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All storm pages · 1959 Atlantic season

Hurricane Gracie 1959

Category 4 hurricane · Atlantic · September 20 to September 30, 1959

Gracie's 130 mph landfall in South Carolina on September 29, 1959 ranks tied for the second-strongest of the 39 storms with a landfall record there. No other storm of the 1959 Atlantic season matched its 130 mph peak; the season had 14 storms. It produced 22% of the season's accumulated cyclone energy.

Track of Gracie (1959) from the best-track record, coloured by strength20°N30°N40°N90°W80°W70°W60°WColumbiaPuerto PlataSouth Carolina, 130 mphPeak 130 mphFirst recordNot tropicalDepressionTropical stormCategory 1Category 2Category 3Category 400 and 12 UTCLandfall

Strength over time

Maximum sustained wind of Gracie (1959) over time, in mphTSCat 1Cat 2Cat 3Cat 404080120160Sep 21Sep 23Sep 25Sep 27Sep 29Oct 1mph
  1. First record (tropical depression) 80 miles east-northeast of Samaná, the Dominican Republic
  2. Tropical storm 120 miles east-northeast of Banes, Holguín, Cuba
  3. Hurricane 225 miles north of Port-De-Paix, Nord-Ouest, Haiti
  4. Major hurricane 220 miles north-northeast of Freeport, the Bahamas
  5. Peak 140 miles east-northeast of St. Augustine, Florida; lowest pressure 951 mb
  6. Landfall South Carolina
  7. No longer tropical (extratropical low) 30 miles west of Beckley, West Virginia
  8. Last record 115 miles south of Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada

Against every Atlantic storm since 1851

Peak sustained wind130 mph · tied 146th of 1,98830 mph190 mph
Lowest central pressure951 mb · tied 189th of 1,277882 mb1016 mb
Accumulated cyclone energy16.6 · 316th of 1,7520.173.6
Days as a tropical or subtropical cyclone10.0 days · tied 249th of 1,9880.0 days31.8 days

In the 1959 season

04080120160Gracie

Storm 11 of 14 in 1959, hurricane 5 of 7; it formed after Flora and before Hannah. 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
Orangeburg, South Carolina1 mi85 mphSeptember 29
Columbia, South Carolina7 mi70 mphSeptember 30
Beaufort, South Carolina7 mi130 mphSeptember 29
Hickory, North Carolina11 mi40 mphSeptember 30
Rock Hill, South Carolina17 mi50 mphSeptember 30
Puerto Plata, the Dominican Republic18 mi30 mphSeptember 20
Monte Cristi, the Dominican Republic22 mi30 mphSeptember 21
Charleston, South Carolina31 mi130 mphSeptember 29

Every storm within 50 miles of Charleston, South Carolina

Similar landfalls in South Carolina

Storms whose strongest landfall record in South Carolina came closest to Gracie's 130 mph:

All 39 storms with a landfall record in South Carolina

Also peaked at 130 mph

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

  • Daisy (1958)948 mb, no landfall record
  • Betsy (1961)945 mb, no landfall record
  • Frances (1961)948 mb, landfall in Guadeloupe
  • Hazel (1954)938 mb, landfall in Grenada