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NHC AL051960 · Atlantic basin

Hurricane Donna (1960)

August 29, 1960 – September 14, 1960

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

Hurricane Donna peaked at Category 4 with 144 mph sustained winds and passed within 75 miles of 1,911 US cities, 1,553 of them while still at hurricane strength.

Donna in the record

HURDAT2 tracks Donna for 16 days, from August 29, 1960 to September 14, 1960. Its first position, at 10.2°N 22.8°W, records it as a tropical depression; its last, at 61.0°N 50.0°W, as an extratropical cyclone. It reached tropical-storm strength on August 31, hurricane strength on September 1 and major-hurricane strength on September 3. Its peak was 144 mph (125 knots), Category 4, on September 7, and its lowest central pressure was 930 millibars on September 10. It spent about 11 days at hurricane strength. HURDAT2 marks 5 landfalls within 50 miles of a US city on this site; the first three were on September 10 at 144 mph (Category 4), 9 miles from Marathon, FL; on September 10 at 121 mph (Category 3), 8 miles from Marco Island, FL; on September 12 at 104 mph (Category 2), 3 miles from Camp Lejeune, NC. It has 4 more landfalls in the record farther from the cities here. Its centre passed within 75 miles of 1,911 US cities, in 15 states, most in Massachusetts (319) and New Jersey (314), between September 10 and September 13. The strongest pass was 144 mph (Category 4) 9 miles from Marathon, FL; the centre came closest to Turner, ME, less than a mile away. 1,553 of the cities had it at hurricane strength at the closest point, 38 at major-hurricane strength. It reached more US cities than 95% of the 737 storms on this site, and ranks 2nd of the 5 storms of 1960 here.

Peak strength
Category 4

144 mph

Cities within 75 mi
1,911
At hurricane strength
1,553

when closest

States
15

Cities Donna passed near, strongest first

Florida (258)

and 198 more

North Carolina (125)

and 65 more

South Carolina (21)

New Jersey (314)

and 254 more

New York (280)

and 220 more

Connecticut (186)

and 126 more

Virginia (27)

Delaware (16)

Maryland (14)

Rhode Island (49)

Georgia (1)

Massachusetts (319)

and 259 more

New Hampshire (142)

and 82 more

Vermont (5)

Maine (154)

and 94 more

Other storms of the 1960 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.