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Storms That Hit

NHC AL111989 · Atlantic basin

Hurricane Hugo (1989)

September 10, 1989 – September 25, 1989

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

Hurricane Hugo peaked at Category 5 with 161 mph sustained winds and passed within 75 miles of 1,379 US cities, 301 of them while still at hurricane strength.

Hugo in the record

HURDAT2 tracks Hugo for 15 days, from September 10, 1989 to September 25, 1989. Its first position, at 13.2°N 20.0°W, records it as a tropical depression; its last, at 58.0°N 46.0°W, as an extratropical cyclone. It reached tropical-storm strength on September 11, hurricane strength on September 13 and major-hurricane strength on September 15. Its peak was 161 mph (140 knots), Category 5, on September 15, and its lowest central pressure was 918 millibars on September 15. It spent about 9 days at hurricane strength. HURDAT2 marks 3 landfalls within 50 miles of a US city on this site; they were on September 18 at 127 mph (Category 3), 6 miles from Vieques, PR; on September 18 at 127 mph (Category 3), 4 miles from Fajardo, PR; on September 22 at 138 mph (Category 4), 2 miles from Isle Of Palms, SC. It has 2 more landfalls in the record farther from the cities here. Its centre passed within 75 miles of 1,379 US cities, in 10 states and territories, most in Ohio (310) and South Carolina (203), between September 18 and September 23. The strongest pass was 138 mph (Category 4) 2 miles from Isle Of Palms, SC; the centre came closest to Cross, SC, less than a mile away. 301 of the cities had it at hurricane strength at the closest point, 119 at major-hurricane strength. It reached more US cities than 93% of the 737 storms on this site, and more than any other storm of 1989 on this site.

Peak strength
Category 5

161 mph

Cities within 75 mi
1,379
At hurricane strength
301

when closest

States
10
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Cities Hugo passed near, strongest first

South Carolina (203)

and 143 more

Puerto Rico (77)

and 17 more

North Carolina (168)

and 108 more

Tennessee (28)

Virginia (57)

Kentucky (29)

West Virginia (120)

and 60 more

Ohio (310)

and 250 more

New York (195)

and 135 more

Pennsylvania (192)

and 132 more

Other storms of the 1989 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.