The 1989 season

Hurricane Chantal (1989)

Hurricane Chantal reached Category 1 in the North Atlantic between July 30, 1989 and August 3, 1989, with a lowest pressure of 984 mb, and made landfall.

Track and intensity

The whole track of Hurricane Chantal, colored by strength, with the other storms of the 1989 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
July 30, 1989 to August 3, 1989
Peak strength
Category 1, 70 kt (81 mph)
Lowest pressure
984 mb (29.06 inHg)
Landfall
Yes
Accumulated cyclone energy
2.5
Fastest the center moved
13 kt (15 mph)
Identifier
AL041989

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
Aug 1, 13:00Stowell, TX, 21 km away29.6N 94.4W70 kt (81 mph)986 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 1,810 rain gauge totals over the contiguous United States to this storm. The wettest reached 20.00 inches (508 mm).

StationTotalPosition
Friendswood20.00 in (508 mm)29.51N 95.19W
Clear Lake16.00 in (406 mm)29.55N 95.02W
THOMPSONS 3 WSW9.56 in (243 mm)29.48N 95.63W
HOUSTON WILLIAM P HOBBY AP8.66 in (220 mm)29.63N 95.28W
SUGAR LAND8.60 in (218 mm)29.62N 95.63W
HOUSTON MISSOURI CITY8.30 in (211 mm)29.67N 95.47W
ALVIN8.29 in (211 mm)29.37N 95.23W
Richmond7.03 in (179 mm)29.58N 95.75W
GALVESTON6.56 in (167 mm)29.30N 94.80W
FULTON DAM 135.75 in (146 mm)41.90N 90.15W
KENT CITY 2 SW5.37 in (136 mm)43.20N 85.77W
BELLVILLE5.28 in (134 mm)30.03N 96.22W

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

Track

Time (UTC)PositionWindPressureStatus
Jul 30, 12:0022.5N 90.0W20 kt1011 mbTropical depression
Jul 30, 18:0023.5N 90.2W25 kt1010 mbTropical depression
Jul 31, 00:0024.4N 90.5W30 kt1009 mbTropical depression
Jul 31, 06:0025.4N 91.0W35 kt1004 mbTropical storm
Jul 31, 12:0026.2N 91.7W50 kt995 mbTropical storm
Jul 31, 18:0027.1N 92.2W55 kt993 mbTropical storm
Aug 1, 00:0027.9N 92.8W65 kt991 mbHurricane
Aug 1, 06:0028.7N 93.5W70 kt987 mbHurricane
Aug 1, 12:0029.5N 94.3W70 kt984 mbHurricane
Aug 1, 13:00 landfall29.6N 94.4W70 kt986 mbHurricane
Aug 1, 18:0030.2N 95.2W50 kt993 mbTropical storm
Aug 2, 00:0030.8N 96.1W35 kt1000 mbTropical storm
Aug 2, 06:0031.5N 96.9W25 kt1004 mbTropical depression
Aug 2, 12:0032.3N 97.5W20 kt1007 mbTropical depression
Aug 2, 18:0033.3N 98.0W20 kt1008 mbTropical depression
Aug 3, 00:0034.5N 98.5W20 kt1009 mbTropical depression

Other North Atlantic storms of 1989

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.