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Storms That Hit

NHC AL051859 · Atlantic basin

Unnamed Hurricane of 1859

September 15, 1859 – September 18, 1859

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

Hurricane Unnamed 1859 storm peaked at Category 1 with 81 mph sustained winds and passed within 75 miles of 1,145 US cities, 31 of them while still at hurricane strength.

The 1859 storm in the record

HURDAT2 tracks the unnamed storm of 1859 (AL051859) from September 15, 1859 to September 18, 1859; its peak was 81 mph (Category 1). HURDAT2 marks a landfall within 50 miles of a US city on this site: on September 16 at 81 mph (Category 1), 8 miles from Coden, AL. Its centre passed within 75 miles of 1,145 US cities, in 12 states, most in North Carolina (317) and Georgia (236). The strongest pass was 81 mph (Category 1) 24 miles from Pascagoula, MS; the centre came closest to Brooks, GA, less than a mile away.

Peak strength
Category 1

81 mph

Cities within 75 mi
1,145
At hurricane strength
31

when closest

States
12
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Cities Unnamed 1859 storm passed near, strongest first

Mississippi (22)

Louisiana (3)

Massachusetts (1)

Alabama (149)

and 89 more

New Jersey (38)

Delaware (26)

Florida (20)

Maryland (49)

Virginia (155)

and 95 more

North Carolina (317)

and 257 more

Georgia (236)

and 176 more

South Carolina (129)

and 69 more

Other storms of the 1859 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.