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Hurricane Ethel (1960)

Hurricane Ethel was a Category 3 hurricane at its peak, with 115 mph winds and a lowest pressure of 974 mb, per NOAA's National Hurricane Center. Modeled winds reached tropical-storm force (39 mph) at 6 of the cities we track; the strongest was Gulfport, MS, with a modeled peak gust of 78 mph.

Peak strength115 mph winds (1-minute)
Category 3
Cities with tropical-storm-force windsModeled, of the cities we track
6
LandfallsFirst September 15, 1960
1
Lowest pressure
974 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 Ethel’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 15, 1960, Category 1 at 81 mph, about 4 miles from Gulfport, MS

Modeled winds at cities (6)

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

CityPeak gustSustainedClosest passPeak
Gulfport, MS78 mph63 mph3 milesSep 15, 1960, 1:45 PM GMT-5
Mobile, AL70 mph57 mph55 milesSep 15, 1960, 12:45 PM GMT-5
Daphne, AL65 mph53 mph66 milesSep 15, 1960, 12:45 PM GMT-5
Slidell, LA61 mph50 mph46 milesSep 15, 1960, 12:45 PM GMT-5
New Orleans, LA58 mph47 mph61 milesSep 15, 1960, 12:00 PM GMT-5
Pensacola, FL50 mph41 mph99 milesSep 15, 1960, 1:45 PM GMT-4

What happened

Ethel, which formed in the central Gulf of Mexico on September 14, 1960, came ashore near Biloxi, Mississippi, on the afternoon of September 15.1 NHC's best track puts landfall at 2100 UTC with sustained winds of 70 knots (81 mph), Category 1.2,3

The highest sustained wind at a land station was 90 mph, with gusts to 105 mph, at Venice, Louisiana, early on September 15.1 The highest tide was 7 feet above mean sea level at Quarantine Bay on the east side of the Mississippi River, and tides of 2 to 5 feet reached from the river's mouth east to St. Marks, Florida.1 Rains of 5 to 6 inches fell in southeast Mississippi, southwest Alabama and extreme northwest Florida without significant flooding.1 The Weather Bureau's preliminary report says total damage probably did not exceed $1 million and reports no loss of life.1

Sources

  1. 1. U.S. Weather Bureau, New Orleans (NHC storm archive): Preliminary Report on Hurricane Ethel, September 14-17, 1960
  2. 2. National Hurricane Center: Atlantic hurricane database (HURDAT2), 1851-2024
  3. 3. National Hurricane Center: The Deadliest, Costliest, and Most Intense United States Tropical Cyclones from 1851 to 2010 (NOAA Technical Memorandum NWS NHC-6)

Best track (22 positions)

TimeStatusWindPressurePosition
Sep 12, 18:00 UTCTropical depression29 mph22.0°N, 93.0°W
Sep 13, 00:00 UTCTropical depression29 mph22.3°N, 92.7°W
Sep 13, 06:00 UTCTropical depression35 mph22.4°N, 92.4°W
Sep 13, 12:00 UTCTropical storm40 mph22.6°N, 92.1°W
Sep 13, 18:00 UTCTropical storm46 mph22.8°N, 91.9°W
Sep 14, 00:00 UTCTropical storm52 mph23.1°N, 91.7°W
Sep 14, 06:00 UTCTropical storm69 mph23.4°N, 91.3°W
Sep 14, 12:00 UTCCategory 1 hurricane92 mph23.9°N, 90.8°W
Sep 14, 18:00 UTCCategory 3 hurricane115 mph974 mb25.6°N, 90.0°W
Sep 15, 00:00 UTCCategory 3 hurricane115 mph976 mb27.1°N, 89.2°W
Sep 15, 06:00 UTCCategory 1 hurricane92 mph981 mb28.4°N, 88.8°W
Sep 15, 12:00 UTCCategory 1 hurricane86 mph985 mb29.4°N, 88.7°W
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