Archive of updates for Re-Analysis Project

December 2019 - The Northeast and North Central Pacific hurricane database (HURDAT2) was revised on 26 December 2019 to include the removal of Tropical Storm Simone in 1961.

November 2019 - The 1961 to 1965 Atlantic hurricane seasons have been reanalyzed. Revisions to the hurricane database were accomplished by obtaining the original observations collected - mainly by ships, weather stations, the Hurricane Hunter Navy, Air Force, and Environmental Science Services Administration (ESSA) aircraft reconnaissance planes, and the earliest available satellite images - and assessing the storms based upon our understanding of hurricanes today. The reanalysis also allowed "discovering" of tropical storms and hurricanes that occurred, but were not yet officially recognized as such in the official records. Nine new tropical storms and hurricanes during these five years were discovered and added to the database. Six hurricanes were identified as impacting the United States, one less than originally identified. The hurricane with the worst impact for the United States during these seasons was Betsy in 1965, which killed 75 people in Florida and Louisiana and was the first ever billion dollar hurricane for U.S. damage.  Betsy was upgraded to a Category 4 from a Category 3 hurricane on the Saffir-Simpson Hurricane Wind Scale at landfall in Louisiana, as it is reassessed that it had maximum sustained surface winds of 115 kt (130 mph) and a central pressure of 946 mb. Sandy Delgado, Brenden Moses, Andrew Hagen, Chris Landsea, and the Best Track Change Committee all made substantial contributions toward the reanalysis of these hurricane seasons."

July 2019 - The Northeast and North Central Pacific HURDAT2 has been updated with 2018 hurricane season data.

June 2019 - The 2018 Best Tracks for the Atlantic basin has been added into the HURDAT2 database.

Dec 2018 - Two new articles

• Landsea, C. W., and J. P. Cangialosi, 2018:"Have we reached the limits of predictability for tropical cyclone track forecasting?", Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society, 99, 2237-2243.
• Weinkle, J., C. Landsea, D. Collins, R. Musulin, R. P. Crompton, P. J. Klotzbach, and R. Pielke, Jr., 2018:"Normalized hurricane damage in the continental United States 1900-2017.", Nature Sustainability, 1, 808-813.

May 2018 - The 2017 best tracks for the Atlantic basin and the Northeast Pacific basin have been added into the HURDAT2 database. Note: Tbe following storms that formed within the Central Pacific Hurricane Center's area of responsibility are operational estimates and have not yet been post-storm analyzed:

• Halola (CP012015)
• Kilo (CP032015)
• Loke (CP042015)
• Pali (CP012016)
• Darby (EP052016)
• Madeline (EP142016)
• Fernanda (EP062017)

The final best tracks for these systems will be updated when they become available.

May 2018 - A paper documenting the methodology, datasets, and results fromt the 1954 to 1963 Atlantic hurricane seas reanalysis has been published in the Journal of Climate.

April 2017 - The 2016 best tracks for the Atlantic basin and the Northeast Pacific basin have been added into the HURDAT2 database. Note: storms that formed within the Central Pacific Hurricane Center's area of responsibility are not included in this update.

July 2016 - The 1956 to 1960 Atlantic hurricane seasons have been reanalyzed. Revisions to the hurricane database were accomplished by obtaining the original observations collected - mainly by ships, weather stations, and the Hurricane Hunter Navy, Air Force, and Environmental Science Services Administration (ESSA) aircraft reconnaissance planes - and assessing the storms based upon our understanding of hurricanes today. The reanalysis also allowed "discovering" of tropical storms and hurricanes that occurred, but were not yet officially recognized as such in the official records. Ten new tropical storms during these five years were discovered and added to the database. Eight hurricanes were identified as impacting the United States, the same as that originally identified. The hurricane with the worst impact during these seasons was Audrey in 1957, which killed around 550 people in Louisiana and Texas. Audrey was downgraded from a Category 4 to a Category 3 hurricane on the Saffir-Simpson Hurricane Wind Scale at landfall, as it is reassessed that it had maximum sustained surface winds of 110 kt (125 mph) and a central pressure of 946 mb. Hurricane Donna in 1960 also was responsible for the deaths of at least 364 people in the Lesser Antilles, the Bahamas, and the United States. Donna was reanalyzed as a Category 4 in Florida (same as that originally), a Category 2 in North Carolina (downgraded from Category 3 originally), and a Category 2 in New York (downgraded from Category 3 originally). At landfall in the Florida Keys, Donna is reassessed to have maximum surface winds of 125 kt (145 mph) and a central pressure of 930 mb. Hurricane Gracie in 1959 was the only other landfalling major hurricane for the United States in these five seasons. Gracie was upgraded from a Category 3 to a Category 4 at landfall in South Carolina with 115 kt (130 mph) maximum sustained winds and a central pressure of 951 mb. Sandy Delgado, Brenden Moses, Chris Landsea, and the Best Track Change Committee all made substantial contributions toward the reanalysis of these hurricane seasons. This research is supported in part by the NOAA Climate Program Office.

