hurricanesmapped

NORTH ATLANTIC · SEASON MAP

1956 Atlantic hurricane season

Every recorded track, mapped · 12 storms · 7 Jun 1956–21 Nov 1956

ACCUMULATED CYCLONE ENERGY56.7
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1956 Atlantic hurricane season: every recorded storm trackRecorded tracks of all 12 storms, colored by the wind category at each observation. Hover or focus a storm in the table to highlight its track.UNITED STATESCANADAMEXICOCUBABRAZILAFRICAEUROPECHINAJAPANINDIAGulf of MexicoAtlantic OceanPacific OceanArabian SeaBay of BengalUnnamed: 7 Jun–9 Jun, peak 40 kt, Tropical stormUnnamed: 12 Jun–15 Jun, peak 50 kt, Tropical stormAnna: 25 Jul–27 Jul, peak 75 kt, Category 1Betsy: 9 Aug–18 Aug, peak 105 kt, Category 3Carla: 7 Sep–10 Sep, peak 53 kt, Tropical stormDora: 10 Sep–13 Sep, peak 50 kt, Tropical stormEthel: 11 Sep–14 Sep, peak 50 kt, Tropical stormFlossy: 20 Sep–25 Sep, peak 80 kt, Category 1Unnamed: 9 Oct–12 Oct, peak 40 kt, Tropical stormUnnamed: 14 Oct–17 Oct, peak 55 kt, Tropical stormGreta: 31 Oct–6 Nov, peak 85 kt, Category 2Unnamed: 19 Nov–21 Nov, peak 40 kt, Tropical storm

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Whole season

DepressionTropical stormCat 1Cat 2Cat 3Cat 4Cat 5Post-tropical
Every storm of the 1956 Atlantic hurricane season. Column headers sort the list.
Unnamed–40Tropical storm1002810
Unnamed–50Tropical storm1001980
Anna–75Cat 1991400
Betsy–105Cat 39544,560
Carla–53Tropical storm10004,500
Dora–50Tropical storm1000400
Ethel–50Tropical storm999420
Flossy–80Cat 19743,520
Unnamed–40Tropical storm—520
Unnamed–55Tropical storm9961,320
Greta–85Cat 29702,650
Unnamed–40Tropical storm—270

12 storms with an IBTrACS 1956 hurricane season record. Tracks are the archived center positions, first observation 7 Jun 1956, last 21 Nov 1956.

Tropical storms12

Tropical-stage US-agency wind of 34 kt or more

Hurricanes4

64 kt or more, one-minute sustained

Major (Category 3+)1

96 kt or more, Saffir–Simpson scale

Category 50

137 kt or more at any tropical-stage observation

Strongest stormBetsy

105 kt · 121 mph / 194 km/h

Lowest pressure954 hPa

Betsy, 17 Aug 1956

Longest track record12.5 days

Flossy, full archive record

Storms without US-agency wind0

Mapped, but outside the counts above

QUICK ANSWERS

The 1956 season in brief

How many hurricanes were there in the 1956 Atlantic hurricane season?

The archive records 4 hurricanes (one-minute winds of 64 kt or more) among 12 tropical storms, with 1 major hurricane reaching 96 kt. Counts use US-agency winds during the tropical stage.

What was the strongest storm of the 1956 Atlantic hurricane season?

Betsy, with a peak one-minute sustained wind of 105 kt (Category 3) on 14 Aug 1956, 06:00 UTC and a minimum central pressure of 954 hPa.

How many Category 5 storms were there in 1956?

None. No storm in the 1956 Atlantic hurricane season reached Category 5 on the Saffir–Simpson one-minute wind scale in the archive.

When did the 1956 Atlantic hurricane season start and end?

The first tropical-stage observation is on 7 Jun 1956 and the last on 21 Nov 1956, from 12 tracked storms in the archive.

What was the first hurricane of the 1956 Atlantic hurricane season?

Anna, which reached hurricane strength (64 kt) on 26 Jul 1956, 12:00 UTC.

METHODOLOGY

Data sources and limitations

The map and totals are generated from NOAA’s IBTrACS v04r01 archive. A storm belongs to this page when the archive lists it in the North Atlantic basin for the 1956 season, so a December storm whose track ends in January stays with its season. Storms that cross between basins appear on the page of their archive basin only.

Counts use US-agency one-minute winds during the tropical stage: 34 kt for a tropical storm, 64 kt for hurricane strength and 96 kt for major intensity, on the Saffir–Simpson scale in every basin. Local agencies classify storms differently, and official season summaries can differ from the archive. Accumulated cyclone energy sums squared winds at six-hourly synoptic times, counting observations in the calendar year. Storms with no US-agency wind are mapped but cannot enter the counts.

The map frame is the same for every North Atlantic season, so a track that leaves it is cut at the edge. Lines show each storm’s center, not its size, rainfall or flood extent. Coastlines use Natural Earth’s 1:10m land data.

Archive retrieved

NOAA IBTrACS archive · Field documentation

Sources & methodology