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Storms That Hit

NHC AL041928 · Atlantic basin

Unnamed Hurricane of 1928 — the San Felipe-Okeechobee Hurricane

September 6, 1928 – September 21, 1928

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

Hurricane Unnamed 1928 storm peaked at Category 5 with 161 mph sustained winds and passed within 75 miles of 1,535 US cities, 630 of them while still at hurricane strength.

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The San Felipe-Okeechobee Hurricane in the record

HURDAT2 tracks the San Felipe-Okeechobee Hurricane of 1928 for 15 days, from September 6, 1928 to September 21, 1928. Its first position, at 14.2°N 17.0°W, records it as a tropical depression; its last, at 45.5°N 79.0°W, as an extratropical cyclone. It reached tropical-storm strength on September 6, hurricane strength on September 10 and major-hurricane strength on September 12. Its peak was 161 mph (140 knots), Category 5, on September 13, and its lowest central pressure was 929 millibars on September 17. It spent about 8 days at hurricane strength. HURDAT2 marks 2 landfalls within 50 miles of a US city on this site; they were on September 17 at 144 mph (Category 4), 3 miles from Palm Beach, FL; on September 18 at 86 mph (Category 1), 3 miles from Edisto Island, SC. Its centre passed within 75 miles of 1,535 US cities, in 11 states and territories, most in Florida (319) and Pennsylvania (305), between September 13 and September 20. The strongest pass was 161 mph (Category 5) 1 mile from Maunabo, PR; the centre came closest to The Plains, VA, less than a mile away. 630 of the cities had it at hurricane strength at the closest point, 176 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 1928 on this site.

HURDAT2 lists this storm as AL041928 without a name; "San Felipe-Okeechobee Hurricane of 1928" is the name the National Hurricane Center uses on its Hurricanes in History page.

Peak strength
Category 5

161 mph

Cities within 75 mi
1,535
At hurricane strength
630

when closest

States
11
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Cities Unnamed 1928 storm passed near, strongest first

Puerto Rico (86)

and 26 more

Florida (319)

and 259 more

South Carolina (113)

and 53 more

Georgia (43)

North Carolina (215)

and 155 more

Virginia (216)

and 156 more

Maryland (172)

and 112 more

District of Columbia (1)

West Virginia (25)

Pennsylvania (305)

and 245 more

New York (40)

Other storms of the 1928 season

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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.