The 2010 season

Hurricane Paula (2010)

Hurricane Paula reached Category 2 in the North Atlantic between October 11, 2010 and October 15, 2010, with a lowest pressure of 981 mb, and made landfall.

Track and intensity

The whole track of Hurricane Paula, colored by strength, with the other storms of the 2010 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
October 11, 2010 to October 15, 2010
Peak strength
Category 2, 90 kt (104 mph)
Lowest pressure
981 mb (28.97 inHg)
Landfall
Yes
Accumulated cyclone energy
7.5
Tropical-storm-force wind reached
60 nmi (111 km, 69 mi) from the center at its widest
Hurricane-force wind reached
20 nmi (37 km, 23 mi) from the center at its widest
Eyewall radius at its peak
10 nmi (19 km, 12 mi)
Overall size
250 nmi (463 km, 288 mi) to the outermost closed isobar
Peak gust in the best track
105 kt (121 mph)
Fastest the center moved
14 kt (16 mph)
Identifier
AL182010

Deaths and damage

The sources count different things and are not added together.

NOAA Storm Events

0 deaths (0 direct, 0 indirect)none recorded

What National Weather Service offices recorded county by county in 1 states and marine areas, in the United States only. Property and crop damage as each office estimated it, which is not a national loss total.

Landfalls

Time (UTC)WherePositionWindPressure
Oct 11, 12:00Puerto Cabezas, North Caribbean Coast, Nicaragua, 109 km away15.0N 83.2W45 kt (52 mph)1004 mb
Oct 14, 15:00Minas de Matahambre, Pinar del Rio, Cuba, 13 km away22.7N 83.9W55 kt (63 mph)1000 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.

In the United States

NOAA’s Storm Events database, the record National Weather Service offices compile months after a storm, as compiled March 2026.

Deaths
0 (0 direct, 0 indirect)
Injuries
0
Property damage
none recorded
Crop damage
none recorded
Events recorded
1 in 1 reports from 1 states and marine areas

State by state

State or marine areaDeathsInjuriesDamageEvents
Gulf of Mexico001

What was recorded

1 waterspout.

Tornadoes and waterspouts

1 waterspout recorded in the United States.

Track

Time (UTC)PositionWindPressureStatus
Oct 11, 00:0013.9N 81.8W30 kt1006 mbTropical depression
Oct 11, 06:0014.4N 82.5W35 kt1005 mbTropical storm
Oct 11, 12:00 landfall15.0N 83.2W45 kt1004 mbTropical storm
Oct 11, 18:0015.7N 83.8W60 kt1001 mbTropical storm
Oct 12, 00:0016.5N 84.4W65 kt996 mbHurricane
Oct 12, 06:0017.3N 85.0W65 kt991 mbHurricane
Oct 12, 12:0018.1N 85.6W75 kt986 mbHurricane
Oct 12, 18:0018.8N 85.9W90 kt981 mbHurricane
Oct 13, 00:0019.6N 86.0W90 kt981 mbHurricane
Oct 13, 06:0020.3N 86.0W85 kt984 mbHurricane
Oct 13, 12:0020.9N 85.9W85 kt987 mbHurricane
Oct 13, 18:0021.4N 85.8W75 kt990 mbHurricane
Oct 14, 00:0021.8N 85.6W75 kt993 mbHurricane
Oct 14, 06:0022.2N 85.2W70 kt995 mbHurricane
Oct 14, 12:0022.6N 84.5W60 kt999 mbTropical storm
Oct 14, 15:00 landfall22.7N 83.9W55 kt1000 mbTropical storm
Oct 14, 18:0022.8N 83.5W50 kt1001 mbTropical storm
Oct 15, 00:0022.9N 82.0W40 kt1004 mbTropical storm
Oct 15, 06:0022.9N 80.9W30 kt1008 mbTropical depression
Oct 15, 12:0022.9N 79.9W25 kt1009 mbLow
Oct 15, 18:0023.0N 79.1W20 kt1009 mbLow

Other North Atlantic storms of 2010

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.