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Storms That Hit

NHC AL061960 · Atlantic basin

Hurricane Ethel (1960)

September 12, 1960 – September 17, 1960

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

Hurricane Ethel peaked at Category 3 with 115 mph sustained winds and passed within 75 miles of 117 US cities, 37 of them while still at hurricane strength.

Ethel in the record

HURDAT2 tracks Ethel from September 12, 1960 to September 17, 1960; its peak was 115 mph (Category 3). HURDAT2 marks a landfall within 50 miles of a US city on this site: on September 15 at 81 mph (Category 1), 5 miles from Biloxi, MS. Its centre passed within 75 miles of 117 US cities, in 3 states, most in Mississippi (62) and Alabama (29). The strongest pass was 87 mph (Category 1) 49 miles from Buras, LA; the centre came closest to Perkinston, MS, 1 mile away.

Peak strength
Category 3

115 mph

Cities within 75 mi
117
At hurricane strength
37

when closest

States
3
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Cities Ethel passed near, strongest first

Louisiana (26)

Mississippi (62)

and 2 more

Alabama (29)

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.