Skip to content
Storms That Hit

NHC AL021952 · Atlantic basin

Hurricane Able (1952)

August 18, 1952 – September 3, 1952

Data: NOAA NHC HURDAT2 and NOAA SPC tornado and hail reports, through 2025 · Updated

Hurricane Able peaked at Category 2 with 98 mph sustained winds and passed within 75 miles of 2,595 US cities, 60 of them while still at hurricane strength.

Able in the record

HURDAT2 tracks Able from August 18, 1952 to September 3, 1952; its peak was 98 mph (Category 2). HURDAT2 marks a landfall within 50 miles of a US city on this site: on August 31 at 98 mph (Category 2), 6 miles from Saint Helena Island, SC. Its centre passed within 75 miles of 2,595 US cities, in 16 states and territories, most in Pennsylvania (457) and New Jersey (417). The strongest pass was 98 mph (Category 2) 10 miles from Hilton Head Island, SC; the centre came closest to Center Valley, PA, less than a mile away.

Peak strength
Category 2

98 mph

Cities within 75 mi
2,595
At hurricane strength
60

when closest

States
16
ShareXFacebookWhatsAppEmail

Cities Able passed near, strongest first

South Carolina (179)

and 119 more

Georgia (32)

Pennsylvania (457)

and 397 more

New Jersey (417)

and 357 more

Maryland (204)

and 144 more

Delaware (14)

New York (390)

and 330 more

Virginia (254)

and 194 more

West Virginia (31)

District of Columbia (1)

Connecticut (183)

and 123 more

Massachusetts (164)

and 104 more

New Hampshire (18)

Vermont (14)

North Carolina (208)

and 148 more

Rhode Island (29)

Other storms of the 1952 season

All hurricanes and tropical storms →

About this record

The track is the National Hurricane Center's best-track record, revised after the season with every observation available. Strength at a city is the sustained wind on the track at the closest point, not the wind that city measured.