Hurricane Charlie (1951)

Track map, landfall & timeline · Atlantic · August 12–23, 1951

Peak wind

132 mph

213 km/h · Aug 20

Peak category

Cat 4

Saffir–Simpson

Lowest pressure

968 mb

Landfalls

Quintana Roo, Mexico · Jamaica

Lifetime

11.8 d

Aug 12 – Aug 23

Distance

3,768 mi

6,063 km

ACE

20.7

storm energy

TD TS Cat 1 2 3 4 5 · dashed = post-tropical / remnant low. Click any point or table row to jump there.

01 · The story

What happened with Charlie

Hurricane Charlie (1951) was a Category 4 hurricane of the 1951 Atlantic season. It formed on August 12, 1951, reached its peak of 132 mph (213 km/h) and a minimum pressure of 968 mb on August 20, 1951, and made landfall 4 times — first 10 mi SW of Kingston, Jamaica on August 18, 1951 as a Category 3 hurricane (127 mph). Later landfalls: 14 mi SSW of Cozumel, Quintana Roo, Mexico on August 20, 1951 as a Category 4 hurricane (132 mph); near Puerto Aventuras, Quintana Roo, Mexico on August 20, 1951 as a Category 4 hurricane (132 mph); near Tampico, Tamaulipas, Mexico on August 22, 1951 as a Category 3 hurricane (115 mph). It rapidly intensified by 41 mph in 24 hours (to 127 mph on August 18, 1951). The storm lasted 11.8 days and travelled about 3,768 miles (6,063 km).

02 · Intensity

Wind and pressure, hour by hour

Maximum sustained wind (mph) — hover or drag to scrub the map

03 · Impact

Landfalls and cities in the path

Landfall (UTC)	Where	Strength	Pressure
August 18, 1951 · 03:00 UTC	10 mi SW of Kingston, Jamaica	Cat 3 127 mph	—
August 20, 1951 · 02:00 UTC	14 mi SSW of Cozumel, Quintana Roo, Mexico	Cat 4 132 mph	—
August 20, 1951 · 03:00 UTC	near Puerto Aventuras, Quintana Roo, Mexico	Cat 4 132 mph	—
August 22, 1951 · 19:00 UTC	near Tampico, Tamaulipas, Mexico	Cat 3 115 mph	968 mb

Closest approach to major cities

City	Distance to center	When (UTC)	Storm strength then
Kingston, Jamaica	10 mi	Aug 18 · 03:00 UTC	Cat 3 127 mph
New Kingston, Jamaica	11 mi	Aug 18 · 03:00 UTC	Cat 3 127 mph
Cancún, Quintana Roo, Mexico	61 mi	Aug 20 · 03:00 UTC	Cat 4 132 mph
Mérida, Yucatán, Mexico	12 mi	Aug 20 · 14:00 UTC	Cat 1 79 mph
Tampico, Tamaulipas, Mexico	direct hit	Aug 22 · 20:00 UTC	Cat 2 107 mph
San Luis Potosí, San Luis Potosí, Mexico	71 mi	Aug 23 · 18:00 UTC	TD 29 mph
Soledad de Graciano Sánchez, San Luis Potosí, Mexico	68 mi	Aug 23 · 18:00 UTC	TD 29 mph

Distance from the city to the storm’s center, interpolated hourly between official fixes. Damaging winds, surge and rain reach far beyond the center.

