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All storm pages · 1979 Atlantic season

Hurricane Frederic 1979

Category 4 hurricane · Atlantic · August 29 to September 14, 1979

With a peak of 130 mph, Frederic ranked the second-strongest of the 20 storms of the 1979 season. It produced 23% of the season's accumulated cyclone energy. Its winds rose 35 mph in the 24 hours to September 12. The name Frederic is on the National Hurricane Center's list of retired Atlantic hurricane names.

Track of Frederic (1979) from the best-track record, coloured by strength20°N30°N40°N80°W70°W60°W50°W40°W30°WSanto DomingoGuantánamoPeak 130 mphFirst recordNot tropicalDepressionTropical stormCategory 1Category 2Category 3Category 400 and 12 UTC

Strength over time

Maximum sustained wind of Frederic (1979) over time, in mphTSCat 1Cat 2Cat 3Cat 404080120160Aug 30Sep 1Sep 3Sep 5Sep 7Sep 9Sep 11Sep 13Sep 15mph
  1. First record (tropical depression) far out at sea, at 11.0°N, 25.5°W
  2. Tropical storm far out at sea, at 11.5°N, 36.0°W
  3. Hurricane 660 miles northeast of Paramaribo, Suriname
  4. Major hurricane 230 miles west-southwest of Sarasota, Florida
  5. Peak 205 miles south-southwest of Panama City, Florida; lowest pressure 943 mb
  6. No longer tropical (extratropical low) 25 miles east of Ithaca, New York
  7. Last record 40 miles southeast of Rimouski, Québec, Canada

Against every Atlantic storm since 1851

Peak sustained wind130 mph · tied 146th of 1,98830 mph190 mph
Lowest central pressure943 mb · tied 134th of 1,277882 mb1016 mb
Accumulated cyclone energy20.7 · 228th of 1,7520.173.6
Days as a tropical or subtropical cyclone16.2 days · tied 24th of 1,9880.0 days31.8 days

In the 1979 season

04080120160200Frederic

Storm 11 of 20 in 1979, hurricane 3 of 5; it formed after Storm 10 of 1979 and before Elena. 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
Santo Domingo, Distrito Nacional, the Dominican Republic1 mi45 mphSeptember 5
La Vega, the Dominican Republic1 mi40 mphSeptember 6
Mao, Valverde, the Dominican Republic1 mi40 mphSeptember 6
Monte Cristi, the Dominican Republic2 mi40 mphSeptember 6
Huntington, West Virginia2 mi40 mphSeptember 14
Meridian, Mississippi4 mi75 mphSeptember 13
Port-De-Paix, Nord-Ouest, Haiti4 mi35 mphSeptember 6
Guantánamo, Cuba4 mi30 mphSeptember 7

Every storm within 50 miles of Santo Domingo, Distrito Nacional, the Dominican Republic

Also peaked at 130 mph

Of 33 storms from other Atlantic seasons, the nearest in time:

  • Greta (1978)947 mb, no landfall record
  • Harvey (1981)946 mb, no landfall record
  • Debby (1982)950 mb, no landfall record
  • Becky (1974)977 mb, no landfall record