The 1977 season

Hurricane Anita (1977)

Hurricane Anita reached Category 5 in the North Atlantic between August 29, 1977 and September 3, 1977, with a lowest pressure of 926 mb, and made landfall. It killed 10 people, as Wikidata records it.

Track and intensity

The whole track of Hurricane Anita, colored by strength, with the other storms of the 1977 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
August 29, 1977 to September 3, 1977
Peak strength
Category 5, 150 kt (173 mph)
Lowest pressure
926 mb (27.34 inHg)
Landfall
Yes
Accumulated cyclone energy
12.8
Fastest the center moved
19 kt (22 mph)
Identifier
AL051977

Deaths and damage

The sources count different things and are not added together.

Wikidata

10 deathsno damage figure

A community-maintained total, usually direct and indirect deaths together and damage worldwide. Joined to this storm by its IBTrACS serial, not by name.

Rainfall

The Weather Prediction Center attributes 324 rain gauge totals over the contiguous United States to this storm. The wettest reached 4.97 inches (126 mm).

StationTotalPosition
RIO GRANDE CITY4.97 in (126 mm)26.38N 98.82W
MISSION4.93 in (125 mm)26.22N 98.40W
MC ALLEN4.32 in (110 mm)26.20N 98.25W
MCALLEN MILLER INTL AP3.87 in (98 mm)26.18N 98.23W
GALLIANO3.19 in (81 mm)29.47N 90.30W
WESLACO EXPERIMENT STN3.10 in (79 mm)26.15N 97.97W
MC COOK2.77 in (70 mm)26.48N 98.38W
RAYMONDVILLE2.51 in (64 mm)26.48N 97.82W
PINE GROVE TOWER2.45 in (62 mm)30.72N 90.75W
MERCEDES 6 SSE2.02 in (51 mm)26.07N 97.90W
FRANKLINTON 3 SSE1.94 in (49 mm)30.82N 90.18W
HOUMA 11.91 in (49 mm)29.58N 90.73W

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

Track

Time (UTC)PositionWindPressureStatus
Aug 29, 12:0026.9N 88.4W20 kt1012 mbTropical depression
Aug 29, 18:0027.0N 88.9W25 kt1010 mbTropical depression
Aug 30, 00:0026.9N 89.4W30 kt1009 mbTropical depression
Aug 30, 06:0026.8N 89.8W40 kt1006 mbTropical storm
Aug 30, 12:0026.7N 90.3W50 kt1003 mbTropical storm
Aug 30, 18:0026.5N 90.6W65 kt997 mbHurricane
Aug 31, 00:0026.4N 91.0W70 kt991 mbHurricane
Aug 31, 06:0026.3N 91.4W75 kt988 mbHurricane
Aug 31, 12:0026.2N 91.8W75 kt986 mbHurricane
Aug 31, 18:0026.1N 92.3W80 kt985 mbHurricane
Sep 1, 00:0025.9N 92.8W80 kt979 mbHurricane
Sep 1, 06:0025.8N 93.7W85 kt972 mbHurricane
Sep 1, 12:0025.5N 94.7W90 kt963 mbHurricane
Sep 1, 18:0025.2N 95.5W110 kt945 mbHurricane
Sep 2, 00:0024.6N 96.2W140 kt931 mbHurricane
Sep 2, 06:0024.2N 97.1W150 kt926 mbHurricane
Sep 2, 12:0023.7N 98.0W120 kt940 mbHurricane
Sep 2, 18:0023.1N 99.2W70 kt978 mbHurricane
Sep 3, 00:0022.5N 101.0W40 kt998 mbTropical storm
Sep 3, 06:0022.0N 103.0W25 kt1011 mbTropical depression

Other North Atlantic storms of 1977

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.