The 1976 season

Hurricane Gloria (1976)

Hurricane Gloria reached Category 2 in the North Atlantic between September 26, 1976 and October 5, 1976, with a lowest pressure of 970 mb.

Track and intensity

The whole track of Hurricane Gloria, colored by strength, with the other storms of the 1976 season in the same basin behind it, and its wind and pressure hour by hour. Every fix is in the track table below.

Open the live map with storms, cones and warnings

The storm

Basin
North Atlantic
Dates
September 26, 1976 to October 5, 1976
Peak strength
Category 2, 90 kt (104 mph)
Lowest pressure
970 mb (28.64 inHg)
Landfall
No; closest approach 942 km (585 mi)
Accumulated cyclone energy
11.5
Fastest the center moved
35 kt (40 mph)
Identifier
AL171976

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 26, 12:0023.0N 58.0W20 kt1009 mbTropical depression
Sep 26, 18:0023.7N 58.1W20 kt1007 mbTropical depression
Sep 27, 00:0024.3N 58.2W25 kt1005 mbTropical depression
Sep 27, 06:0024.9N 58.1W30 kt1001 mbTropical depression
Sep 27, 12:0025.7N 58.0W35 kt997 mbTropical storm
Sep 27, 18:0026.3N 58.0W45 kt994 mbTropical storm
Sep 28, 00:0027.0N 58.0W55 kt993 mbTropical storm
Sep 28, 06:0027.5N 58.2W60 kt992 mbTropical storm
Sep 28, 12:0027.8N 58.6W60 kt992 mbTropical storm
Sep 28, 18:0028.2N 59.0W60 kt991 mbTropical storm
Sep 29, 00:0028.6N 59.5W60 kt988 mbTropical storm
Sep 29, 06:0029.1N 59.8W65 kt984 mbHurricane
Sep 29, 12:0029.7N 60.2W65 kt979 mbHurricane
Sep 29, 18:0030.2N 60.3W70 kt973 mbHurricane
Sep 30, 00:0031.1N 60.2W80 kt970 mbHurricane
Sep 30, 06:0032.2N 59.8W85 kt971 mbHurricane
Sep 30, 12:0033.1N 58.8W90 kt977 mbHurricane
Sep 30, 18:0034.0N 57.5W90 kt981 mbHurricane
Oct 1, 00:0034.7N 56.1W90 kt985 mbHurricane
Oct 1, 06:0035.3N 54.8W85 kt988 mbHurricane
Oct 1, 12:0035.7N 53.7W80 kt990 mbHurricane
Oct 1, 18:0036.1N 52.6W75 kt992 mbHurricane
Oct 2, 00:0036.4N 51.7W70 kt993 mbHurricane
Oct 2, 06:0036.6N 50.8W60 kt994 mbTropical storm
Oct 2, 12:0036.8N 49.9W60 kt995 mbTropical storm
Oct 2, 18:0036.9N 49.0W55 kt996 mbTropical storm
Oct 3, 00:0036.8N 48.3W50 kt997 mbTropical storm
Oct 3, 06:0036.4N 47.6W45 kt998 mbTropical storm
Oct 3, 12:0036.2N 46.9W40 kt999 mbTropical storm
Oct 3, 18:0035.8N 45.8W40 kt1001 mbTropical storm
Oct 4, 00:0035.7N 44.6W35 kt1002 mbTropical storm
Oct 4, 06:0036.0N 43.0W30 kt1003 mbTropical depression
Oct 4, 12:0036.5N 41.4W30 kt1005 mbTropical depression
Oct 4, 18:0037.4N 38.7W30 kt1006 mbTropical depression
Oct 5, 00:0039.0N 35.0W30 kt1008 mbExtratropical

Other North Atlantic storms of 1976

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.