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Storms That Hit

NHC AL011900 · Atlantic basin

Unnamed Hurricane of 1900 — the Galveston Hurricane

August 27, 1900 – September 15, 1900

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

Hurricane Unnamed 1900 storm peaked at Category 4 with 144 mph sustained winds and passed within 75 miles of 1,534 US cities, 226 of them while still at hurricane strength.

The Galveston Hurricane in the record

HURDAT2 tracks the Galveston Hurricane of 1900 for 20 days, from August 27, 1900 to September 15, 1900. Its first position, at 15.0°N 42.1°W, records it as a tropical storm; its last, at 60.0°N 28.0°W, as an extratropical cyclone. Its peak was 144 mph (125 knots), Category 4, on September 7, and its lowest central pressure was 936 millibars on September 9. It spent about 4 days at hurricane strength. HURDAT2 marks a landfall within 50 miles of a US city on this site: on September 9 at 138 mph (Category 4), 17 miles from Danbury, TX. Its centre passed within 75 miles of 1,534 US cities, in 13 states and territories, most in Michigan (348) and Texas (341), between August 31 and September 12. The strongest pass was 138 mph (Category 4) 19 miles from Galveston, TX; the centre came closest to Freeport, IL, less than a mile away. 226 of the cities had it at hurricane strength at the closest point, 58 at major-hurricane strength. It reached more US cities than 94% of the 737 storms on this site, and more than any other storm of 1900 on this site.

HURDAT2 lists this storm as AL011900 without a name; "Galveston Hurricane of 1900" is the name the National Hurricane Center uses on its Hurricanes in History page.

Peak strength
Category 4

144 mph

Cities within 75 mi
1,534
At hurricane strength
226

when closest

States
13
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Cities Unnamed 1900 storm passed near, strongest first

Texas (341)

and 281 more

New York (49)

Vermont (27)

Maine (13)

New Hampshire (1)

Florida (3)

Michigan (348)

and 288 more

Illinois (241)

and 181 more

Wisconsin (163)

and 103 more

Iowa (148)

and 88 more

Puerto Rico (86)

and 26 more

Oklahoma (108)

and 48 more

Missouri (6)

Other storms of the 1900 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.