Farthest north a category 4 has made landfall...? (storm, city, Canada)

[steveklein]

For this conversation, I'm only interested in the Atlantic basin.

I am curious what the farthest north category 4 landfalling hurricane there has ever been in the United States. I know all 3 of the 4 category 5 hurricanes that have struck the US have hit Florida, with the 4th striking Mississippi.

There are a lot more category 4 landfalls. Which one made landfall (as a 4) the furthest north? The furthest north I can think of off the top of my head is Hugo in 1989, but surely a category 4 has made landfall in North Carolina, if not further north, right?

For category 3 landfalls, I assume the furthest north was the Long Island Express of 1938.

[steveklein]

I did some research and found my answer:

Hurricane Hazel, in 1954, made landfall at the SC/NC border.

[Psychoma]

Originally Posted by steveklein

I did some research and found my answer:

Hurricane Hazel, in 1954, made landfall at the SC/NC border.

Yep, Hazel '54 there. Looks like Helene '58 was close...turned just off Wilmington, NC (135mph wind gust reported at airport), 144mph gust Cape Lookout, NC, and just missed Cape Hatteras as a Cat4. Hard to support Cat4 much North of VA/NC line near US coast, but they've been 200-300miles SE of Nova Scotia as a 4 closer to the Gulf Stream current.

Originally Posted by steveklein

For category 3 landfalls, I assume the furthest north was the Long Island Express of 1938.

Cat3...Looks like Carol '54 and unnamed 1869 storm hit further up on Eastern Long Island then into CT/RI. Edna '54 just missed being Cat3 into East Massachusetts. Gerda 1969 came closest to being furthest North landfall into Eastern Maine. Really have to be booking it Northward to maintain Cat3 status into New England though...like 35-45mph movement speed so hits before can loose wind speed or transitions to post-tropical.


Good historical tool (recommend on desktop/laptop though): https://coast.noaa.gov/hurricanes/#m...xlIjp0cnVlfQ==

[GTB365]

Originally Posted by steveklein

I did some research and found my answer:

Hurricane Hazel, in 1954, made landfall at the SC/NC border.

Hurricane Hazel ended up stalling over Toronto....
by that time extra-tropical but still with CAT 1 wind gusts...
also causing major flooding and 81 prople died in Canada....95 in USA

[canadian citizen]

Hurrican Hazel in 1956 was a huge disaster in the Toronto area. The result was a massive rebuilding of the floodwater channels north of the city, and the creation of the Greater Toronto Conservation Authority, which forbid any housing being built in flood plains , plus a plan to prevent future flooding .