The Hurricane of October 21-24, 1878

Abstract

On October 21, 1878, a hurricane crossed the island of Cuba and headed east of Key West, Florida. On the evening of October 22, it made landfall north of Cape Lookout, North Carolina, as a low Category 2 hurricane with winds around 100 mph. The storm picked up speed after landfall and moved northward at a rate of greater than 40 mph and maintained tropical storm force wind speeds of greater than 60 mph with gusts much higher. On the morning of October 23, it passed up the west side of the Chesapeake Bay near the cities of Baltimore and Annapolis, Maryland, Wilmington, Delaware, and Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. By the late afternoon it had reached Albany, New York, and turned eastward and passed out to sea north of Boston, Massachusetts, on the morning of October 24.