HurricaneTracks
Menu

All storm pages · 1938 Atlantic season

Storm 6 of 1938 1938

Category 5 hurricane · Atlantic · September 9 to September 21, 1938

No storm in the record came ashore in New York with stronger winds than Storm 6 of 1938's 120 mph landfall on September 21, 1938; 19 storms have a landfall record there. The storm reached Category 5 with 160 mph winds, one of 44 Atlantic storms to do so since 1851. No other storm of the 1938 Atlantic season matched the storm's 160 mph peak; the season had 9 storms.

Track of Storm 6 of 1938 from the best-track record, coloured by strength20°N30°N40°N70°W60°W50°W40°W30°W20°WNew York, 120 mphConnecticut, 115 mphPeak 160 mphFirst recordNot tropicalDepressionTropical stormCategory 1Category 2Category 3Category 4Category 500 and 12 UTCLandfall

Strength over time

Maximum sustained wind of Storm 6 of 1938 over time, in mphTSCat 1Cat 2Cat 3Cat 4Cat 504080120160200Sep 10Sep 12Sep 14Sep 16Sep 18Sep 20Sep 22mph
  1. First record (tropical depression) far out at sea, at 12.8°N, 19.4°W
  2. Tropical storm far out at sea, at 13.4°N, 23.0°W
  3. Hurricane 1,070 miles east-northeast of Bridgetown, Saint Michael, Barbados
  4. Major hurricane 690 miles east-northeast of Pointe-à-Pitre, Guadeloupe, France
  5. Peak 345 miles north of Monte Cristi, the Dominican Republic; lowest pressure 940 mb
  6. Landfall New York
  7. Landfall Connecticut: Category 3, 115 mph, 946 mb
  8. No longer tropical (extratropical low) 40 miles east-northeast of Saratoga Springs, New York
  9. Last record 60 miles north-northwest of Kingston, Ontario, Canada

Against every Atlantic storm since 1851

Peak sustained wind160 mph · tied 28th of 1,98830 mph190 mph
Lowest central pressure940 mb · tied 116th of 1,277882 mb1016 mb
Accumulated cyclone energy41.0 · 34th of 1,7520.173.6
Days as a tropical or subtropical cyclone12.4 days · 122nd of 1,9880.0 days31.8 days

More from the record

The storm generated 53% of the season's accumulated cyclone energy, more than any other 1938 storm.

In the 1938 season

04080120160200this storm

Storm 6 of 9 in 1938, hurricane 4 of 4; it formed after Storm 5 of 1938 and before Storm 7 of 1938. See the season.

Places the center passed

The center came within 50 miles of 2 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
Bridgeport, Connecticut16 mi115 mphSeptember 21
Stamford, Connecticut33 mi115 mphSeptember 21

Every storm within 50 miles of Bridgeport, Connecticut

Similar landfalls in New York

Storms whose strongest landfall record in New York came closest to this one's 120 mph:

All 19 storms with a landfall record in New York

Also peaked at 160 mph

Of 16 storms from other Atlantic seasons, the nearest in time:

  • Storm 8 of 1933940 mb, landfall in Texas
  • Storm 14 of 1933929 mb, no landfall record
  • Storm 4 of 1932no pressure recorded, no landfall record
  • Storm 7 of 1944918 mb, landfall in New York