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All storm pages · 1985 Atlantic season

Hurricane Elena 1985

Category 3 hurricane · Atlantic · August 28 to September 4, 1985

Elena's 115 mph landfall in Mississippi on September 2, 1985 ranks tied for the second-strongest of the 18 storms with a landfall record there. With a peak of 125 mph, it ranked the second-strongest of the 14 storms of the 1985 season. It produced 18% of the season's accumulated cyclone energy. The name Elena is on the National Hurricane Center's list of retired Atlantic hurricane names.

Track of Elena (1985) from the best-track record, coloured by strength20°N25°N30°N35°N40°N100°W95°W90°W85°W80°W75°W70°WHolguínMatanzasMississippi, 115 mphPeak 125 mphFirst recordDepressionTropical stormCategory 1Category 2Category 300 and 12 UTCLandfall

Strength over time

Maximum sustained wind of Elena (1985) over time, in mphTSCat 1Cat 2Cat 3Cat 404080120160Aug 29Aug 30Aug 31Sep 1Sep 2Sep 3Sep 4mph
  1. First record (tropical depression) 75 miles west of Port-De-Paix, Nord-Ouest, Haiti
  2. Tropical storm 15 miles north of Santa Clara, Villa Clara, Cuba
  3. Hurricane 195 miles north-northwest of Pinar del Rio, Cuba
  4. Major hurricane 85 miles west of Spring Hill, Florida
  5. Peak 100 miles south-southeast of Panama City, Florida; lowest pressure 953 mb
  6. Landfall Mississippi
  7. Last record (tropical depression) 45 miles east-northeast of Jefferson City, Missouri

Against every Atlantic storm since 1851

Peak sustained wind125 mph · tied 180th of 1,98830 mph190 mph
Lowest central pressure953 mb · tied 201st of 1,277882 mb1016 mb
Accumulated cyclone energy15.8 · 334th of 1,7520.173.6
Days as a tropical or subtropical cyclone7.8 days · tied 461st of 1,9880.0 days31.8 days

In the 1985 season

04080120160Elena

Storm 5 of 14 in 1985, hurricane 4 of 7; it formed after Danny and before Storm 6 of 1985. See the season.

Places the center passed

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
Gulfport, Mississippi1 mi115 mphSeptember 2
Holguín, Cuba3 mi35 mphAugust 28
Morón, Ciego de Ávila, Cuba4 mi40 mphAugust 28
Natchez, Mississippi4 mi60 mphSeptember 2
Matanzas, Cuba6 mi60 mphAugust 28
Nuevitas, Camagüey, Cuba7 mi35 mphAugust 28
Caibarién, Villa Clara, Cuba8 mi45 mphAugust 28
Biloxi, Mississippi9 mi115 mphSeptember 2

Every storm within 50 miles of Holguín, Cuba

Similar landfalls in Mississippi

Storms whose strongest landfall record in Mississippi came closest to Elena's 115 mph:

  • Storm 1 of 1852115 mph, August 26, 1852
  • Storm 6 of 1906110 mph, September 27, 1906
  • Storm 10 of 1893110 mph, October 2, 1893
  • Georges (1998)105 mph, September 28, 1998

All 18 storms with a landfall record in Mississippi

Also peaked at 125 mph

Of 40 storms from other Atlantic seasons, the nearest in time:

  • Emily (1987)958 mb, landfall in Dominican Republic
  • Eloise (1975)950 mb, landfall in Dominican Republic
  • Erika (1997)946 mb, no landfall record
  • Irene (1971)948 mb, landfall in Nicaragua