04 · Timeline

Every official fix 52 positions

Date · UTC	Status	Wind	Pressure	Position	Nearest place
Aug 12 00:00	TD	35 mph	—	12.1°N 44.1°W	open ocean
Aug 12 06:00	TD	35 mph	—	12.1°N 45.3°W	open ocean
Aug 12 12:00	TD	35 mph	—	12.2°N 46.2°W	open ocean
Aug 12 18:00	TD	35 mph	—	12.4°N 46.9°W	open ocean
Aug 13 00:00	TD	35 mph	—	12.6°N 47.6°W	open ocean
Aug 13 06:00	TD	35 mph	—	12.7°N 48.4°W	open ocean
Aug 13 12:00	TD	35 mph	—	12.8°N 49.2°W	open ocean
Aug 13 18:00	TD	35 mph	—	12.9°N 50.0°W	open ocean
Aug 14 00:00	TS	40 mph	—	13.0°N 50.8°W	open ocean
Aug 14 06:00	TS	46 mph	—	13.2°N 51.6°W	open ocean
Aug 14 12:00	TS	46 mph	—	13.4°N 52.4°W	open ocean
Aug 14 18:00	TS	46 mph	—	13.6°N 53.6°W	open ocean
Aug 15 00:00	TS	52 mph	—	13.8°N 55.3°W	open ocean
Aug 15 06:00	TS	58 mph	—	14.1°N 57.1°W	183 mi ENE of Bridgetown, Barbados
Aug 15 12:00	TS	63 mph	999 mb	14.4°N 58.9°W	102 mi NNE of Bridgetown, Barbados
Aug 15 18:00	TS	69 mph	—	14.8°N 60.7°W	18 mi ENE of Le Robert, Martinique
Aug 16 00:00	TS	69 mph	—	15.2°N 62.6°W	80 mi SW of Basse-Terre, Guadeloupe
Aug 16 06:00	Cat 1	75 mph	—	15.6°N 64.6°W	147 mi S of Saint Croix, U.S. Virgin Islands
Aug 16 12:00	Cat 1	75 mph	992 mb	15.9°N 66.7°W	146 mi S of Ponce, Puerto Rico
Aug 16 18:00	Cat 1	81 mph	—	16.2°N 68.6°W	156 mi S of La Romana, Dominican Republic
Aug 17 00:00	Cat 1	86 mph	—	16.3°N 70.2°W	137 mi S of Baní, Dominican Republic
Aug 17 06:00	Cat 1	92 mph	—	16.4°N 71.7°W	113 mi S of Pedernales, Dominican Republic
Aug 17 12:00	Cat 2	98 mph	978 mb	16.6°N 73.1°W	118 mi SSE of Les Cayes, Haiti
Aug 17 18:00	Cat 2	109 mph	971 mb	17.1°N 74.6°W	94 mi SW of Les Cayes, Haiti
Aug 18 00:00	Cat 3	127 mph	—	17.6°N 76.2°W	48 mi SE of Kingston, Jamaica
Aug 18 03:00	Cat 3 LANDFALL	127 mph	—	17.9°N 76.9°W	10 mi SW of Kingston, Jamaica
Aug 18 06:00	Cat 2	98 mph	—	18.1°N 77.8°W	20 mi WNW of Mandeville, Jamaica
Aug 18 12:00	Cat 1	86 mph	—	18.3°N 79.4°W	69 mi W of Negril, Jamaica
Aug 18 18:00	Cat 1	86 mph	—	18.6°N 80.9°W	52 mi SSE of Bodden Town, Cayman Islands
Aug 19 00:00	Cat 1	92 mph	982 mb	18.9°N 82.2°W	60 mi WSW of George Town, Cayman Islands
Aug 19 06:00	Cat 2	98 mph	—	19.2°N 83.4°W	132 mi W of George Town, Cayman Islands
Aug 19 12:00	Cat 2	98 mph	976 mb	19.4°N 84.5°W	176 mi ESE of Cozumel, Quintana Roo, Mexico
Aug 19 18:00	Cat 3	115 mph	—	19.8°N 85.6°W	100 mi ESE of Cozumel, Quintana Roo, Mexico
Aug 20 00:00	Cat 4	132 mph	—	20.2°N 86.7°W	26 mi SE of Cozumel, Quintana Roo, Mexico
Aug 20 02:00	Cat 4 LANDFALL	132 mph	—	20.3°N 87.0°W	14 mi SSW of Cozumel, Quintana Roo, Mexico
Aug 20 03:00	Cat 4 LANDFALL	132 mph	—	20.4°N 87.3°W	21 mi SW of Playa del Carmen, Quintana Roo, Mexico
Aug 20 06:00	Cat 2	104 mph	—	20.6°N 87.9°W	near Chemax, Yucatán, Mexico
Aug 20 12:00	Cat 1	81 mph	—	21.0°N 89.2°W	near Motul, Yucatán, Mexico
Aug 20 18:00	Cat 1	75 mph	—	21.4°N 90.4°W	43 mi NW of Hunucmá, Yucatán, Mexico
Aug 21 00:00	Cat 1	75 mph	989 mb	21.6°N 91.6°W	118 mi WNW of Hunucmá, Yucatán, Mexico
Aug 21 06:00	Cat 1	75 mph	—	21.6°N 92.7°W	186 mi NW of Campeche, Campeche, Mexico
Aug 21 12:00	Cat 1	75 mph	—	21.6°N 93.7°W	open ocean
Aug 21 18:00	Cat 1	75 mph	988 mb	21.6°N 94.3°W	open ocean
Aug 22 00:00	Cat 1	81 mph	982 mb	21.7°N 94.9°W	169 mi ENE of Túxpam de Rodríguez Cano, Veracruz, Mexico
Aug 22 06:00	Cat 1	92 mph	—	21.9°N 95.7°W	128 mi ENE of Túxpam de Rodríguez Cano, Veracruz, Mexico
Aug 22 12:00	Cat 2	98 mph	972 mb	22.1°N 96.6°W	80 mi E of Ciudad Madero, Tamaulipas, Mexico
Aug 22 18:00	Cat 3	115 mph	968 mb	22.2°N 97.5°W	22 mi E of Ciudad Madero, Tamaulipas, Mexico
Aug 22 19:00	Cat 3 LANDFALL	115 mph	968 mb	22.3°N 97.8°W	near Tampico, Tamaulipas, Mexico
Aug 23 00:00	Cat 1	75 mph	—	22.3°N 98.2°W	13 mi ENE of Ébano, San Luis Potosí, Mexico
Aug 23 06:00	TS	52 mph	—	22.4°N 98.8°W	26 mi SSE of Ciudad Mante, Tamaulipas, Mexico
Aug 23 12:00	TS	40 mph	—	22.4°N 99.4°W	10 mi SSW of El Naranjo, San Luis Potosí, Mexico
Aug 23 18:00	TD	29 mph	—	22.4°N 99.9°W	19 mi W of Ciudad del Maíz, San Luis Potosí, Mexico

