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Hurricane Juan (1985)

Hurricane Juan was a Category 1 hurricane at its peak, with 86 mph winds and a lowest pressure of 971 mb, per NOAA's National Hurricane Center. Modeled winds reached tropical-storm force (39 mph) at 8 of the cities we track; the strongest was Lafayette, LA, with a modeled peak gust of 76 mph.

Peak strength86 mph winds (1-minute)
Category 1
Cities with tropical-storm-force windsModeled, of the cities we track
8
LandfallsFirst October 29, 1985
1
Lowest pressure
971 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 Juan’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. October 29, 1985, Category 1 at 75 mph, about 62 miles from Lafayette, LA

Modeled winds at cities (8)

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

CityPeak gustSustainedClosest passPeak
Lafayette, LA76 mph62 mph2 milesOct 28, 1985, 6:00 AM CST
Lake Charles, LA70 mph57 mph55 milesOct 28, 1985, 11:45 AM CST
Baton Rouge, LA69 mph56 mph43 milesOct 29, 1985, 9:30 AM CST
Pensacola, FL61 mph49 mph25 milesOct 31, 1985, 1:00 PM EST
Beaumont, TX55 mph45 mph88 milesOct 28, 1985, 11:45 AM CST
Crestview, FL51 mph41 mph50 milesOct 31, 1985, 3:15 PM EST
New Orleans, LA50 mph40 mph67 milesOct 29, 1985, 6:00 AM CST
Daphne, AL48 mph39 mph18 milesOct 31, 1985, 10:45 AM CST

What happened

Juan, which formed over the central Gulf of Mexico on October 25, 1985, came ashore in St. Mary Parish, Louisiana, south of Patterson, at about 5 a.m. CST on October 29 as a Category 1 hurricane with 75 mph winds and a 974 mb pressure.1,2 After drifting over south Louisiana and back over the Gulf, it made a final landfall near Gulf Shores, Alabama, around noon on October 31 as a tropical storm with 65 mph winds.1,3

Tides ran 4 to 5 feet above mean sea level from the Atchafalaya River west to the upper Texas coast, and 5 to 8 feet in southeast Louisiana.1 Over several days, 10 to 15 inches of rain fell across central and southern Louisiana, with 15.21 inches at Jennings, while Fairhope, Alabama, got 12.23 inches and Pensacola, Florida, 11.71 inches.1,3 Thousands of homes flooded in southeastern Louisiana, mostly around Lake Pontchartrain.4 The highest gust measured on land was 55 knots (63 mph) at Pensacola on October 31.4,1 NHC attributes 12 deaths to Juan, 11 in Louisiana and one in a boating accident off the Texas coast.4 NHC's 1985 annual data report lists $1.5 billion in U.S. damage, and its preliminary report says most of the damage came from flooding in southern Louisiana.5,4

Sources

  1. 1. NWS Lake Charles: Hurricane Juan 1985
  2. 2. NOAA National Hurricane Center: Atlantic hurricane database (HURDAT2), 1851 to 2025
  3. 3. NWS Mobile/Pensacola: Hurricane Juan, October 1985
  4. 4. NOAA National Hurricane Center (hosted by NWS Lake Charles): Preliminary Report, Hurricane Juan, 26 October to 1 November 1985
  5. 5. NOAA National Hurricane Center: Annual Data and Verification Tabulation, Atlantic Tropical Cyclones 1985 (NOAA Technical Memorandum NWS NHC 29)

Best track (29 positions)

TimeStatusWindPressurePosition
Oct 26, 00:00 UTCTropical depression35 mph1005 mb24.5°N, 90.5°W
Oct 26, 06:00 UTCTropical depression35 mph1002 mb24.2°N, 91.5°W
Oct 26, 12:00 UTCTropical storm40 mph999 mb23.8°N, 92.5°W
Oct 26, 18:00 UTCTropical storm46 mph996 mb24.4°N, 92.8°W
Oct 27, 00:00 UTCTropical storm52 mph993 mb24.6°N, 92.0°W
Oct 27, 06:00 UTCTropical storm58 mph990 mb25.3°N, 92.2°W
Oct 27, 12:00 UTCTropical storm63 mph986 mb25.7°N, 91.5°W
Oct 27, 18:00 UTCTropical storm69 mph984 mb26.4°N, 91.1°W
Oct 28, 00:00 UTCCategory 1 hurricane75 mph982 mb27.8°N, 91.2°W
Oct 28, 06:00 UTCCategory 1 hurricane81 mph975 mb28.6°N, 91.5°W
Oct 28, 12:00 UTCCategory 1 hurricane86 mph972 mb29.4°N, 92.0°W
Oct 28, 18:00 UTCCategory 1 hurricane86 mph971 mb29.3°N, 93.0°W
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