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Hurricane Florence (1953)

Hurricane Florence was a Category 3 hurricane at its peak, with 115 mph winds and a lowest pressure of 968 mb, per NOAA's National Hurricane Center. Modeled winds reached tropical-storm force (39 mph) at 4 of the cities we track; the strongest was Crestview, FL, with a modeled peak gust of 84 mph.

Peak strength115 mph winds (1-minute)
Category 3
Cities with tropical-storm-force windsModeled, of the cities we track
4
LandfallsFirst September 26, 1953
1
Lowest pressure
968 mb

Track, wind field and cities

Select a piece of the track or a city for details.

  • Depression or weaker
  • Tropical storm
  • Hurricane, Category 1 or 2
  • Major hurricane, Category 3 to 5
  • Landfall
  • City (larger ring, stronger modeled gust)
  • Modeled wind field, 39 to 111 mph sustained (darker, stronger; orange 111 mph+)
Source: NOAA/NWS National Hurricane Center best track (HURDAT2). City winds and the wind field are modeled.

The shaded areas are where our model puts Hurricane Florence’s sustained winds over open land at 39 mph or more (tropical-storm force), 58, 74 (hurricane force) and 111 mph (major hurricane force) at some point along its track. Modeled, not measured. How we model hurricane winds

Landfalls

  1. September 26, 1953, Category 1 at 92 mph, about 38 miles from Crestview, FL

Modeled winds at cities (4)

Estimated peak winds for open, flat ground at each city’s center. Not measurements. How we model hurricane winds

CityPeak gustSustainedClosest passPeak
Crestview, FL84 mph69 mph29 milesSep 26, 1953, 11:00 AM GMT-4
Pensacola, FL70 mph57 mph58 milesSep 26, 1953, 9:45 AM GMT-4
Tallahassee, FL49 mph40 mph57 milesSep 26, 1953, 11:00 AM GMT-4
Daphne, AL49 mph40 mph101 milesSep 26, 1953, 10:00 AM GMT-5

What happened

Florence made landfall in northwest Florida as a Category 1 hurricane at 1500 UTC on September 26, 1953, with 80-knot (92 mph) winds, according to NHC's best track.1,2

Sources

  1. 1. NOAA National Hurricane Center: Atlantic hurricane database (HURDAT2), 1851 to 2025
  2. 2. NOAA National Hurricane Center: The Deadliest, Costliest, and Most Intense United States Tropical Cyclones from 1851 to 2010 (NOAA Technical Memorandum NWS NHC-6), Appendix A

Best track (19 positions)

TimeStatusWindPressurePosition
Sep 23, 12:00 UTCTropical storm46 mph15.0°N, 78.0°W
Sep 23, 18:00 UTCTropical storm52 mph16.3°N, 79.5°W
Sep 24, 00:00 UTCTropical storm52 mph17.6°N, 81.0°W
Sep 24, 06:00 UTCTropical storm58 mph18.9°N, 82.5°W
Sep 24, 12:00 UTCTropical storm58 mph20.2°N, 84.0°W
Sep 24, 18:00 UTCTropical storm63 mph1001 mb21.3°N, 85.4°W
Sep 25, 00:00 UTCCategory 1 hurricane75 mph22.4°N, 86.4°W
Sep 25, 06:00 UTCCategory 1 hurricane92 mph23.4°N, 87.0°W
Sep 25, 12:00 UTCCategory 2 hurricane104 mph968 mb24.6°N, 87.6°W
Sep 25, 18:00 UTCCategory 3 hurricane115 mph25.9°N, 87.5°W
Sep 26, 00:00 UTCCategory 2 hurricane109 mph27.4°N, 87.2°W
Sep 26, 06:00 UTCCategory 2 hurricane104 mph28.9°N, 86.8°W
Show all 19