⬇ Download track data (CSV) · public-domain NOAA best track

Questions

Frequently asked questions

When and where did Charlie make landfall?

Charlie made landfall 4 times: 10 mi SW of Kingston, Jamaica on August 18, 1951 at 03:00 UTC, as a Category 3 hurricane with 127 mph winds; 14 mi SSW of Cozumel, Quintana Roo, Mexico on August 20, 1951 at 02:00 UTC, as a Category 4 hurricane with 132 mph winds; near Puerto Aventuras, Quintana Roo, Mexico on August 20, 1951 at 03:00 UTC, as a Category 4 hurricane with 132 mph winds; near Tampico, Tamaulipas, Mexico on August 22, 1951 at 19:00 UTC, as a Category 3 hurricane with 115 mph winds.

What category was Charlie?

At its peak on August 20, 1951, Charlie was a Category 4 hurricane with maximum sustained winds of 132 mph (213 km/h) and a central pressure of 968 mb. At its first landfall it was a Category 3 hurricane.

How long did Charlie last?

11.8 days, from August 12, 1951 to August 23, 1951, including 168 hours at hurricane strength (24 as a major hurricane). It travelled about 3,768 miles.

Where can I download the track data for Charlie?

The 6-hourly positions, winds, pressure and wind radii are available as CSV on this page (track.csv) — they come from the NOAA National Hurricane Center's HURDAT2 database and are in the public domain.

Related storms

Keep exploring

Every storm named Charlie

Year	Storm	Peak	Landfall
1950	Hurricane Charlie Atlantic	Cat 2 109 mph	—	→
1951	Hurricane Charlie · this page Atlantic	Cat 4 132 mph	Quintana Roo, Mexico, Jamaica
1952	Hurricane Charlie Atlantic	Cat 3 121 mph	—	→
1972	Hurricane Charlie Atlantic	Cat 1 92 mph	—	→

Names are recycled every six years unless a storm is so deadly or costly that the name is retired.

Strongest storms of 1951

Year	Storm	Peak	Landfall
1951	Hurricane Easy Atlantic	Cat 4 150 mph	—	→
1951	Hurricane Fox Atlantic	Cat 3 115 mph	—	→
1951	Hurricane How Atlantic	Cat 2 98 mph	Florida	→
1951	Hurricane Able Atlantic	Cat 1 92 mph	Bahamas	→
1951	Hurricane Dog Atlantic	Cat 1 92 mph	—	→
1951	Hurricane Jig Atlantic	Cat 1 75 mph	—	→
1951	Tropical Storm George Atlantic	TS 58 mph	Veracruz, Mexico	→

See every 1951 storm on one map →

Background reading: Hurricane Charlie on Wikipedia.

← Previous Atlantic stormHurricane Able (1951)Next Atlantic storm →Hurricane Dog (1951)

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