Hurricane Ella (1958)

Track map, landfall & timeline · Atlantic · August 30 – September 7, 1958

Peak wind

109 mph

176 km/h · Sep 1

Peak category

Cat 2

Saffir–Simpson

Lowest pressure

983 mb

Landfalls

Haiti · Santiago de Cuba Province, Cuba

Lifetime

7.8 d

Aug 30 – Sep 7

Distance

2,924 mi

4,705 km

ACE

9.7

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 Ella

Hurricane Ella (1958) was a Category 2 hurricane of the 1958 Atlantic season. It formed on August 30, 1958, 117 mi ESE of Bridgetown, Barbados, reached its peak of 109 mph (176 km/h) and a minimum pressure of 983 mb on September 1, 1958, and made landfall 5 times — first near Aquin, Haiti on September 1, 1958 as a Category 2 hurricane (109 mph). Later landfalls: 20 mi SW of Palma Soriano, Santiago de Cuba Province, Cuba on September 2, 1958 as a Category 1 hurricane (81 mph); near Nueva Gerona, Isla de la Juventud, Cuba on September 3, 1958 as a tropical storm (63 mph); near Guane, Pinar del Río, Cuba on September 3, 1958 as a tropical storm (69 mph); and more. It rapidly intensified by 41 mph in 24 hours (to 81 mph on August 31, 1958). The storm lasted 7.8 days and travelled about 2,924 miles (4,705 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
September 1, 1958 · 12:00 UTC	near Aquin, Haiti	Cat 2 109 mph	—
September 2, 1958 · 00:00 UTC	20 mi SW of Palma Soriano, Santiago de Cuba Province, Cuba	Cat 1 81 mph	—
September 3, 1958 · 11:00 UTC	near Nueva Gerona, Isla de la Juventud, Cuba	TS 63 mph	1003 mb
September 3, 1958 · 17:00 UTC	near Guane, Pinar del Río, Cuba	TS 69 mph	—
September 6, 1958 · 08:00 UTC	24 mi SSE of Corpus Christi, Texas	TS 58 mph	1001 mb

Closest approach to major cities

City	Distance to center	When (UTC)	Storm strength then
Port-au-Prince, Haiti	55 mi	Sep 1 · 09:00 UTC	Cat 2 104 mph
Carrefour, Haiti	53 mi	Sep 1 · 09:00 UTC	Cat 2 104 mph
Delmas, Haiti	56 mi	Sep 1 · 09:00 UTC	Cat 2 104 mph
Pétionville, Haiti	55 mi	Sep 1 · 09:00 UTC	Cat 2 104 mph
Santiago de Cuba, Santiago de Cuba Province, Cuba	15 mi	Sep 1 · 23:00 UTC	Cat 1 81 mph
Holguín, Holguín Province, Cuba	50 mi	Sep 2 · 02:00 UTC	Cat 1 75 mph
Camagüey, Camagüey, Cuba	26 mi	Sep 2 · 11:00 UTC	TS 58 mph
Corpus Christi, Texas	21 mi	Sep 6 · 09:00 UTC	TS 52 mph
Nuevo Laredo, Tamaulipas, Mexico	direct hit	Sep 7 · 00:00 UTC	TD 29 mph
Laredo, Texas	direct hit	Sep 7 · 00:00 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 35 positions

