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NHC AL061938 · Atlantic basin

Unnamed Hurricane of 1938 — the New England Hurricane

September 9, 1938 – September 23, 1938

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

Hurricane Unnamed 1938 storm peaked at Category 5 with 161 mph sustained winds and passed within 75 miles of 1,094 US cities, 967 of them while still at hurricane strength.

The New England Hurricane in the record

HURDAT2 tracks the New England Hurricane of 1938 for 14 days, from September 9, 1938 to September 23, 1938. Its first position, at 12.8°N 19.4°W, records it as a tropical depression; its last, at 45.0°N 77.0°W, as an extratropical cyclone. It reached tropical-storm strength on September 10, hurricane strength on September 15 and major-hurricane strength on September 16. Its peak was 161 mph (140 knots), Category 5, on September 19, and its lowest central pressure was 940 millibars on September 21. It spent about 7 days at hurricane strength. HURDAT2 marks 2 landfalls within 50 miles of a US city on this site; they were on September 21 at 121 mph (Category 3), 5 miles from Mastic Beach, NY; on September 21 at 115 mph (Category 3), 2 miles from New Haven, CT. Its centre passed within 75 miles of 1,094 US cities, in 7 states, most in New York (440) and New Jersey (194). The strongest pass was 121 mph (Category 3) 7 miles from Blue Point, NY; the centre came closest to Bristol, CT, less than a mile away. 967 of the cities had it at hurricane strength at the closest point, 572 at major-hurricane strength. It reached more US cities than 89% of the 737 storms on this site, and more than any other storm of 1938 on this site.

HURDAT2 lists this storm as AL061938 without a name; "New England Hurricane of 1938" is the name the National Hurricane Center uses on its Hurricanes in History page.

Peak strength
Category 5

161 mph

Cities within 75 mi
1,094
At hurricane strength
967

when closest

States
7

Cities Unnamed 1938 storm passed near, strongest first

New York (440)

and 380 more

New Jersey (194)

and 134 more

Connecticut (186)

and 126 more

Rhode Island (25)

Massachusetts (126)

and 66 more

New Hampshire (48)

Vermont (75)

and 15 more

Other storms of the 1938 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.