Hurricane Harvey (1981)

Hurricane Harvey reached Category 4 in the North Atlantic between September 11, 1981 and September 20, 1981, with a lowest pressure of 946 mb.

Track and intensity

The whole track of Hurricane Harvey, colored by strength, with the other storms of the 1981 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 11, 1981 to September 20, 1981
Peak strength: Category 4, 115 kt (132 mph)
Lowest pressure: 946 mb (27.94 inHg)
Landfall: No; closest approach 663 km (412 mi)
Accumulated cyclone energy: 16.4
Fastest the center moved: 26 kt (30 mph)
Identifier: AL161981

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)	Position	Wind	Pressure	Status
Sep 11, 18:00	14.0N 49.0W	25 kt	1009 mb	Tropical depression
Sep 12, 00:00	15.4N 50.7W	25 kt	1006 mb	Tropical depression
Sep 12, 06:00	17.1N 52.7W	25 kt	1003 mb	Tropical depression
Sep 12, 12:00	18.4N 54.7W	30 kt	1001 mb	Tropical depression
Sep 12, 18:00	19.4N 56.3W	40 kt	995 mb	Tropical storm
Sep 13, 00:00	20.2N 57.8W	70 kt	990 mb	Hurricane
Sep 13, 06:00	21.2N 59.3W	70 kt	985 mb	Hurricane
Sep 13, 12:00	22.2N 60.6W	75 kt	983 mb	Hurricane
Sep 13, 18:00	23.1N 61.4W	80 kt	980 mb	Hurricane
Sep 14, 00:00	24.1N 62.0W	85 kt	978 mb	Hurricane
Sep 14, 06:00	25.2N 62.5W	90 kt	976 mb	Hurricane
Sep 14, 12:00	26.4N 62.7W	95 kt	960 mb	Hurricane
Sep 14, 18:00	27.6N 62.8W	110 kt	952 mb	Hurricane
Sep 15, 00:00	28.4N 62.6W	115 kt	946 mb	Hurricane
Sep 15, 06:00	29.5N 62.3W	110 kt	952 mb	Hurricane
Sep 15, 12:00	30.8N 61.2W	105 kt	958 mb	Hurricane
Sep 15, 18:00	32.1N 60.3W	100 kt	963 mb	Hurricane
Sep 16, 00:00	33.2N 59.2W	90 kt	970 mb	Hurricane
Sep 16, 06:00	34.2N 58.0W	85 kt	975 mb	Hurricane
Sep 16, 12:00	34.9N 56.8W	80 kt	980 mb	Hurricane
Sep 16, 18:00	35.3N 55.7W	65 kt	990 mb	Hurricane
Sep 17, 00:00	35.7N 54.8W	65 kt	991 mb	Hurricane
Sep 17, 06:00	35.9N 53.8W	65 kt	992 mb	Hurricane
Sep 17, 12:00	36.2N 52.7W	65 kt	993 mb	Hurricane
Sep 17, 18:00	36.5N 51.3W	65 kt	995 mb	Hurricane
Sep 18, 00:00	37.1N 49.9W	65 kt	996 mb	Hurricane
Sep 18, 06:00	37.5N 48.2W	65 kt	997 mb	Hurricane
Sep 18, 12:00	37.9N 46.8W	55 kt	998 mb	Tropical storm
Sep 18, 18:00	38.3N 45.2W	45 kt	1002 mb	Tropical storm
Sep 19, 00:00	38.5N 43.0W	35 kt	1005 mb	Tropical storm
Sep 19, 06:00	38.3N 40.6W	25 kt	1006 mb	Extratropical
Sep 19, 12:00	38.1N 38.0W	25 kt	1007 mb	Extratropical
Sep 19, 18:00	37.7N 35.3W	25 kt	1008 mb	Extratropical
Sep 20, 00:00	36.7N 32.8W	25 kt	1009 mb	Extratropical

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.