1830s Atlantic hurricane seasons

<div id="toc" style="text-align:center; float:right; margin-left:1.5em; margin-bottom:1em; width:20em; font-size: 90%;"><big>**Atlantic hurricane seasons**</big>

<big>1810s 1820s **1830s** 1840s 1850s</big></div> The decade of 1830s featured the 1830–1839 Atlantic hurricane seasons. While info for every storm that happened is not available, some parts of the coastline were had enough people to give info of hurricane happenings. Each season was an ongoing event in the annual cycle of tropical cyclone formation in the Atlantic basin. Most tropical cyclone formation is between June 1 and November 30.

## 1830 Atlantic hurricane season

I. A hurricane moved from Trinidad to western Cuba between August 3 and August 9.

### Atlantic Coast Hurricane

II. First noted in the Leeward Islands on August 11, a hurricane moved into the Caribbean in the middle of August. It moved west-northwestward, and approached the coast of Florida. It came close to present-day Daytona Beach on August 15, but recurved northeastward before landfall, although land was not spared from effects. It made landfall near Cape Fear on the 16th and went out to sea that night, eventually well to the north of Bermuda just offshore the Canadian Maritimes. The hurricane broke a three-month drought, but caused heavy crop damage in the process.

III. A hurricane tracked north of the Leeward Islands on August 19 through the southwest and western Atlantic by August 26.

IV. A hurricane moved from north of Puerto Rico on September 29 to well northeast of Bermuda on October 1.

V. A tropical storm struck South Carolina on October 6.

## 1831 Atlantic hurricane season

I. A tropical storm made landfall in northeast Florida on June 10.

II. A hurricane moved from south of Barbados to the Yucatán Peninsula between June 22 and June 28.

### Great Barbados Hurricane

III. The Great Barbados Hurricane was an intense Category 4 hurricane that left cataclysmic damage across the Caribbean and Louisiana in 1831. It left 2,500 people dead and $7 million (1831 dollars) in damage.

IV. A strong tropical storm/hurricane struck western Louisiana between August 27 and August 30.

V. A hurricane hit near the mouth of the Rio Grande, causing heavy rain over Texas and Mexico.

## 1832 Atlantic hurricane season

I. Early in the season, a hurricane moved through the Bahamas around June 5, causing 52 deaths. The gale began June 6 at 8 p.m. at Bermuda from the northeast, with the center passing quite close to the island as the wind shifted to southwest at 10:30 p.m. The storm lasted until 3 a.m. on June 7. Two schooners were damaged during the system. (from Beware the Hurricane)

II. On August 12, this hurricane was noted near Key West. The cyclone moved across the eastern Gulf of Mexico striking northwest Florida, then recurving through the Southeast to move through South Carolina by August 18.

III. On August 21 a tropical storm was witnessed to the west-southwest of the Cape Verde Islands in the eastern tropical Atlantic.

IV. Between August 23 and August 27, a hurricane moved from the central Leeward Islands to the east of Jamaica.

V. On October 14, a tropical storm moved into South Carolina.

## 1833 Atlantic hurricane season

A hurricane passed offshore of Norfolk in late August, keeping ships at harbor but causing no damage.

## 1834 Atlantic hurricane season

I. On September 4 a hurricane hit South Carolina, causing 37 deaths. It moved through North Carolina and Virginia, capsizing the ship _E. Pluribus Unum_. The crew made it safely to shore.

II. A hurricane struck the island of Dominica on September 20, bringing heavy winds and a 12 ft storm surge that devastated the capital of Roseau; 230 people are believed to have been killed by the hurricane's onslaught. Then the hurricane made its second landfall at Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic on the 23rd. About 170 sailors died when their ships sank in the Ozama River. On land the hurricane disrupted the funeral service of Padre Ruiz, a Roman Catholic priest. A total of 400 people were killed from the hurricane.

III. Also in September, a hurricane hit south Texas, causing heavy damage.

### Antigua Hurricane

A hurricane was first detected near Antigua on August 12. It moved over Puerto Rico, Dominican Republic, and Cuba, causing at least 3 casualties. It moved across the Florida Straits and the Gulf of Mexico, hitting near the mouth of the Rio Grande on August 18. There, it destroyed small villages, caused strong storm surge, and killed 18 people.

Jay Barnes in "Florida's Hurricane History" pg 56, noted a hurricane, possibly the same, that smashed Cape Florida and Key Biscayne, creating the Norris Cut and knocking over the Ponce de Leon lighthouse.  From there, the storm entered the Gulf of Mexico and took a hard northeast tack, damaging Fort Brooke in Tampa, terrorizing the city, and then ambling northward into Georgia and the Carolinas, making the trip "all the way into New England."

## 1836 Atlantic hurricane season

A hurricane hit the Cayman Islands during this season.

## 1837 Atlantic hurricane season

I. On July 26 a storm hit Martinique. It caused 57 deaths.

II. On August 2, a hurricane hit Puerto Rico, causing 141 deaths.

III. A tropical system was observed east of the West Indies on August 13. It moved through the islands, and passed the Bahamas on the 16th. As it was recurving, it hit the North Carolina coast on the 18th. It slowly moved over land, causing 48 hours of strong winds, and moved offshore on the 20th. This is known as the Calypso Hurricane.

### Racer's Storm

IV. The 10th known tropical storm in the 1837 season, nicknamed **Racer's Storm**, was first observed in the Western Caribbean during late September. It moved across the Yucatán Peninsula and the western Gulf of Mexico, where it hit Brownsville, Texas on October 2. It remained over land for 3 days before recurving to the east, hitting near Louisiana and Pensacola before moving out to sea. This hurricane caused 105 deaths.

## 1838 Atlantic hurricane season

I. On September 7, a hurricane hit near Cape Florida, causing 38 deaths.

II. A late season hurricane hit the east coast of Mexico on November 1, sinking 2 U.S. ships.

## 1839 Atlantic hurricane season

I. A hurricane hit Charleston, South Carolina on August 28. It passed over North Carolina and Virginia before going out to sea on the 30th.

II. This cyclone is known as **Reid's Hurricane**. The system moved from east of the West Indies into the southwest Atlantic. Swells were noted as early as September 9 at Bermuda. During late on the September 11 and early on September 12, this hurricane struck Bermuda. The storm tide was measured as 11 feet/3.3 meters. Thousands of trees were downed. The tower on Tower Hill was levelled. Damage done to private property totalled 8000 pounds sterling (1839 pounds). This cyclone later swept western Ireland as an extratropical storm, which they called **The Great Wind of 1839**. This was one of the first hurricanes to be studied by William Reid in person, in this case as governor of the island the year after his publication of "The Law of Storms". (from Beware the Hurricane)

III. During the middle of September, a hurricane approached the coast of Louisiana. It struck near Lake Charles, then known as Charley's Lake, on September 15.

IV. A late season hurricane hit Galveston, Texas on November 5.

## Related pages

- List of Atlantic hurricane seasons

### Books

- David Longshore. "Padre Ruiz Hurricane." Encyclopedia of Hurricanes, Typhoons and Cyclones. David Longshore. New York: Facts on File, 1998, Pg; 257.
- David Longshore. "Great Caribbean Hurricane of 1831." Encyclopedia of Hurricanes, Typhoons and Cyclones. David Longshore. New York: Facts on File, 1998, Pg; 145.
- Terry Tucker. Beware the Hurricane! The Story of the Gyratory Tropical Storms That Have Struck Bermuda. Bermuda: Hamilton Press, 1966, p. 89-104.

## Other websites

- The Deadliest Atlantic Tropical Cyclones, 1492-1996 National Hurricane Center