Track map & timeline · Atlantic · September 7–15, 1981
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
Hurricane Gert (1981) was a Category 2 hurricane of the 1981 Atlantic season. It formed on September 7, 1981, reached its peak of 104 mph (167 km/h) and a minimum pressure of 988 mb on September 11, 1981, and never made landfall. It rapidly intensified by 46 mph in 24 hours (to 92 mph on September 11, 1981). The storm lasted 8.8 days and travelled about 4,538 miles (7,302 km).
02 · Intensity
03 · Impact
| City | Distance to center | When (UTC) | Storm strength then |
|---|---|---|---|
| San Juan, Puerto Rico | direct hit | Sep 8 · 21:00 UTC | TS 55 mph |
| Santiago de los Caballeros, Dominican Republic | 74 mi | Sep 9 · 12:00 UTC | TS 40 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
| Date · UTC | Status | Wind | Pressure | Position | Nearest place |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sep 7 00:00 | TD | 29 mph | 1013 mb | 14.8°N 54.0°W | open ocean |
| Sep 7 06:00 | TD | 35 mph | 1012 mb | 14.9°N 55.7°W | open ocean |
| Sep 7 12:00 | TD | 35 mph | 1012 mb | 15.1°N 57.4°W | open ocean |
| Sep 7 18:00 | TD | 35 mph | 1010 mb | 15.3°N 59.0°W | 136 mi ENE of Le François, Martinique |
| Sep 8 00:00 | TS | 46 mph | 1008 mb | 15.6°N 60.6°W | 56 mi ENE of Roseau, Dominica |
| Sep 8 06:00 | TS | 52 mph | 1005 mb | 16.1°N 62.3°W | 38 mi W of Basse-Terre, Guadeloupe |
| Sep 8 12:00 | TS | 58 mph | 1002 mb | 16.8°N 64.0°W | 81 mi SE of Saint Croix, U.S. Virgin Islands |
| Sep 8 18:00 | TS | 58 mph | 1004 mb | 17.8°N 65.4°W | 37 mi SE of Humacao, Puerto Rico |
| Sep 9 00:00 | TS | 52 mph | 1006 mb | 18.9°N 66.9°W | 32 mi NNW of Arecibo, Puerto Rico |
| Sep 9 06:00 | TS | 46 mph | 1009 mb | 19.6°N 68.3°W | 71 mi N of Punta Cana, Dominican Republic |
| Sep 9 12:00 | TS | 40 mph | 1011 mb | 20.3°N 70.0°W | 57 mi NE of Puerto Plata, Dominican Republic |
| Sep 9 18:00 | TS | 40 mph | 1012 mb | 21.3°N 71.7°W | 49 mi SE of Providenciales, Turks and Caicos Islands |
| Sep 10 00:00 | TS | 46 mph | 1010 mb | 22.1°N 72.8°W | 41 mi WNW of Providenciales, Turks and Caicos Islands |
| Sep 10 06:00 | TS | 58 mph | 1008 mb | 22.7°N 73.7°W | 112 mi NW of Providenciales, Turks and Caicos Islands |
| Sep 10 12:00 | TS | 69 mph | 1001 mb | 23.7°N 74.5°W | open ocean |
| Sep 10 18:00 | Cat 1 | 81 mph | 996 mb | 24.8°N 74.4°W | 185 mi E of Nassau, Bahamas |
| Sep 11 00:00 | Cat 1 | 92 mph | 993 mb | 26.3°N 73.9°W | open ocean |
| Sep 11 06:00 | Cat 2 | 98 mph | 990 mb | 27.7°N 73.0°W | open ocean |
| Sep 11 12:00 | Cat 2 | 104 mph | 988 mb | 29.0°N 72.0°W | open ocean |
| Sep 11 18:00 | Cat 2 | 104 mph | 988 mb | 30.2°N 70.9°W | open ocean |
| Sep 12 00:00 | Cat 2 | 104 mph | 989 mb | 31.5°N 69.6°W | open ocean |
| Sep 12 06:00 | Cat 2 | 104 mph | 990 mb | 32.5°N 68.5°W | open ocean |
| Sep 12 12:00 | Cat 2 | 98 mph | 992 mb | 33.4°N 67.1°W | 154 mi WNW of Pembroke Parish, Bermuda |
| Sep 12 18:00 | Cat 1 | 81 mph | 997 mb | 34.1°N 65.6°W | 133 mi NNW of Pembroke Parish, Bermuda |
| Sep 13 00:00 | TS | 69 mph | 1002 mb | 34.9°N 63.5°W | open ocean |
| Sep 13 06:00 | TS | 63 mph | 1006 mb | 35.8°N 60.7°W | open ocean |
| Sep 13 12:00 | TS | 58 mph | 1008 mb | 36.8°N 57.0°W | open ocean |
| Sep 13 18:00 | TS | 52 mph | 1010 mb | 37.7°N 53.2°W | open ocean |
| Sep 14 00:00 | TS | 46 mph | 1010 mb | 38.3°N 49.4°W | open ocean |
| Sep 14 06:00 | TS | 46 mph | 1011 mb | 38.8°N 45.6°W | open ocean |
| Sep 14 12:00 | TS | 40 mph | 1012 mb | 39.2°N 41.9°W | open ocean |
| Sep 14 18:00 | TD | 35 mph | 1012 mb | 39.6°N 38.6°W | open ocean |
| Sep 15 00:00 | TD | 35 mph | 1012 mb | 39.9°N 35.3°W | open ocean |
| Sep 15 06:00 | TD | 29 mph | 1012 mb | 40.1°N 33.0°W | open ocean |
| Sep 15 12:00 | TD | 29 mph | 1012 mb | 40.3°N 30.7°W | open ocean |
| Sep 15 18:00 | TD | 23 mph | 1012 mb | 40.5°N 28.2°W | 138 mi NNW of Angra do Heroísmo, Portugal |
⬇ Download track data (CSV) · public-domain NOAA best track
Questions
No — the NOAA best-track record shows no landfall for Gert. Its closest approach to a major city was 9 miles from San Juan, Puerto Rico.
At its peak on September 11, 1981, Gert was a Category 2 hurricane with maximum sustained winds of 104 mph (167 km/h) and a central pressure of 988 mb.
8.8 days, from September 7, 1981 to September 15, 1981, including 54 hours at hurricane strength. It travelled about 4,538 miles.
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.
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