In late August and early September, 1932, a potent Atlantic hurricane—retroactively rated Category 5 on the modern Saffir–Simpson scale—impacted portions of the Lucayan Archipelago and the East Coast of the United States, inflicting locally severe damage.

Nevertheless, its effects were felt on the East Coast of the United States, primarily in the northeastern part of the country, including 56-mile-per-hour (90 km/h) winds offshore of New England, doing mostly minor—but occasionally significant—damage.

In Atlantic Canada it claimed 14–15 lives, widely dispersing impacts, and gradually turned eastward near Iceland, eventually passing north of the Scandinavian Peninsula and ending near the Russian SFSR of the Soviet Union on September 17.

At 18:00 UTC on August 30, the Atlantic hurricane database (HURDAT) initiated a tropical depression 50 miles (80 kilometres) east of Anegada in the British Virgin Islands.

Late on September 2, while centered 100 mi (160 km) east-northeast of Grand Turk Island, the storm became a minimal hurricane,[3] but contemporary meteorologists believed it still weaker.

[6] Late the next day it peaked at 160 mph (260 km/h) and crossed the Abaco Islands,[3] making a pressure of less than 27.50 inHg (931 mb) on land during its passage.

[nb 2][4] As it did so it turned north, missing the most populous Bahamian islands—and the capital Nassau—well to the east,[3] and generated extreme winds on the Abaco Islands.

[4] On September 6 the storm largely retained force, heading north-northeast off the northern Bahamas, away from the mainland United States.

At 18:00 UTC the storm lost Category 5 winds but remained intense, and the next day it curved northeastward, roughly paralleling the East Coast of the United States.

At 11:00 UTC the ship Deer Lodge clocked 75-mile-per-hour (121 km/h) winds—Beaufort Force 12—and a barometric low of 27.58 inHg (934 mb), implying maximum sustained winds of 138 mph (222 km/h) or greater.

Overnight the storm angled toward the coast, heading north, and passed about 200 mi (320 km) offshore with winds of 100 mph (155 km/h).

[3][4] Storm warnings in the United States were placed at 15:00 UTC on September 5 from Daytona Beach to Punta Gorda, Florida.

[4] Due in part to the warnings, people in the affected areas began boarding up windows and completing other preparations, some as early as September 3.

[15] Evacuees streamed northward from Miami and West Palm Beach; between the latter place and Jacksonville many filling stations ran out of gas.

[nb 3][18] Despite the great size and intensity of the hurricane, ample warnings prevented loss of life and commerce at sea.

[19] To date, it is one of four Category 5 Atlantic hurricanes to make landfall in the Bahamas at that intensity—the others having taken place in 1933, 1992, and 2019—and the first of two such storms to hit the Abaco Islands.

[28] The storm was at its most damaging on the Abaco Islands, delivering powerful wind gusts—estimated at over 200 mph (320 km/h)—that shattered strong buildings,[4] leveling hundreds of homes.

[29] On Abaco Island the storm afflicted half a dozen settlements,[30] destroying most of the houses there; one of the sites lost all but one home.

[33] At Marsh Harbour, the storm's eye passed overhead for a very short while around 20:00 UTC, yielding a 15-minute calm and a barometric low of at most 27.60 inHg (935 mb).

[40] Around 15:00 UTC, at the height of the storm, a barometer measured a low of 27.20 inHg (921 mb), during which winds shifted from northeast to southeast.

The few intact homes were used as operation centers and makeshift hospitals, while the ship Lady Cordeaux delivered fresh water;[47] the vessel also brought blankets, food, and construction materials.

[52] Although warnings were posted for the eastern United States, the storm's path prevented landfall, leaving the main effects as heavy swells and gales.

Blowing at 20 to 25 mph (32 to 40 km/h), west winds whipped up sea spray, forming 1-mile (1.6 km) "streamers" and presenting onlookers with a spectacle "such as never has been witnessed by inhabitants hereabouts".

[54][55] The elements forced a ferry en route from Manns Harbor to Roanoke Island to dock at Wanchese—10 mi (16 km) south of its normal port.

Off the coast at the same time, the crew of the Munson steamer Munloyal, then believed to be 350 mi (565 km) southeast of Frying Pan Shoals, North Carolina, reported that her position was unknown and her rudder blown away.

At Atlantic City sea spray surged 30 ft (9.1 m) upward, drenching onlookers, and seawater drowned nearby streets.

Seawater submersed Sea Bright and Highlands, but did mostly scant damage to North Jersey, other than massive coastal erosion.

[60] On Long Island the storm dislodged "several feet" of beachfront, west of Montauk, and breached Westhampton Beach, cutting a 10-foot-wide (3.0 m) inlet at the latter, where 1-foot-deep (0.30 m) water sloshed over 1⁄4 mi (0.40 km) of road.

[10] Inclement weather caused a motorboat to drift onto a sandbar near Dead Horse Bay, stranding its two occupants for a few hours.

[83] Although extratropical by then, the storm was still notably intense off Newfoundland, Iceland, and Jan Mayen, the last of which observed pressures at or below 29 inHg (980 mb).