Chronological List of All Hurricanes which Affected the Continental United States: 1851-2005.(Updated from Jarrell et al. 1992 and reflecting official HURDAT reanalysis changes through 1914. Note that from 1915 through 1979, no official wind speed estimates are currently available. Document revised in May 2006)
Year Month States Affected Highest Saffir- Central Max. Name and Category by Simpson U.S. Pressure Winds States Category
States Affected and Category by States Affected: The impact of the hurricane on individual U.S. states based upon the Saffir-Simpson Scale (through the estimate of the maximum sustained surface winds at each state). (TX S-South Texas, TX C-Central Texas, TX N-North Texas, LA-Louisiana, MS-Mississippi, AL-Alabama, FL NW-Northwest Florida, FL SW-Southwest Florida, FL SE-Southeast Florida, FL NE-Northeast Florida, GA-Georgia, SC-South Carolina, NC-North Carolina, VA-Virginia, MD-Maryland, DE-Delaware, NJ-New Jersey, NY-New York, PA-Pennsylvania, CT-Connecticut, RI-Rhode Island, MA-Massachusetts, NH-New Hampshire, ME-Maine. In Texas, south refers to the area from the Mexican border to Corpus Christi; central spans from north of Corpus Christi to Matagorda Bay and north refers to the region from north of Matagorda Bay to the Louisiana border. In Florida, the north-south dividing line is from Cape Canaveral [28.45N] to Tarpon Springs [28.17N]. The dividing line between west-east Florida goes from 82.69W at the north Florida border with Georgia, to Lake Okeechobee and due south along longitude 80.85W.)
Highest U.S. Saffir-Simpson Category: The highest Saffir-Simpson Hurricane Scale impact in the United States based upon estimated maximum sustained surface winds produced at the coast.
Central Pressure: The observed (or analyzed from peripheral pressure measurements) central pressure of the hurricane at landfall.
Maximum Winds: Estimated maximum sustained (1-min) surface (10 m) winds to occur along the U. S. coast. Winds are estimated to the nearest 10 kt for the period of 1851 to 1885 and to the nearest 5 kt for the period of 1886 to date. (1 kt = 1.15 mph.)
* - Indicates that the hurricane center did not make a U.S. landfall (or substantially weakened before making landfall), but did produce the indicated hurricane force winds over land. In this case, central pressure is given for the hurricane's point of closest approach.
& - Indicates that the hurricane center did make a direct landfall, but that the strongest winds likely remained offshore. Thus the winds indicated here are lower than in HURDAT.
# - Indicates that the hurricane made landfall over Mexico, but also caused sustained hurricane force surface winds in Texas. The strongest winds at landfall impacted Mexico, while the weaker maximum sustained winds indicated here were conditions estimated to occur in Texas. Indicated central pressure given is that at Mexican landfall.
Additional Note: Because of the sparseness of towns and cities before 1900 in some coastal locations along the United States, the above list is not complete for all states. Before the Gulf of Mexico and Atlantic coasts became settled, hurricanes may have been underestimated in their intensity or missed completely for small-sized systems (i.e., 2004’s Hurricane Charley). The following list provides estimated dates when accurate tropical cyclone records began for specified regions of the United States based upon U.S Census reports and other historical analyses. Years in parenthesis indicate possible starting dates for reliable records before the 1850s that may be available with additional research: Texas-south – 1880, Texas-central – 1851, Texas-north – 1860, Louisiana – 1880, Mississippi – 1851, Alabama < 1851 (1830), Florida-northwest – 1880, Florida-southwest – 1900, Florida-southeast – 1900, Florida-northeast – 1880, Georgia < 1851 (1800), South Carolina < 1851 (1760), North Carolina < 1851 (1760), Virginia < 1851 (1700), Maryland < 1851 (1760), Delaware < 1851 (1700), New Jersey < 1851 (1760), New York < 1851 (1700), Connecticut < 1851 (1660), Rhode Island < 1851 (1760), Massachusetts < 1851 (1660), New Hampshire < 1851 (1660), and Maine < 1851 (1790).