Hurricane Earl (1986)

Hurricane Earl reached Category 2 in the North Atlantic between September 10, 1986 and September 20, 1986, with a lowest pressure of 979 mb.

Track and intensity

The whole track of Hurricane Earl, colored by strength, with the other storms of the 1986 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 10, 1986 to September 20, 1986
Peak strength: Category 2, 90 kt (104 mph)
Lowest pressure: 979 mb (28.91 inHg)
Landfall: No; closest approach 605 km (376 mi)
Accumulated cyclone energy: 19.7
Fastest the center moved: 54 kt (62 mph)
Identifier: AL091986

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 10, 18:00	21.8N 50.8W	30 kt	1010 mb	Tropical depression
Sep 11, 00:00	22.4N 51.6W	35 kt	1009 mb	Tropical storm
Sep 11, 06:00	23.2N 52.3W	45 kt	1006 mb	Tropical storm
Sep 11, 12:00	24.1N 52.9W	55 kt	1002 mb	Tropical storm
Sep 11, 18:00	25.0N 53.4W	70 kt	999 mb	Hurricane
Sep 12, 00:00	25.6N 53.8W	75 kt	996 mb	Hurricane
Sep 12, 06:00	26.3N 54.3W	80 kt	993 mb	Hurricane
Sep 12, 12:00	26.8N 54.8W	85 kt	988 mb	Hurricane
Sep 12, 18:00	27.2N 55.4W	90 kt	985 mb	Hurricane
Sep 13, 00:00	28.1N 55.5W	90 kt	983 mb	Hurricane
Sep 13, 06:00	28.8N 55.3W	90 kt	983 mb	Hurricane
Sep 13, 12:00	29.5N 54.9W	90 kt	983 mb	Hurricane
Sep 13, 18:00	30.1N 54.7W	90 kt	983 mb	Hurricane
Sep 14, 00:00	30.4N 53.8W	90 kt	982 mb	Hurricane
Sep 14, 06:00	30.5N 53.1W	90 kt	980 mb	Hurricane
Sep 14, 12:00	30.6N 52.4W	90 kt	979 mb	Hurricane
Sep 14, 18:00	30.6N 51.7W	90 kt	979 mb	Hurricane
Sep 15, 00:00	30.4N 51.1W	90 kt	980 mb	Hurricane
Sep 15, 06:00	30.0N 50.6W	90 kt	980 mb	Hurricane
Sep 15, 12:00	29.6N 50.1W	90 kt	981 mb	Hurricane
Sep 15, 18:00	29.2N 49.6W	85 kt	982 mb	Hurricane
Sep 16, 00:00	29.0N 49.0W	80 kt	983 mb	Hurricane
Sep 16, 06:00	28.7N 48.5W	80 kt	983 mb	Hurricane
Sep 16, 12:00	29.1N 48.9W	75 kt	984 mb	Hurricane
Sep 16, 18:00	29.5N 49.3W	75 kt	984 mb	Hurricane
Sep 17, 00:00	29.9N 49.9W	75 kt	985 mb	Hurricane
Sep 17, 06:00	30.6N 50.3W	70 kt	985 mb	Hurricane
Sep 17, 12:00	31.4N 50.9W	70 kt	986 mb	Hurricane
Sep 17, 18:00	32.6N 50.7W	70 kt	986 mb	Hurricane
Sep 18, 00:00	34.0N 50.4W	70 kt	987 mb	Hurricane
Sep 18, 06:00	36.0N 49.6W	65 kt	988 mb	Hurricane
Sep 18, 12:00	38.3N 48.4W	65 kt	989 mb	Hurricane
Sep 18, 18:00	41.0N 47.5W	65 kt	990 mb	Hurricane
Sep 19, 00:00	43.5N 46.3W	60 kt	992 mb	Extratropical
Sep 19, 06:00	46.2N 44.8W	60 kt	993 mb	Extratropical
Sep 19, 12:00	49.0N 42.0W	55 kt	995 mb	Extratropical
Sep 19, 18:00	52.0N 39.5W	55 kt	996 mb	Extratropical
Sep 20, 00:00	56.0N 34.0W	55 kt	997 mb	Extratropical

Other North Atlantic storms of 1986

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.