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Hurricane Ione (1955)

Hurricane Ione was a Category 4 hurricane at its peak, with 138 mph winds and a lowest pressure of 938 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 Wilmington, NC, with a modeled peak gust of 77 mph.

Peak strength138 mph winds (1-minute)
Category 4
Cities with tropical-storm-force windsModeled, of the cities we track
4
LandfallsFirst September 19, 1955
1
Lowest pressure
938 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 Ione’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 19, 1955, Category 2 at 104 mph, about 76 miles from Wilmington, NC

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
Wilmington, NC77 mph62 mph73 milesSep 19, 1955, 8:00 AM GMT-4
Virginia Beach, VA68 mph55 mph22 milesSep 19, 1955, 10:30 PM GMT-4
Raleigh, NC53 mph43 mph115 milesSep 19, 1955, 8:00 AM GMT-4
Fayetteville, NC52 mph43 mph129 milesSep 19, 1955, 8:00 AM GMT-4

What happened

Ione came ashore near Morehead City, North Carolina, on September 19, 1955.1 NHC's best track gives it 90-knot (104 mph) winds, Category 2 strength, and a 955 mb central pressure at landfall at 1100 UTC.2

Cherry Point measured sustained winds of 75 mph with gusts to 107 mph.3 Storm surge reached 3.6 feet at Morehead City, and Wrightsville Beach had a storm tide of 5.3 feet.3 Strong, long-lasting east winds brought some of the largest tidal floods in eastern North Carolina's history.3 With Ione's added rain, many rivers rose to levels not seen again until Hurricane Floyd in 1999.3 NWS Newport/Morehead City puts Ione's damage in eastern North Carolina at over $600 million, much of it to farms, and counts 7 deaths in the state.3

Sources

  1. 1. NWS Wilmington, NC: Today in Local Weather History
  2. 2. NOAA National Hurricane Center: Atlantic hurricane database (HURDAT2), 1851 to 2025
  3. 3. NWS Newport/Morehead City, NC: Hurricane Ione, September 11-21, 1955

Best track (69 positions)

TimeStatusWindPressurePosition
Sep 10, 06:00 UTCTropical depression29 mph13.6°N, 41.4°W
Sep 10, 12:00 UTCTropical storm40 mph14.0°N, 43.0°W
Sep 10, 18:00 UTCTropical storm40 mph14.4°N, 44.6°W
Sep 11, 00:00 UTCTropical storm40 mph14.8°N, 46.2°W
Sep 11, 06:00 UTCTropical storm40 mph15.1°N, 47.8°W
Sep 11, 12:00 UTCTropical storm40 mph15.2°N, 49.3°W
Sep 11, 18:00 UTCTropical storm40 mph14.9°N, 50.8°W
Sep 12, 00:00 UTCTropical storm40 mph14.6°N, 52.1°W
Sep 12, 06:00 UTCTropical storm40 mph14.3°N, 53.4°W
Sep 12, 12:00 UTCTropical storm40 mph14.0°N, 54.6°W
Sep 12, 18:00 UTCTropical storm40 mph1007 mb14.0°N, 55.8°W
Sep 13, 00:00 UTCTropical storm40 mph14.4°N, 56.9°W
Show all 69