The 1974 season

Hurricane Gertrude (1974)

Hurricane Gertrude reached Category 1 in the North Atlantic between September 27, 1974 and October 4, 1974, with a lowest pressure of 999 mb.

Track and intensity

The whole track of Hurricane Gertrude, 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
September 27, 1974 to October 4, 1974
Peak strength
Category 1, 65 kt (75 mph)
Lowest pressure
999 mb (29.50 inHg)
Landfall
No; closest approach 208 km (129 mi)
Accumulated cyclone energy
4.4
Fastest the center moved
16 kt (18 mph)
Identifier
AL171974

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
Sep 27, 12:0010.7N 45.1W30 ktTropical depression
Sep 27, 18:0010.7N 46.5W30 ktTropical depression
Sep 28, 00:0010.7N 47.9W30 ktTropical depression
Sep 28, 06:0010.6N 49.0W30 ktTropical depression
Sep 28, 12:0010.6N 50.2W30 ktTropical depression
Sep 28, 18:0010.8N 51.8W45 kt1004 mbTropical storm
Sep 29, 00:0011.0N 53.0W65 kt999 mbHurricane
Sep 29, 06:0011.2N 54.0W65 kt1000 mbHurricane
Sep 29, 12:0011.4N 55.0W65 kt1000 mbHurricane
Sep 29, 18:0011.5N 55.4W65 kt1001 mbHurricane
Sep 30, 00:0011.7N 56.0W65 kt1004 mbHurricane
Sep 30, 06:0011.3N 56.4W65 kt1005 mbHurricane
Sep 30, 12:0011.0N 56.6W65 kt1007 mbHurricane
Sep 30, 18:0011.5N 56.5W45 kt1008 mbTropical storm
Oct 1, 00:0011.9N 57.1W45 ktTropical storm
Oct 1, 06:0012.0N 57.7W45 ktTropical storm
Oct 1, 12:0012.1N 58.3W45 kt1009 mbTropical storm
Oct 1, 18:0012.2N 58.9W40 ktTropical storm
Oct 2, 00:0012.4N 59.8W40 ktTropical storm
Oct 2, 06:0012.5N 60.5W35 ktTropical storm
Oct 2, 12:0012.6N 61.5W30 ktTropical depression
Oct 2, 18:0012.7N 62.4W30 ktTropical depression
Oct 3, 00:0012.7N 63.2W30 ktTropical depression
Oct 3, 06:0012.8N 64.1W30 ktTropical depression
Oct 3, 12:0012.8N 65.0W30 ktTropical depression
Oct 3, 18:0012.9N 66.0W30 ktTropical depression
Oct 4, 00:0013.0N 67.0W30 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.