The 1981 season

Hurricane Gert (1981)

Hurricane Gert reached Category 2 in the North Atlantic between September 7, 1981 and September 15, 1981, with a lowest pressure of 988 mb, and made landfall.

Radar

Reflectivity now over Hurricane Gert. Open it to see storms, cones and warnings on the map.

Open the live radar with storms, cones and warnings

Radar mosaic and map layers from NOAA MRMS. Boundaries from the Iowa Environmental Mesonet.

The storm

Basin
North Atlantic
Dates
September 7, 1981 to September 15, 1981
Peak strength
Category 2, 90 kt (104 mph)
Lowest pressure
988 mb (29.18 inHg)
Landfall
Yes
Accumulated cyclone energy
10.1
Fastest the center moved
32 kt (37 mph)
Identifier
AL151981

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 7, 00:0014.8N 54.0W25 kt1013 mbTropical depression
Sep 7, 06:0014.9N 55.7W30 kt1012 mbTropical depression
Sep 7, 12:0015.1N 57.4W30 kt1012 mbTropical depression
Sep 7, 18:0015.3N 59.0W30 kt1010 mbTropical depression
Sep 8, 00:0015.6N 60.6W40 kt1008 mbTropical storm
Sep 8, 06:0016.1N 62.3W45 kt1005 mbTropical storm
Sep 8, 12:0016.8N 64.0W50 kt1002 mbTropical storm
Sep 8, 18:0017.8N 65.4W50 kt1004 mbTropical storm
Sep 9, 00:0018.9N 66.9W45 kt1006 mbTropical storm
Sep 9, 06:0019.6N 68.3W40 kt1009 mbTropical storm
Sep 9, 12:0020.3N 70.0W35 kt1011 mbTropical storm
Sep 9, 18:0021.3N 71.7W35 kt1012 mbTropical storm
Sep 10, 00:0022.1N 72.8W40 kt1010 mbTropical storm
Sep 10, 06:0022.7N 73.7W50 kt1008 mbTropical storm
Sep 10, 12:0023.7N 74.5W60 kt1001 mbTropical storm
Sep 10, 18:0024.8N 74.4W70 kt996 mbHurricane
Sep 11, 00:0026.3N 73.9W80 kt993 mbHurricane
Sep 11, 06:0027.7N 73.0W85 kt990 mbHurricane
Sep 11, 12:0029.0N 72.0W90 kt988 mbHurricane
Sep 11, 18:0030.2N 70.9W90 kt988 mbHurricane
Sep 12, 00:0031.5N 69.6W90 kt989 mbHurricane
Sep 12, 06:0032.5N 68.5W90 kt990 mbHurricane
Sep 12, 12:0033.4N 67.1W85 kt992 mbHurricane
Sep 12, 18:0034.1N 65.6W70 kt997 mbHurricane
Sep 13, 00:0034.9N 63.5W60 kt1002 mbTropical storm
Sep 13, 06:0035.8N 60.7W55 kt1006 mbTropical storm
Sep 13, 12:0036.8N 57.0W50 kt1008 mbTropical storm
Sep 13, 18:0037.7N 53.2W45 kt1010 mbTropical storm
Sep 14, 00:0038.3N 49.4W40 kt1010 mbTropical storm
Sep 14, 06:0038.8N 45.6W40 kt1011 mbTropical storm
Sep 14, 12:0039.2N 41.9W35 kt1012 mbTropical storm
Sep 14, 18:0039.6N 38.6W30 kt1012 mbTropical depression
Sep 15, 00:0039.9N 35.3W30 kt1012 mbTropical depression
Sep 15, 06:0040.1N 33.0W25 kt1012 mbTropical depression
Sep 15, 12:0040.3N 30.7W25 kt1012 mbTropical depression
Sep 15, 18:0040.5N 28.2W20 kt1012 mbTropical depression

Other North Atlantic storms of 1981

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.