Date · UTC	Status	Wind	Pressure	Position	Nearest place
Aug 30 06:00	TD	35 mph	—	12.5°N 58.0°W	117 mi ESE of Bridgetown, Barbados
Aug 30 12:00	TS	40 mph	—	13.8°N 60.0°W	54 mi NNW of Bridgetown, Barbados
Aug 30 18:00	TS	40 mph	—	14.8°N 61.9°W	49 mi SW of Roseau, Dominica
Aug 31 00:00	TS	46 mph	—	15.5°N 63.8°W	142 mi WSW of Basse-Terre, Guadeloupe
Aug 31 06:00	TS	58 mph	—	15.9°N 65.5°W	136 mi SSW of Saint Croix, U.S. Virgin Islands
Aug 31 12:00	Cat 1	75 mph	—	16.0°N 67.2°W	144 mi SSW of Ponce, Puerto Rico
Aug 31 18:00	Cat 1	81 mph	—	16.3°N 69.0°W	147 mi S of La Romana, Dominican Republic
Sep 1 00:00	Cat 1	86 mph	983 mb	16.8°N 70.7°W	101 mi SSE of Santa Cruz de Barahona, Dominican Republic
Sep 1 06:00	Cat 2	98 mph	—	17.5°N 72.1°W	44 mi SSW of Pedernales, Dominican Republic
Sep 1 12:00	Cat 2 LANDFALL	109 mph	—	18.2°N 73.4°W	23 mi E of Les Cayes, Haiti
Sep 1 18:00	Cat 1	81 mph	995 mb	19.1°N 74.8°W	54 mi NW of Jérémie, Haiti
Sep 2 00:00	Cat 1 LANDFALL	81 mph	—	20.0°N 76.2°W	20 mi SW of Palma Soriano, Santiago de Cuba Province, Cuba
Sep 2 06:00	TS	63 mph	—	20.7°N 77.4°W	15 mi SE of Amancio, Las Tunas Province, Cuba
Sep 2 12:00	TS	58 mph	—	21.1°N 78.2°W	11 mi SSW of Vertientes, Camagüey, Cuba
Sep 2 18:00	TS	52 mph	1004 mb	21.3°N 79.2°W	33 mi S of La Sierpe, Sancti Spíritus Province, Cuba
Sep 3 00:00	TS	58 mph	—	21.5°N 80.4°W	34 mi SW of Trinidad, Sancti Spíritus Province, Cuba
Sep 3 06:00	TS	58 mph	—	21.7°N 81.7°W	68 mi SSW of Jagüey Grande, Matanzas Province, Cuba
Sep 3 11:00	TS LANDFALL	63 mph	1003 mb	21.8°N 82.7°W	near Nueva Gerona, Isla de la Juventud, Cuba
Sep 3 12:00	TS	63 mph	1003 mb	21.9°N 83.0°W	12 mi W of Nueva Gerona, Isla de la Juventud, Cuba
Sep 3 17:00	TS LANDFALL	69 mph	—	22.1°N 84.0°W	near Guane, Pinar del Río, Cuba
Sep 3 18:00	TS	69 mph	—	22.1°N 84.2°W	10 mi SW of Guane, Pinar del Río, Cuba
Sep 4 00:00	TS	69 mph	1001 mb	22.4°N 85.4°W	72 mi W of Mantua, Pinar del Río, Cuba
Sep 4 06:00	TS	69 mph	—	22.8°N 86.6°W	113 mi N of Cancún, Quintana Roo, Mexico
Sep 4 12:00	TS	69 mph	—	23.2°N 87.7°W	150 mi NNW of Cancún, Quintana Roo, Mexico
Sep 4 18:00	TS	69 mph	—	23.8°N 88.8°W	183 mi NNE of Progreso, Yucatán, Mexico
Sep 5 00:00	TS	63 mph	—	24.7°N 90.1°W	open ocean
Sep 5 06:00	TS	63 mph	—	25.6°N 91.5°W	open ocean
Sep 5 12:00	TS	58 mph	1002 mb	26.3°N 92.8°W	open ocean
Sep 5 18:00	TS	58 mph	—	26.8°N 94.0°W	170 mi SSE of Freeport, Texas
Sep 6 00:00	TS	58 mph	1001 mb	27.1°N 95.3°W	125 mi ESE of Rockport, Texas
Sep 6 06:00	TS	58 mph	1001 mb	27.4°N 96.8°W	46 mi SE of Corpus Christi, Texas
Sep 6 08:00	TS LANDFALL	58 mph	1001 mb	27.5°N 97.2°W	24 mi SSE of Corpus Christi, Texas
Sep 6 12:00	TD	35 mph	—	27.5°N 98.0°W	near Kingsville, Texas
Sep 6 18:00	TD	29 mph	1002 mb	27.5°N 98.8°W	44 mi E of Nuevo Laredo, Tamaulipas, Mexico
Sep 7 00:00	TD	29 mph	1005 mb	27.5°N 99.5°W	near Nuevo Laredo, Tamaulipas, Mexico

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

Questions

Frequently asked questions

When and where did Ella make landfall?

Ella made landfall 5 times: near Aquin, Haiti on September 1, 1958 at 12:00 UTC, as a Category 2 hurricane with 109 mph winds; 20 mi SW of Palma Soriano, Santiago de Cuba Province, Cuba on September 2, 1958 at 00:00 UTC, as a Category 1 hurricane with 81 mph winds; near Nueva Gerona, Isla de la Juventud, Cuba on September 3, 1958 at 11:00 UTC, as a tropical storm with 63 mph winds; near Guane, Pinar del Río, Cuba on September 3, 1958 at 17:00 UTC, as a tropical storm with 69 mph winds; 24 mi SSE of Corpus Christi, Texas on September 6, 1958 at 08:00 UTC, as a tropical storm with 58 mph winds.

What category was Ella?

At its peak on September 1, 1958, Ella was a Category 2 hurricane with maximum sustained winds of 109 mph (176 km/h) and a central pressure of 983 mb. At its first landfall it was a Category 2 hurricane.

How long did Ella last?

7.8 days, from August 30, 1958 to September 7, 1958, including 42 hours at hurricane strength. It travelled about 2,924 miles.

Where can I download the track data for Ella?

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 Ella

Year	Storm	Peak	Landfall
1958	Hurricane Ella · this page Atlantic	Cat 2 109 mph	Haiti, Santiago de Cuba Province, Cuba
1962	Hurricane Ella Atlantic	Cat 2 109 mph	—	→
1966	Tropical Storm Ella Atlantic	TS 46 mph	—
1970	Hurricane Ella Atlantic	Cat 3 127 mph	Tamaulipas, Mexico, Quintana Roo, Mexico	→
1978	Hurricane Ella Atlantic	Cat 4 138 mph	—	→

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

Strongest storms of 1958

Year	Storm	Peak	Landfall
1958	Hurricane Helene Atlantic	Cat 4 150 mph	—	→
1958	Hurricane Cleo Atlantic	Cat 4 138 mph	—	→
1958	Hurricane Daisy Atlantic	Cat 4 132 mph	—	→
1958	Hurricane Ilsa Atlantic	Cat 2 109 mph	—	→
1958	Hurricane Janice Atlantic	Cat 2 98 mph	Bahamas, Cienfuegos Province, Cuba	→
1958	Hurricane Fifi Atlantic	Cat 1 86 mph	—	→
1958	Tropical Storm Alma Atlantic	TS 63 mph	Tamaulipas, Mexico	→
1958	Tropical Storm Gerda Atlantic	TS 58 mph	Dominican Republic, Tamaulipas, Mexico	→

See every 1958 storm on one map →

Background reading: Hurricane Ella on Wikipedia.

← Previous Atlantic stormHurricane Daisy (1958)Next Atlantic storm →Hurricane Fifi (1958)

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