The 1996 season

Hurricane Cesar (1996)

Hurricane Cesar reached Category 1 in the North Atlantic between July 24, 1996 and July 28, 1996, with a lowest pressure of 985 mb, and made landfall.

Track and intensity

The whole track of Hurricane Cesar, colored by strength, with the other storms of the 1996 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
July 24, 1996 to July 28, 1996
Peak strength
Category 1, 75 kt (86 mph)
Lowest pressure
985 mb (29.09 inHg)
Landfall
Yes
Accumulated cyclone energy
4.0
Fastest the center moved
21 kt (24 mph)
Identifier
AL031996

Deaths and damage

No source this site reads carries a casualty or damage figure for this storm.

Landfall

Time (UTC)WherePositionWindPressure
Jul 28, 04:00Bluefields, South Caribbean Coast, Nicaragua, 25 km away12.2N 83.9W75 kt (86 mph)985 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 24, 18:0011.8N 62.6W25 kt1009 mbTropical depression
Jul 25, 00:0011.9N 64.7W25 kt1009 mbTropical depression
Jul 25, 06:0011.9N 66.5W30 kt1007 mbTropical depression
Jul 25, 12:0012.1N 68.1W40 kt1004 mbTropical storm
Jul 25, 18:0012.3N 69.6W40 kt1002 mbTropical storm
Jul 26, 00:0012.4N 71.0W40 kt1002 mbTropical storm
Jul 26, 06:0012.4N 72.7W40 kt1002 mbTropical storm
Jul 26, 12:0012.3N 74.5W45 kt1002 mbTropical storm
Jul 26, 18:0011.9N 76.1W50 kt1002 mbTropical storm
Jul 27, 00:0011.7N 77.2W50 kt1000 mbTropical storm
Jul 27, 06:0011.6N 78.1W60 kt992 mbTropical storm
Jul 27, 12:0011.6N 79.5W70 kt992 mbHurricane
Jul 27, 18:0011.8N 81.0W65 kt994 mbHurricane
Jul 28, 00:0012.0N 82.6W70 kt992 mbHurricane
Jul 28, 04:00 landfall12.2N 83.9W75 kt985 mbHurricane
Jul 28, 06:0012.3N 84.2W70 kt990 mbHurricane
Jul 28, 12:0012.7N 86.2W50 kt995 mbTropical storm
Jul 28, 18:0013.1N 87.9W35 kt1004 mbTropical storm

Other North Atlantic storms of 1996

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.