Skip to content
Storms That Hit

NHC AL111950 · Atlantic basin

Hurricane King (1950)

October 13, 1950 – October 20, 1950

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

Hurricane King peaked at Category 4 with 132 mph sustained winds and passed within 75 miles of 435 US cities, 292 of them while still at hurricane strength.

King in the record

HURDAT2 tracks King for 7 days, from October 13, 1950 to October 20, 1950. Its first position, at 16.0°N 84.2°W, records it as a tropical depression; its last, at 32.9°N 86.5°W, as a tropical depression. It reached tropical-storm strength on October 14, hurricane strength on October 16 and major-hurricane strength on October 18. Its peak was 132 mph (115 knots), Category 4, on October 18, and its lowest central pressure was 955 millibars on October 18. It spent about 3 days at hurricane strength. HURDAT2 marks a landfall within 50 miles of a US city on this site: on October 18 at 132 mph (Category 4), 2 miles from Key Biscayne, FL. It has one more landfall in the record farther from the cities here. Its centre passed within 75 miles of 435 US cities, in 3 states, most in Florida (321) and Georgia (92), between October 18 and October 19. The strongest pass was 132 mph (Category 4) less than a mile from Miami Lakes, FL; the centre came closest to Zellwood, FL, less than a mile away. 292 of the cities had it at hurricane strength at the closest point, 58 at major-hurricane strength. It reached more US cities than 78% of the 737 storms on this site, and more than any other storm of 1950 on this site.

Peak strength
Category 4

132 mph

Cities within 75 mi
435
At hurricane strength
292

when closest

States
3
ShareXFacebookWhatsAppEmail

Cities King passed near, strongest first

Florida (321)

and 261 more

Georgia (92)

and 32 more

Alabama (22)

Other storms of the 1950 season

  • BakerCategory 2 · 375 cities
  • EasyCategory 3 · 265 cities
  • LoveCategory 1 · 60 cities

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.