| Category 3 hurricane (SSHS) | |
|---|---|
| Hurricane Track | |
| Formed | September 12, 1876 |
| Dissipated | September 19, 1876 |
| Highest winds | 1-minute sustained: 120 mph (195 km/h) |
| Lowest pressure | 980 mbar (hPa; 28.94 inHg) |
| Areas affected | Antigua, St. Kitts, Virgin Islands, Puerto Rico, Hispanola, the Carolinas |
| Part of the 1876 Atlantic hurricane season | |
San Felipe Hurricane was the second tropical cyclone of the 1876 Atlantic hurricane season. The storm was first observed east of the Leeward Islands on September 12, later intensifing to a category 3 hurricane while approaching Puerto Rico. In the upcoming days, the storm would making landfall on Hispanola and Cuba, while also at hurricane intensity. Weakening to a tropical storm, it crossed the island until emerging over central Cuba, and passing just east of Florida. The storm re-intensified into a hurricane and struck near Wilmington, North Carolina as a minimal hurricane. Continuing inland, the San Felipe Hurricane gradually weakened over the United States, reaching near Cape Cod before dissipation on September 19.
The San Felipe Hurricane was the only tropical cyclone in the season to result in fatalities, according to records of the season.
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A hurricane was first observed east of the Leeward Islands on September 12, hitting the islands that night. It fist passed through Antigua, St. Kitts, and the Virgin Islands. It strengthened on the next day to become a Category 3 hurricane, and hit Puerto Rico at that intensity on 13 September; it entered by Yabucoa and Humacao at about seven in the morning and left the island through Mayagüez at 1:30 local time in the afternoon.[1]
The minimum pressure that was measured in San Juan was about 29.20 inches in the morning, with winds up to about 60 mph and rain at around 4.71 inches.[1] The hurricane maintained this intensity and made landfall on the eastern side of Puerto Rico. Shortly after landfall, the hurricane rapidly weakened to a category 2 hurricane, then to a category 1 hurricane after reemerging in the Atlantic. Again maintaining strength, the hurricane made landfall on the eastern tip of Dominican Republic with winds of 80 mph.
It is remembered in the hurricane history of the Antilles because the famous scientist and scholar Father Benito Viñes went to Puerto Rico form Cuba to conduct a study to calculate the damages of the hurricane. San Felipe affected Puerto Rico for ten hours, killing nineteen people. It was the first hurricane to use a pluviometer.[1] There were 19 deaths reported, but historians suspected the Spanish Government withheld actual damage and death toll data. The storm was remembered as the "San Felipe Hurricane" because it struck on September 13, the feast day of Saint Philip.[2] Exactly 52 years later, Puerto Rico was struck by Hurricane San Felipe Segundo.