The season began in early July with a hurricane in the Gulf of Mexico and ended in late November with a slow-moving tropical storm over the Lesser Antilles.

In addition, a possible storm was identified off the coast of North Carolina on August 28–29, but modern reanalysis efforts have found insufficient evidence to classify it as a tropical cyclone.

The first hurricane made landfall in the Florida Panhandle on July 7, causing wind damage and coastal flooding in Pensacola, and destroying boats at port.

Torrential rainfall associated with the final tropical storm of the season triggered deadly flooding on Montserrat, where nearly 50 people drowned and many more lost their homes.

[4] As the storm moved inland, gusty winds and heavy rainfall extended into parts of Alabama, Georgia, the Carolinas, and southern Virginia.

[7] On the morning of July 8, rainbands on the storm's eastern side spawned a tornado in Halifax County, North Carolina, that killed one person and destroyed several houses.

[1] Tracking generally northward, the storm weakened to minimal hurricane intensity before making landfall over eastern Massachusetts on September 10, with 80 mph (130 km/h) maximum sustained winds extending to a radius of 35 mi (55 km) from the center.

[1][10] Later, the storm generated damaging winds along the Northeastern United States coast from New Jersey to eastern New England, wreaking havoc on beachfront property and small craft.

[16] On September 14, a stricken Italian barque called the Monte Tabor grounded out on a sandbar off Cape Cod after encountering the hurricane several days earlier.

It tracked northwestward, and on September 22, falling air pressure was observed at Havana, Cuba, some 500 mi (800 km) southwest of the storm's center.

The small but intense hurricane sped northward through northern Florida and southern Georgia; its rapid movement allowed it to maintain much of its severity over land.

[19] Extremely high winds accompanied the hurricane to the east of its track through the Mid-Atlantic states, and a band of heavy rain fell to its west from northern North Carolina to southern Pennsylvania.

[27] In northern Florida and southern Georgia, the hurricane razed millions of acres of pine forests, which crippled the local turpentine industry.

[32] Flash flooding in the Shenandoah Valley culminated in the failure of an earthen dam upstream from Staunton, unleashing a torrent of water that swept homes from their foundations and ravaged the town's business district.

[33] In Washington, D.C., thousands of trees were uprooted or snapped, communications were severed, and localized streaks of violent gusts damaged many public and private buildings.

[31] In Pennsylvania, flooding rains and powerful wind gusts produced widespread destruction, washing out railroads in western areas while demolishing hundreds of barns in and around Lancaster County.

[35][36] The storm demolished a 5,390 ft (1,640 m) bridge over the Susquehanna River,[36] while the Gettysburg Battlefield lost hundreds of trees, a few of which landed on historical monuments.

[37] Damaging winds brought down trees and powerlines throughout the Northeastern United States, and the hurricane's extratropical remnants wrought havoc on shipping in the Great Lakes.

[2] On October 28, a ship was damaged by a severe squall or possible tornado, accompanied by frequent thunder and lightning, about 800 mi (1,300 km) to the northwest of the storm's estimated track.

[2] In the affected islands, heavy precipitation gave rise to flash flooding along mountain streams and in valleys, destroying crops and property.

It was speculated that several feet of rain may have locally fallen on certain hillsides, as evidenced by landslides that swept away trees, boulders, and large volumes of earth.

Twenty-nine out of the 30 crew members died in the wreck; the sole survivor was the first mate, who reached solid ground by clutching to a piece of floating debris, and walking inland several miles.