July 2016 - The 2015 best tracks for the Atlantic basin have been added into HURDAT2.

May 2016 - The 2015 best tracks for the Northeast Pacific basin have been added into HURDAT2. Note: storms that formed within the Central Pacific Hurricane Center's area of responsibility are not included in this update.

April 2016 - FIU and NHC researchers publish "A Reanalysis of Hurricane Camille". Radar loop of "Hurricane Camille".

February 2016 - The 1959 Manzanillo hurricane - the deadliest landfall in the Eastern Pacific basin - has been officially reanalyzed by Andrew Hagen, Josh Morgerman, Erik Sereno Trabaldo, and Jorge Abelardo Gonzalez. Minor track changes and major intensity revisions were made, including a downward adjustment from Category 5 to Category 4 on the Saffir-Simpson Hurricane Wind Scale for the hurricane at landfall.

October 2015 - P. J. Klotzbach and C. W. Landsea, 2015: Extremely intense hurricanes: Revisiting Webster et al. (2005) after 10 years. Journal of Climate, 28, 7621-7629.

September 2015 - The 2014 best tracks for the Northeast/North Central Pacific basin have been added into HURDAT2.

May 2015 - A complete re-analysis of the Atlantic hurricane database (HURDAT) was conducted for the 1951 to 1955 seasons. Revisions to the hurricane database were accomplished by obtaining the original observations collected - mainly by ships, weather stations, and the early Hurricane Hunter Navy and Army Air Force aircraft reconnaissance planes - and assessing the storms based upon our understanding of hurricanes today. The reanalysis also allowed "discovering" of tropical storms and hurricanes that occurred, but were not yet officially recognized as such in the official records. Nine hurricanes were identified to have struck the continental United States during 1951 to 1955, with one new U.S. hurricane (Hazel in 1953) identified and two hurricanes no longer considered to be hurricane impacts in the United States (Carol in 1953 and Diane in 1955). Originally, five of these hurricanes were considered to be a major hurricane - Category 3, 4, or 5 on the Saffir-Simpson Hurricane Wind Scale - at U.S. landfall. After the reanalysis, only two were retained as major U.S. hurricanes: 1954's Carol that struck New York, Connecticut, and Rhode Island as a Category 3 and 1954's Hazel that struck South Carolina and North Carolina as a Category 4. Three other systems were downgraded to a Category 2 at U.S. landfall: 1954's Edna in Massachusetts, 1955's Connie in North Carolina, and 1955's Ione in North Carolina. The worst hurricanes during these five hurricane seasons were 1954's Hurricane Hazel which killed as many as 1200 people in Grenada, Haiti, United States, and Canada and 1955's Hurricane Janet which killed 681 people in Barbados, Belize, and Mexico. Janet also holds the distinction of being the strongest hurricane observed during these seasons, reaching Category 5 with peak sustained winds of 175 mph at its landfall in Mexico. In addition, twelve new tropical storms were discovered and added into the database for this five year period. Andrew Hagen, Sandy Delgado, Donna Sakoskie, Astryd Rodriguez, Brenden Moses, Chris Landsea, and the Best Track Change Committee all made substantial contributions toward the reanalysis of these hurricane seasons. This research is supported in part by the NOAA Climate Program Office.

February 2015 - The 2014 best tracks for the Atlantic basin have been added into HURDAT2.

