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Storms That Hit

NHC AL081959 · Atlantic basin

Hurricane Gracie (1959)

September 20, 1959 – October 2, 1959

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

Hurricane Gracie peaked at Category 4 with 132 mph sustained winds and passed within 75 miles of 441 US cities, 112 of them while still at hurricane strength.

Gracie in the record

HURDAT2 tracks Gracie for 12 days, from September 20, 1959 to October 2, 1959. Its first position, at 19.8°N 68.3°W, records it as a tropical depression; its last, at 43.0°N 63.4°W, as an extratropical cyclone. It reached tropical-storm strength on September 22, hurricane strength on September 22 and major-hurricane strength on September 28. Its peak was 132 mph (115 knots), Category 4, on September 29, and its lowest central pressure was 951 millibars on September 29. It spent about 4 days at hurricane strength. HURDAT2 marks a landfall within 50 miles of a US city on this site: on September 29 at 132 mph (Category 4), 6 miles from Edisto Island, SC. Its centre passed within 75 miles of 441 US cities, in 5 states, most in South Carolina (202) and North Carolina (164), between September 29 and September 30. The strongest pass was 132 mph (Category 4) 6 miles from Edisto Island, SC; the centre came closest to Connelly Springs, NC, less than a mile away. 112 of the cities had it at hurricane strength at the closest point, 53 at major-hurricane strength. It reached more US cities than 78% of the 737 storms on this site, and ranks 2nd of the 9 storms of 1959 here.

Peak strength
Category 4

132 mph

Cities within 75 mi
441
At hurricane strength
112

when closest

States
5
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Cities Gracie passed near, strongest first

South Carolina (202)

and 142 more

Georgia (26)

North Carolina (164)

and 104 more

Virginia (26)

Tennessee (23)

Other storms of the 1959 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.