The 1987 season

Hurricane Floyd (1987)

Hurricane Floyd reached Category 1 in the North Atlantic between October 9, 1987 and October 14, 1987, with a lowest pressure of 993 mb, and made landfall.

Radar

Reflectivity now over Hurricane Floyd. 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
October 9, 1987 to October 14, 1987
Peak strength
Category 1, 65 kt (75 mph)
Lowest pressure
993 mb (29.32 inHg)
Landfall
Yes
Accumulated cyclone energy
3.3
Fastest the center moved
19 kt (22 mph)
Identifier
AL131987

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.

Landfall

Time (UTC)WherePositionWindPressure
Oct 12, 21:00Key Largo, FL, 6 km away25.1N 80.5W65 kt (75 mph)993 mb

Landfall points the US agencies flagged in the best track. The nearest town is named from the site’s gazetteer, not from the report.

Rainfall

The Weather Prediction Center attributes 75 rain gauge totals over the contiguous United States to this storm. The wettest reached 10.07 inches (256 mm).

StationTotalPosition
Fort Pierce10.07 in (256 mm)27.47N 80.35W
La Belle7.33 in (186 mm)26.75N 81.43W
Stuart 1 N7.29 in (185 mm)27.22N 80.25W
Homestead Exp Stn7.16 in (182 mm)25.50N 80.50W
Vero Beach 4 W6.87 in (174 mm)27.63N 80.45W
Archibold Biologic Stn5.88 in (149 mm)27.18N 81.35W
Canal Point USDA5.54 in (141 mm)26.87N 80.62W
Moore Haven Lock 15.54 in (141 mm)26.83N 81.08W
Tavernier5.31 in (135 mm)25.00N 80.52W
Naples5.30 in (135 mm)26.17N 81.78W
Loxahatchee5.25 in (133 mm)26.68N 80.27W
Vero Beach Muni AP5.23 in (133 mm)27.65N 80.42W

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

Track

Time (UTC)PositionWindPressureStatus
Oct 9, 06:0015.0N 82.6W25 kt1004 mbTropical depression
Oct 9, 12:0014.5N 82.5W25 kt1003 mbTropical depression
Oct 9, 18:0014.1N 82.1W25 kt1001 mbTropical depression
Oct 10, 00:0014.4N 81.8W25 kt999 mbTropical depression
Oct 10, 06:0015.3N 82.2W30 kt999 mbTropical depression
Oct 10, 12:0016.0N 82.2W35 kt999 mbTropical storm
Oct 10, 18:0016.8N 83.5W35 kt999 mbTropical storm
Oct 11, 00:0017.6N 83.9W40 kt999 mbTropical storm
Oct 11, 06:0018.4N 84.2W40 kt998 mbTropical storm
Oct 11, 12:0019.4N 84.5W45 kt997 mbTropical storm
Oct 11, 18:0020.5N 84.5W50 kt996 mbTropical storm
Oct 12, 00:0021.7N 84.3W55 kt995 mbTropical storm
Oct 12, 06:0023.0N 84.0W60 kt994 mbTropical storm
Oct 12, 12:0024.0N 82.9W65 kt993 mbHurricane
Oct 12, 18:0024.7N 81.5W65 kt993 mbHurricane
Oct 12, 21:00 landfall25.1N 80.5W65 kt993 mbHurricane
Oct 13, 00:0025.3N 79.9W60 kt993 mbTropical storm
Oct 13, 06:0026.0N 78.3W50 kt994 mbTropical storm
Oct 13, 12:0027.0N 76.9W45 kt996 mbTropical storm
Oct 13, 18:0028.1N 75.4W40 kt997 mbExtratropical
Oct 14, 00:0029.5N 74.0W40 kt998 mbExtratropical

Other North Atlantic storms of 1987

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.