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All storm pages · 1979 Atlantic season

Hurricane David 1979

Category 5 hurricane · Atlantic · August 25 to September 6, 1979

David reached Category 5 with 175 mph winds, one of 44 Atlantic storms to do so since 1851. No other storm of the 1979 Atlantic season matched its 175 mph peak; the season had 20 storms. It generated 48% of the season's accumulated cyclone energy, more than any other 1979 storm. The name David is on the National Hurricane Center's list of retired Atlantic hurricane names.

Track of David (1979) from the best-track record, coloured by strength20°N30°N40°N50°N90°W80°W70°W60°W50°W40°W30°WMelbourneSavannahPeak 175 mphFirst recordNot tropicalDepressionTropical stormCategory 1Category 2Category 3Category 4Category 500 and 12 UTC

Strength over time

Maximum sustained wind of David (1979) over time, in mphTSCat 1Cat 2Cat 3Cat 4Cat 504080120160200Aug 26Aug 28Aug 30Sep 1Sep 3Sep 5Sep 7mph
  1. First record (tropical depression) far out at sea, at 11.7°N, 36.1°W
  2. Tropical storm 970 miles east-northeast of Paramaribo, Suriname
  3. Hurricane 615 miles northeast of Paramaribo, Suriname
  4. Major hurricane 455 miles east of Bridgetown, Saint Michael, Barbados
  5. Peak 100 miles south-southeast of Ponce, Puerto Rico; lowest pressure 924 mb
  6. No longer tropical (extratropical low) 15 miles north-northeast of Saratoga Springs, New York
  7. Last record 340 miles northeast of Corner Brook, Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada

Against every Atlantic storm since 1851

Peak sustained wind175 mph · tied 11th of 1,98830 mph190 mph
Lowest central pressure924 mb · tied 34th of 1,277882 mb1016 mb
Accumulated cyclone energy44.0 · 26th of 1,7520.173.6
Days as a tropical or subtropical cyclone12.0 days · tied 134th of 1,9880.0 days31.8 days

More from the record

Its winds climbed 70 mph in the 24 hours to August 28.

In the 1979 season

04080120160200David

Storm 9 of 20 in 1979, hurricane 2 of 5; it formed after Storm 8 of 1979 and before Storm 10 of 1979. See the season.

Places the center passed

The best-track file has no landfall records for Atlantic storms of 1979, so the track itself shows where this storm went. The center came within 50 miles of at least 8 towns or cities of 10,000 people or more while the system was tropical. Distances are to the interpolated track line, not the storm's edge.

PlaceClosestWind thenDate
San Cristóbal, the Dominican Republic0 mi160 mphAugust 31
Gonaïves, L'Artibonite, Haiti1 mi100 mphSeptember 1
Vero Beach, Florida2 mi100 mphSeptember 3
Fort Pierce, Florida2 mi100 mphSeptember 3
Savannah, Georgia2 mi80 mphSeptember 4
Orangeburg, South Carolina2 mi65 mphSeptember 5
Harrisonburg, Virginia5 mi45 mphSeptember 6
Melbourne, Florida5 mi100 mphSeptember 4

Every storm within 50 miles of Melbourne, Florida

Also peaked at 175 mph

Of 9 storms from other Atlantic seasons, the nearest in time: