Skip to content
Storms That Hit

NHC AL171995 · Atlantic basin

Hurricane Opal (1995)

September 27, 1995 – October 6, 1995

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

Hurricane Opal peaked at Category 4 with 150 mph sustained winds and passed within 75 miles of 1,286 US cities, 99 of them while still at hurricane strength.

Opal in the record

HURDAT2 tracks Opal for 9 days, from September 27, 1995 to October 6, 1995. Its first position, at 19.1°N 87.3°W, records it as a tropical depression; its last, at 44.5°N 76.5°W, as an extratropical cyclone. It reached tropical-storm strength on September 30, hurricane strength on October 2 and major-hurricane strength on October 4. Its peak was 150 mph (130 knots), Category 4, on October 4, and its lowest central pressure was 916 millibars on October 4. It spent about 3 days at hurricane strength. HURDAT2 marks a landfall within 50 miles of a US city on this site: on October 4 at 115 mph (Category 3), 15 miles from Pensacola, FL. Its centre passed within 75 miles of 1,286 US cities, in 10 states, most in Ohio (483) and Alabama (263), between October 4 and October 6. The strongest pass was 117 mph (Category 3) 34 miles from Gulf Shores, AL; the centre came closest to Conneaut, OH, less than a mile away. 99 of the cities had it at hurricane strength at the closest point, 22 at major-hurricane strength. It reached more US cities than 91% of the 737 storms on this site, and more than any other storm of 1995 on this site.

Peak strength
Category 4

150 mph

Cities within 75 mi
1,286
At hurricane strength
99

when closest

States
10
ShareXFacebookWhatsAppEmail

Cities Opal passed near, strongest first

Alabama (263)

and 203 more

Florida (32)

Georgia (51)

Ohio (483)

and 423 more

Kentucky (167)

and 107 more

Pennsylvania (84)

and 24 more

West Virginia (26)

New York (151)

and 91 more

Virginia (2)

Tennessee (27)

Other storms of the 1995 season

  • AllisonCategory 1 · 455 cities
  • DeanTropical storm · 78 cities
  • ErinCategory 2 · 381 cities
  • JerryTropical storm · 245 cities
  • MarilynCategory 3 · 52 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.