January 2015 - Sandy Delgado's 841 page Master's Thesis on "Reanalysis of the 1954-1963 Atlantic hurricane seasons" is now available.

September 2014 - A paper by Landsea et al. has just been published in the Journal of Climate on the completed 1931-1943 reanalysis.

July 2014 - The Northeast and North Central Pacific basin tropical cyclone best tracks have been finalized through 2013 and are available on the reanalysis Data page.

May 2014 - An updated HURDAT2 dataset was provided to include the 1988 non-developing tropical depressions, multiple landfall points from 1983-2011 that were in the Tropical Cyclone Reports, as well as correcting a few typographical errors.

April 2014 - A re-analysis of the database for Hurricane Camille, an extremely intense hurricane that devastated the U.S Gulf Coast on the night of August 17, 1969, has been completed. Based upon this reassessment, Hurricane Camille is indicated at landfall on the Mississippi coast to have been a Category 5 on the Saffir-Simpson Hurricane Wind Scale with peak sustained winds of 175 mph and a central pressure of 900 mb. This is the same category as analyzed originally, but the peak sustained winds were reduced from 190 mph and the central pressure lowered from 909 mb. Camille is also reanalyzed to have undergone genesis as a tropical cyclone 18 hours earlier than first indicated on August 14, 1969. When comparing Camille with the two other known Category 5 hurricanes that have struck the continental United States since 1900, Camille (900 mb and 175 mph) ranks between the 1935 Labor Day hurricane (892 mb and 185 mph) and 1992’s Andrew (922 mb and 165 mph) as the strongest hurricanes on record at landfall. Revisions to the Camille’s database were accomplished by obtaining the original observations collected – mainly by ships, weather stations, coastal radars, Navy/Air Force/Environmental Science Services Administration (ESSA) Hurricane Hunter aircraft reconnaissance planes, ESSA/NASA satellite imagery – and analyzing Camille based upon our understanding of hurricanes today. (The agency ESSA is now the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration - NOAA.) Margie Kieper, Jack Beven, Hugh Willoughby, Chris Landsea, and the NHC Best Track Change Committee all made substantial contributions toward the reanalysis of this devastating hurricane. This research is supported in part by the NOAA Climate Program Office.

March 2014 - A complete re-analysis of the Atlantic hurricane database (HURDAT) was conducted for the 1946 to 1950 seasons. Revisions to the hurricane database were accomplished by obtaining the original observations collected – mainly by ships, weather stations, and the early Hurricane Hunter Navy and Army Air Force aircraft reconnaissance planes – and assessing the storms based upon our understanding of hurricanes today. The reanalysis also allowed “discovering” of tropical storms and hurricanes that occurred, but were not yet officially recognized as such in the official records. 1946 to 1950 was an active period for hurricanes with 13 striking the continental United States, whereas an average five year span would have about nine U.S. hurricane impacts. Five of the 13 were major hurricane status – Category 3, 4, or 5 on the Saffir-Simpson Hurricane Wind Scale – at U.S. landfall and all five struck Florida. These are a Category 4 hurricane in Fort Lauderdale in 1947, a Category 4 hurricane in Everglades City in 1948, a Category 4 hurricane in Lake Worth in 1949, Category 3 Hurricane Easy in Cedar Key in 1950, and Category 4 Hurricane King in Miami in 1950. Of these, King and the 1948 and 1949 hurricanes were upgraded from a Category 3 to a Category 4 based upon the reanalysis. Having five major hurricanes making landfall in Florida is a record for a five year period, equaled only by the early 2000s. In addition, nine new tropical storms were discovered and added into the database for this five year period. Andrew Hagen, Donna Sakoskie, Daniel Gladstein, Sandy Delgado, Astryd Rodriguez, Chris Landsea and the NHC Best Track Change Committee all made substantial contributions toward the reanalysis of these hurricane seasons. This research is supported in part by the NOAA Climate Program Office.

February 2014 - The 2013 Atlantic basin tropical cyclone best tracks have been finalized and made available in the Data page.

August 2013 - A paper documenting the methodology, datasets, and results from the 1931 to 1943 Atlantic hurricane season reanalysis has been submitted to the Journal of Climate.

