depression
Sep 10, 06:0031.3N 96.7W25 ktTropical depression

Other North Atlantic storms of 1974

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.