NORTH ATLANTIC · SEASON MAP

2009 Atlantic hurricane season

Every recorded track, mapped · 11 storms · 28 May 2009–10 Nov 2009

ACCUMULATED CYCLONE ENERGY52.6
2009 Atlantic hurricane season: every recorded storm trackRecorded tracks of all 11 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: 28 May–29 May, peak 30 kt, Tropical depressionAna: 11 Aug–16 Aug, peak 35 kt, Tropical stormBill: 15 Aug–24 Aug, peak 115 kt, Category 4Claudette: 16 Aug–17 Aug, peak 50 kt, Tropical stormDanny: 26 Aug–29 Aug, peak 50 kt, Tropical stormErika: 1 Sep–3 Sep, peak 45 kt, Tropical stormFred: 7 Sep–12 Sep, peak 105 kt, Category 3Unnamed: 25 Sep–26 Sep, peak 30 kt, Tropical depressionGrace: 4 Oct–6 Oct, peak 55 kt, Tropical stormHenri: 6 Oct–8 Oct, peak 45 kt, Tropical stormIda: 4 Nov–10 Nov, peak 90 kt, Category 2

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Whole season

DepressionTropical stormCat 1Cat 2Cat 3Cat 4Cat 5Post-tropical
Every storm of the 2009 Atlantic hurricane season. Column headers sort the list.
Unnamed30Tropical depression10061,110
Ana35Tropical storm10031,800
Bill115Cat 49435,420
Claudette50Tropical storm1005430
Danny50Tropical storm1006570
Erika45Tropical storm1004550
Fred105Cat 39583,010
Unnamed30Tropical depression1008430
Grace55Tropical storm9862,930
Henri45Tropical storm10051,360
Ida90Cat 29751,450

11 storms with an IBTrACS 2009 hurricane season record. Tracks are the archived center positions, first observation 28 May 2009, last 10 Nov 2009.

Tropical storms9

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

Hurricanes3

64 kt or more, one-minute sustained

Major (Category 3+)2

96 kt or more, Saffir–Simpson scale

Category 50

137 kt or more at any tropical-stage observation

Strongest stormBill

115 kt · 132 mph / 213 km/h

Lowest pressure943 hPa

Bill, 21 Aug 2009

Longest track record11.8 days

Fred, full archive record

Storms without US-agency wind0

Mapped, but outside the counts above

QUICK ANSWERS

The 2009 season in brief

How many hurricanes were there in the 2009 Atlantic hurricane season?

The archive records 3 hurricanes (one-minute winds of 64 kt or more) among 9 tropical storms, with 2 major hurricanes reaching 96 kt. Counts use US-agency winds during the tropical stage.

What was the strongest storm of the 2009 Atlantic hurricane season?

Bill, with a peak one-minute sustained wind of 115 kt (Category 4) on 19 Aug 2009, 06:00 UTC and a minimum central pressure of 943 hPa.

How many Category 5 storms were there in 2009?

None. No storm in the 2009 Atlantic hurricane season reached Category 5 on the Saffir–Simpson one-minute wind scale in the archive.

When did the 2009 Atlantic hurricane season start and end?

The first tropical-stage observation is on 28 May 2009 and the last on 10 Nov 2009, from 11 tracked storms in the archive.

What was the first hurricane of the 2009 Atlantic hurricane season?

Bill, which reached hurricane strength (64 kt) on 17 Aug 2009, 06:00 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 2009 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