June 2013 - The Atlantic basin hurricane seasons of 1941 to 1945 have been officially reanalyzed. The revised database is available here. Four new tropical storms were discovered and added into the database for this five year period. Notable hurricanes in these years include the 1944 Great Atlantic Hurricane, which affected North Carolina, the mid-Atlantic states, and New England, killing 390 people. This hurricane was downgraded from a Saffir-Simpson Hurricane Wind Scale Category 3 at landfall in New York to a Category 2. Also in 1944 a late season Caribbean hurricane that struck Cuba causing 315 fatalities has been upgraded from a Category 3 to a Category 4 major hurricane at landfall. Additionally, in September 1945 a major hurricane struck Homestead, Florida - bearing many similarities in size, track, and impact to 1992's Hurricane Andrew - and was upgraded from a Category 3 to a Category 4 at landfall. Details of the data and methodology of the reanalysis is available here.

April 2013 - The 2013 Northeast and North Central Pacific Basin Tropical Cyclone Best Tracks have been finalized and made available in the Data page. A revised HURDAT 2 for this basin has been developed that includes asynoptic time data, landfalling data, wind radii data, and non-developing tropical depressions. Some minor typographical errors have been identified, corrected and noted in the Metadata files.

February 2013 - A new paper by Landsea and Franklin has just been published in Monthly Weather Review. This paper estimates the uncertainty (average error) for Atlantic Basin best track parameters through a survey of the Hurricane Specialists who maintain and update the Atlantic Hurricane Database. A comparison is then made with a survey conducted over a decade ago to qualitatively assess changes in the uncertainties. Finally, we discuss the implications of the uncertainty estimates for NHC analysis and forecast products as well as for the prediction goals of the Hurricane Forecast Improvement Program.

February 2013 - The 2012 Atlantic basin tropical cyclone best tracks have been finalized and made available in the Data page.

December 2012 - A reanalysis of the 1936 to 1940 hurricane seasons has been conducted. All of the existing 46 tropical storms and hurricanes were revised (one of which - original storm #7 in 1938 - was removed from the database as it was extratratropical throughout its lifetime). Additionally, seven new tropical storms (three of which reached hurricane intensity) were discovered and added into the database. The biggest impact hurricane of these five seasons was, by far, the Great New England hurricane of 1938. This cyclone was retained as a Category 3 hurricane on the Saffir-Simpson Hurricane Wind Scale at its landfall in New York and New England, though the peak sustained winds at landfall in New York were increased from 85 kt (100 mph) in the original database to 105 kt (120 mph) in the revision.

November 2012 - A revised HURDAT2 (Atlantic hurricane database) format has been developed that includes asynoptic time data, landfalling data, wind radii data, and non-developing tropical depressions. The original HURDAT format will be retired after the 2012 Atlantic hurricane database becomes available.

July 2012 - Two peer-reviewed papers from the reanalysis project have just been published in the July 2012 edition of the Journal of Climate. In Hagen et al., documentation is provided on the methodology, original observations available, and preliminary reanalysis results obtained for 1944-1953. This is the first decade of aircraft reconnaissance for the Atlantic basin. Hagen and Landsea investigate how improvements in observing capabilities and technology may have affected our ability to detect and monitor Saffir-Simpson Hurricane Wind Scale Category 5 hurricanes in the Atlantic basin during the mid-twentieth century.

May 2012 - A complete reanalysis of the Atlantic hurricane database (HURDAT) was conducted for the 1931 to 1935 seasons. All 58 tropical storms and hurricanes were revised in their tracks and intensities. 15 new tropical storms were discovered and added into HURDAT, while four existing systems were removed from the database. This era also recorded one of the busiest hurricane seasons on record with 20 tropical storms observed in 1933, 11 of which became hurricanes. (Originally, HURDAT listed 21 tropical storms, 10 of which were hurricanes. In that season, there were two new tropical storms discovered, two existing cyclones were removed from the database as they did not reach tropical storm intensity, and two existing storms were actually one continuous system.)

