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Storms That Hit

NHC AL032004 · Atlantic basin

Hurricane Charley (2004)

August 9, 2004 – August 15, 2004

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

Hurricane Charley peaked at Category 4 with 150 mph sustained winds and passed within 75 miles of 750 US cities, 333 of them while still at hurricane strength.

Charley in the record

HURDAT2 tracks Charley for 6 days, from August 9, 2004 to August 15, 2004. Its first position, at 11.4°N 59.2°W, records it as a tropical depression; its last, at 41.2°N 71.1°W, as an extratropical cyclone. It reached tropical-storm strength on August 10, hurricane strength on August 11 and major-hurricane strength on August 13. Its peak was 150 mph (130 knots), Category 4, on August 13, and its lowest central pressure was 941 millibars on August 13. It spent about 3 days at hurricane strength. HURDAT2 marks 4 landfalls within 50 miles of a US city on this site; the first three were on August 13 at 150 mph (Category 4), 6 miles from Bokeelia, FL; on August 13 at 144 mph (Category 4), 6 miles from Punta Gorda, FL; on August 14 at 81 mph (Category 1), 8 miles from Mc Clellanville, SC. It has one more landfall in the record farther from the cities here. Its centre passed within 75 miles of 750 US cities, in 9 states, most in Florida (236) and North Carolina (189), between August 13 and August 15. The strongest pass was 150 mph (Category 4) 8 miles from St James City, FL; the centre came closest to South Mills, NC, less than a mile away. 333 of the cities had it at hurricane strength at the closest point, 55 at major-hurricane strength. It reached more US cities than 86% of the 737 storms on this site, and more than any other storm of 2004 on this site.

Peak strength
Category 4

150 mph

Cities within 75 mi
750
At hurricane strength
333

when closest

States
9
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Cities Charley passed near, strongest first

Florida (236)

and 176 more

Georgia (11)

South Carolina (84)

and 24 more

North Carolina (189)

and 129 more

Virginia (49)

Delaware (25)

Maryland (22)

New Jersey (132)

and 72 more

New York (2)

Other storms of the 2004 season

  • AlexCategory 3 · 36 cities
  • BonnieTropical storm · 23 cities
  • FrancesCategory 4 · 523 cities
  • GastonCategory 1 · 284 cities
  • HermineTropical storm · 329 cities
  • IvanCategory 5 · 191 cities
  • JeanneCategory 3 · 558 cities
  • MatthewTropical storm · 49 cities

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.