1880 Atlantic Hurricane Season - Season Summary

Season Summary

The Atlantic hurricane database (HURDAT) recognizes eleven tropical cyclones for the 1880 season. In the 1880 there were two tropical storms, seven hurricanes, and two major hurricanes in the Atlantic basin. Several of the storms caused considerable loss of life. Tropical Storm One impacted the Texas coast in late June. Hurricane Two was, at one point, an intense Category 4 hurricane. It caused extensive destruction and loss of life at Matamoros, Mexico and at Port Isabel, Texas. Hurricane Three impacted Cuba, Jamaica and the Bahamas; it caused thirty deaths in Jamaica. Hurricane Four made two landfalls, both in Florida. The first was near St.Augustine on August 29 as a Category 2 hurricane and the second was on the Panhandle as a tropical storm. The storm caused a shipwreck resulting in several deaths. Hurricane Five was a Category 1 hurricane active between August 26 and September 4, which remained at sea. Hurricane Six originated as a tropical storm in the Gulf of Mexico, which having crossed the Florida peninsula developed into a Category 1 hurricane off the coast of South Carolina on September 9. Hurricane Seven was a Category 1 hurricane first seen on September 8 off the coast of Georgia. It moved northwards and on September 10 hit Newfoundland as a tropical storm. Hurricane Eight was an intense Category 4 hurricane active at the end of September and start of October. It did not make landfall anywhere but was responsible for several shipwrecks. Hurricane Nine developed from a tropical storm in the Gulf of Mexico. It impacted both the Yucatán Peninsula and Florida and brought violent gales along the Florida coast between Cape Hatteras and Jacksonville. Hurricane Ten was a Category 1 hurricane that formed south of Bermuda on October 10. Although it never made landfall and weakened first to a tropical storm then to an extratropical storm within a week, it did strike several ships. The last storm of the year was Tropical Storm Eleven which is known to have existed for three days in October to the north-east of the Abaco Islands.