The years of 1931 to 1935 recorded four of the 25 most deadly hurricanes in the historical record for the Atlantic basin. A Category 4 hurricane on the Saffir-Simpson Hurricane Wind Scale struck Belize (then British Honduras) in 1931 and killed around 2,500 people. In November 1932, the "Hurac?n de Santa Cruz del Sur" struck Cuba as a Category 4 hurricane and killed about 3,500 people primarily in a storm surge that reached about 20 feet. In June 1934, a tropical storm (which later became a hurricane) caused torrential rainfall, flashfloods and mudslides, killing about 3,000 people in Honduras and El Salvador. In October 1935, a Category 1 hurricane killed around 2,150 people in Haiti and Honduras due to extreme rains and flashfloods.

The 1931 to 1935 hurricane seasons were an active period for the continental United States as well, as it was struck by twelve hurricanes (eleven previously listed in HURDAT). Of these twelve, four were major hurricanes (five previously listed in HURDAT): a Category 4 hurricane in Texas in 1932, a Category 3 hurricane in Texas in 1933, a Category 3 hurricane in Florida also in 1933, and a Category 5 hurricane in Florida in 1935. This last hurricane, known as the "Labor Day Hurricane" because of its landfall on that date in September, was the strongest hurricane to ever make landfall in the United States, based upon its central pressure of 892 mb. The maximum sustained winds at landfall in the Florida Keys are estimated to have been around 185 mph. This is second only to the 190 mph currently listed for 1969's Camille at landfall. 408 people were killed by the "Labor Day Hurricane", which was the 8th most deadly in the continental United States history.

Andrew Hagen, David Glenn, William Bredemeyer, Cristina Carrasco, Sandy Delgado, Daniel Gladstein, Ramon Perez, Adrian Santiago, and the NHC Best Track Change Committee all made substantial contributions toward the reanalysis of these hurricane seasons.

February 2012 - New HURDAT files (80 column data, easy-to-read, spreadsheet, and track map) for the Atlantic hurricane season of 2011 are available.

February 2012 - New paper has been published in the Journal of Climate documenting the reanalysis methodology and results for 1921-1930 decade.

August 2011 - Multiple changes are introduced to HURDAT: 1) Four new tropical cyclones were added: 1899 (tropical storm), 1901 (hurricane), 1904 (hurricane), and 1909 (tropical storm); 2) Alterations to the track and/or intensity of some tropical cyclones in 1857, 1859, 1866, 1882, 1885, 1887, 1900, 1901, 1909, 1910, 1912, 1915, 1921, 1922, 1925, 1926, 1927, and 1930; 3) Significant changes for U.S. hurricanes: 1857 North Carolina hurricane - upgraded from Category 1 to Category 2, a new 1859 Florida Category 1 hurricane, 1882 Louisiana hurricane - downgraded from a Category 2 to a tropical storm, 1885 South Carolina hurricane - downgraded from Category 3 to Category 2, 1887 Texas hurricane - downgraded from Category 2 to Category 1, and 1925 Florida hurricane - downgraded from a Category 1 to a tropical storm; 4) Minor intensity changes for Georges (1980), Floyd (1981), Helene (1988), and Keith (1988). These all contained original best track windspeeds to the overly precise nearest 1 kt. Values are adjusted to the nearest 5 kt currently used.

July 2011 - A paper has been submitted to the Journal of Climate regarding the 1944-1953 preliminary reanalysis methodology and results: Hagen et al. (2011). This is notable for being the first decade of aircraft reconnaissance. A second, companion paper - Hagen and Landsea (2011) - has also been submitted to the Journal of Climate: "On the Classification of Extreme Atlantic Hurricanes Utilizing Mid-20th Century Monitoring Capabilities".

April 2011 - New paper has been submitted to the Journal of Climate documenting the reanalysis methodology and results for 1921-1930 decade.

March 2011 - New detailed listings of U.S. tropical storms, U.S. hurricanes, International tropical storms, and International hurricanes are available in the Data section.

March 2011 - New HURDAT files (80 column data, easy-to-read, spreadsheet) for the Atlantic hurricane season of 2010 are available.

