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All storm pages · 1996 Atlantic season

Hurricane Hortense 1996

Category 4 hurricane · Atlantic · September 3 to September 15, 1996

Hortense made landfall in Puerto Rico as a Category 1 hurricane on September 10, 1996, with 80 mph winds. With a peak of 140 mph, it ranked the second-strongest of the 13 storms of the 1996 season. It produced 13% of the season's accumulated cyclone energy. The name Hortense is on the National Hurricane Center's list of retired Atlantic hurricane names.

Track of Hortense (1996) from the best-track record, coloured by strength20°N30°N40°N80°W70°W60°W50°W40°W30°WPuerto Rico, 80 mphNova Scotia, 80 mphPeak 140 mphFirst recordNot tropicalDepressionTropical stormCategory 1Category 2Category 3Category 400 and 12 UTCLandfall

Strength over time

Maximum sustained wind of Hortense (1996) over time, in mphTSCat 1Cat 2Cat 3Cat 4Cat 504080120160Sep 4Sep 6Sep 8Sep 10Sep 12Sep 14Sep 16mph
  1. First record (tropical depression) 1,150 miles northeast of Paramaribo, Suriname
  2. Tropical storm 180 miles north-northeast of Bridgetown, Saint Michael, Barbados
  3. Hurricane 115 miles south of Christiansted, the US Virgin Islands
  4. Landfall Puerto Rico
  5. Major hurricane 170 miles north-northeast of Monte Cristi, the Dominican Republic
  6. Peak 370 miles east of Nassau, the Bahamas; lowest pressure 935 mb
  7. Landfall Nova Scotia: Category 1, 80 mph, 978 mb
  8. No longer tropical (extratropical low) 245 miles southeast of Corner Brook, Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada
  9. Last record 465 miles east-southeast of Corner Brook, Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada

Against every Atlantic storm since 1851

Peak sustained wind140 mph · tied 110th of 1,98830 mph190 mph
Lowest central pressure935 mb · tied 84th of 1,277882 mb1016 mb
Accumulated cyclone energy21.8 · 208th of 1,7520.173.6
Days as a tropical or subtropical cyclone12.0 days · tied 134th of 1,9880.0 days31.8 days

In the 1996 season

04080120160Hortense

Storm 8 of 13 in 1996, hurricane 6 of 9; it formed after Gustav and before Isidore. 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
Sydney, Nova Scotia, Canada8 mi70 mphSeptember 15
Mayagüez, Puerto Rico8 mi80 mphSeptember 10
Pointe-à-Pitre, Guadeloupe, France10 mi60 mphSeptember 8
Ponce, Puerto Rico14 mi80 mphSeptember 10
Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada28 mi80 mphSeptember 15
Higuey, La Altagracia, the Dominican Republic28 mi75 mphSeptember 10
Arecibo, Puerto Rico32 mi80 mphSeptember 10
Samaná, the Dominican Republic34 mi80 mphSeptember 11

Every storm within 50 miles of Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada

Similar landfalls in Puerto Rico

Storms whose strongest landfall record in Puerto Rico came closest to Hortense's 80 mph:

All 9 storms with a landfall record in Puerto Rico

Also peaked at 140 mph

Of 35 storms from other Atlantic seasons, the nearest in time:

  • Felix (1995)929 mb, no landfall record
  • Cindy (1999)942 mb, no landfall record
  • Isaac (2000)943 mb, no landfall record
  • Keith (2000)939 mb, landfall in Belize