The 1989 season

Hurricane Dean (1989)

Hurricane Dean reached Category 2 in the North Atlantic between July 31, 1989 and August 9, 1989, with a lowest pressure of 968 mb, and made landfall.

Track and intensity

The whole track of Hurricane Dean, 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 31, 1989 to August 9, 1989
Peak strength
Category 2, 90 kt (104 mph)
Lowest pressure
968 mb (28.59 inHg)
Landfall
Yes
Accumulated cyclone energy
15.7
Fastest the center moved
40 kt (46 mph)
Identifier
AL051989

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 8, 13:00Coast unnamed here46.9N 55.9W55 kt (63 mph)991 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.

Track

Time (UTC)PositionWindPressureStatus
Jul 31, 06:0014.8N 41.8W25 kt1010 mbTropical depression
Jul 31, 12:0015.0N 44.1W25 kt1009 mbTropical depression
Jul 31, 18:0015.1N 46.0W30 kt1008 mbTropical depression
Aug 1, 00:0015.4N 47.6W30 kt1006 mbTropical depression
Aug 1, 06:0015.8N 49.3W35 kt1004 mbTropical storm
Aug 1, 12:0016.1N 51.1W40 kt1002 mbTropical storm
Aug 1, 18:0016.4N 52.9W45 kt1000 mbTropical storm
Aug 2, 00:0016.6N 54.6W50 kt998 mbTropical storm
Aug 2, 06:0016.9N 56.4W60 kt996 mbTropical storm
Aug 2, 12:0017.3N 58.1W65 kt994 mbHurricane
Aug 2, 18:0017.9N 59.5W70 kt992 mbHurricane
Aug 3, 00:0018.5N 60.7W70 kt990 mbHurricane
Aug 3, 06:0018.9N 61.7W70 kt987 mbHurricane
Aug 3, 12:0019.3N 62.7W75 kt985 mbHurricane
Aug 3, 18:0019.7N 63.4W75 kt985 mbHurricane
Aug 4, 00:0020.1N 63.8W75 kt986 mbHurricane
Aug 4, 06:0020.4N 63.9W75 kt986 mbHurricane
Aug 4, 12:0020.9N 63.9W75 kt985 mbHurricane
Aug 4, 18:0021.6N 63.8W75 kt984 mbHurricane
Aug 5, 00:0022.5N 63.8W75 kt983 mbHurricane
Aug 5, 06:0023.5N 63.8W75 kt983 mbHurricane
Aug 5, 12:0024.7N 63.9W75 kt980 mbHurricane
Aug 5, 18:0026.0N 64.0W75 kt980 mbHurricane
Aug 6, 00:0027.6N 64.3W75 kt979 mbHurricane
Aug 6, 06:0029.2N 64.6W80 kt978 mbHurricane
Aug 6, 12:0030.8N 65.0W80 kt975 mbHurricane
Aug 6, 18:0032.4N 65.1W85 kt971 mbHurricane
Aug 7, 00:0034.0N 64.9W90 kt968 mbHurricane
Aug 7, 06:0035.6N 64.5W90 kt969 mbHurricane
Aug 7, 12:0037.5N 64.0W85 kt979 mbHurricane
Aug 7, 18:0039.4N 63.4W80 kt972 mbHurricane
Aug 8, 00:0041.7N 62.1W75 kt975 mbHurricane
Aug 8, 06:0044.1N 59.7W65 kt978 mbHurricane
Aug 8, 12:0046.5N 56.5W55 kt991 mbTropical storm
Aug 8, 13:00 landfall46.9N 55.9W55 kt991 mbTropical storm
Aug 8, 18:0048.8N 53.2W45 kt995 mbTropical storm
Aug 9, 00:0050.8N 48.1W40 kt1000 mbExtratropical
Aug 9, 06:0051.8N 41.9W35 kt1003 mbExtratropical

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.