December 2010 - ?A complete reanalysis was conducted for the years of 1926 to 1930. All 29 tropical storms and hurricanes were revised in their tracks and intensities. Four new tropical storm were discovered and added into HURDAT. Most significant hurricanes of this era were the 1926 Category 4 hurricane in the Bahamas, the 1926 Category 4 Great Miami hurricane, the 1926 Category 4 Hurricane in Cuba (these three major hurricanes in 1926 were separate systems), the 1928 Category 5 San Felipe (Puerto Rico)/Category 4 Lake Okeechobee hurricane, the 1929 Category 4 hurricane in the Bahamas, and the 1930 Category 4 hurricane in the Dominican Republic."

December 2010 - New Master's Thesis by Andrew Hagen on "A Reanalysis of the 1944-1953 Atlantic Hurricane Seasons- The First Decade of Aircraft Reconnaissance."

June 2010 - New Publication on "Impact of Duration Threshold on Atlantic Tropical Cyclone Counts" in Journal of Climate.

March 2010 - The 2009 Atlantic and Northeast Pacific hurricane databases (HURDAT) are now available via the Data page .

September 2009 - A new atlas - "Tropical Cyclones of the North Atlantic Ocean" has just been published. The book - featuring annual track maps for the Atlantic basin from 1851 to 2008 - also goes into detail about the data sources utilized to compose the "best track" for the basin. Additionally, the atlas provides analyses about the basin's climatology, including the annual cycle, duration, and occurrence locations. Of note to climate researchers are the time series of tropical storms, hurricanes, major hurricanes, and United States hurricanes, as well as the caveats on the reliability of the dataset going back in time.

The atlas also includes the results of the hurricane database reanalysis for the years of 1851 through 1920. This has been the result of many folks contributing toward the improvements in the dataset including: Craig Anderson, William Bredemeyer, Cristina Carrasco, Noel Charles, Michael Chenoweth, Gil Clark, Jason Dunion, Ryan Ellis, Jose Fernandez-Partagas, John Gamache, David Glenn, Andrew Hagen, Lyle Hufstetler, Paul Hungerford, Cary Mock, Charlie Neumann, Ramon Perez, Ricardo Prieto, Jorge Sanchez-Sesma, Adrian Santiago, Donna Thomas, Lenworth Woolcock, Mark Zimmer, and the NHC Best Track Change Committee."

June 2009 - Minor changes made to HURDAT. 1)Small adjustments made in HURDAT (both 80 column data and Easy-to-read) for all of the 2008 tropical cyclones near time of landfall (error in converting from individual files to HURDAT); 2)Easy-to-read file cleaned up for extraneous entries in 1989 hurricane season; 3) Minor revisions made to HURDAT for 1888/03,1895/02, and 1896/01. Details on these revisions are in the metadata files.

April 2009 - The 2008 hurricane season database was appended to HURDAT. This data is based upon the Tropical Cyclone Reports (TCR) written by the hurricane specialists at the National Hurricane Center/ Tropical Predition Center (NHC/TPC).

March 2009 - A complete reanalysis was conducted for the years of 1921 to 1925. All 27 tropical storms and hurricanes of the era were revised in track and intensity (with one in 1923 removed from HURDAT). 10 new tropical cyclones were added for these five years. Most significant hurricanes of this era were the 1921 Tampa Bay hurricane that struck as a Saffir-Simpson Hurricane Scale Category 3, the 1922 Bermuda hurricane that struck the Bermuda islands as a Category 3, and the 1924 Cuba hurricane that struck as a Category 5 (and is now the first recorded Category 5 hurricane in the database). Co-authors on the reanalyses for 1921 to 1925 are Steve Feuer, Ramon Perez Suarez, Ricardo Prieto, and Jorge Sanchez-Sesma. Special thanks also to James Belanger, Auguste Boissonnade, Emery Boose, Cristina Carrasco, Michael Chenoweth, Gil Clark, Jose Colon, Joan David, Neal Dorst, John Gamache, Daniel Gladstein, Mark Guishard, Mark Jelinek, Cary Mock, Charlie Neumann, Adrian Santiago, and the NHC Best Track Change Committee (Jack Beven - chair, Lixion Avila, Eric Blake, Hugh Cobb, Richard Pasch, and Colin McAdie [past-member]).

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Picture from: "Florida's Hurricane History", by Jay Barnes