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Storms That Hit

NHC AL091953 · Atlantic basin

Hurricane Florence (1953)

September 23, 1953 – September 27, 1953

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

Hurricane Florence peaked at Category 3 with 115 mph sustained winds and passed within 75 miles of 253 US cities, 40 of them while still at hurricane strength.

Florence in the record

HURDAT2 tracks Florence from September 23, 1953 to September 27, 1953; its peak was 115 mph (Category 3). HURDAT2 marks a landfall within 50 miles of a US city on this site: on September 26 at 92 mph (Category 1), 4 miles from Santa Rosa Beach, FL. Its centre passed within 75 miles of 253 US cities, in 4 states, most in Georgia (137) and Florida (58). The strongest pass was 92 mph (Category 1) 16 miles from Inlet Beach, FL; the centre came closest to Santa Rosa Beach, FL, less than a mile away.

Peak strength
Category 3

115 mph

Cities within 75 mi
253
At hurricane strength
40

when closest

States
4
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Cities Florence passed near, strongest first

Florida (58)

Alabama (39)

Georgia (137)

and 77 more

South Carolina (19)

Other storms of the 1953 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.