1989 Atlantic hurricane season

A season of African waves

The National Hurricane Center counted 11 named storms and 7 hurricanes, and the site's archive agrees, with 2 major hurricanes, 1 Category 5 and an accumulated cyclone energy of 134.8. The NHC noted that all 11 named storms traced back to African waves, the first year that had happened since 1979. The season ran above average, helped by unusually little dust in the Saharan Air Layer.

Gabrielle and Hugo reached Category 4 and 5, continuing a run of large Cape Verde hurricanes that began with Gilbert, Helene and Joan in 1988. The NHC said the two seasons together produced the most Category 4 and 5 hurricanes since 1960 and 1961. It put the season's death toll at 84, 56 of them on the United States mainland, and expected record damage.

Three landfalls on the upper Texas coast

After a brief June depression in the Bay of Campeche, Tropical Storm Allison formed in the northwestern Gulf of Mexico from the remnants of eastern Pacific Hurricane Cosme, a tropical wave and a strong upper anticyclone. It came ashore near the northeast end of Matagorda Bay at 1300 UTC on 26 June with a central pressure of 1002 mb. The remnant looped over east Texas, and nearly 750 mm of rain fell over six days at Winnfield, giving Louisiana its wettest June on record. The NHC counted 11 deaths, all drownings, and damage near $500 million.

Hurricane Chantal, the season's first hurricane, came from a disturbance first seen near Trinidad and formed in the Gulf of Mexico on 30 July. Its center crossed the coast at High Island near 1300 UTC on 1 August with estimated sustained winds of 36 m/s and 986 mb, a Category 1 hurricane. Most of the rain fell south of the track, and Friendswood unofficially recorded 508 mm. The NHC attributed 13 deaths to Chantal, all drownings, and estimated damage near $100 million.

Hurricane Jerry formed in the Bay of Campeche on 12 October, reached hurricane strength on 15 October and deepened 13 mb in the 13 hours before landfall. It came ashore on Galveston Island near Jamaica Beach at about 0030 UTC on 16 October as a Category 1 hurricane, later in the year than any hurricane had struck the upper Texas coast. Scholes Field measured 34 m/s sustained winds before losing power. The NHC reported three drownings and damage near $70 million in 1989 dollars; the three died when their car went over the Galveston Seawall.

Dean, Erin, Felix and Gabrielle

Hurricane Dean formed between Cape Verde and the Lesser Antilles on 31 July and turned north before reaching the islands. Its eastern eyewall crossed Bermuda on 6 August, bringing sustained winds of 36 m/s and gusts to 50 m/s. The NHC reported 16 injuries and damage near $9 million on the island, the first direct hurricane hit there since Emily in 1987. Dean peaked at 90 kt after passing Bermuda and later crossed Sable Island.

Hurricanes Erin and Felix stayed over the eastern Atlantic. Erin peaked at 90 kt on 24 August. Felix weakened to a depression and recovered, finally reaching hurricane strength on 5 September, and became the season's longest-lived storm.

Hurricane Gabrielle formed near the Cape Verde Islands on 30 August, and the first reconnaissance flight measured 935 mb on 3 September. The archive places its peak of 125 kt on 5 September. Gabrielle stayed about 560 km northeast of the Caribbean islands, but its eye was 75 to 90 km across for much of its peak, and hurricane-force winds often reached 185 km from the center. Its swells ran 3 to 5 m along the United States East Coast and up to 10 m in Nova Scotia, and the NHC attributed eight deaths along the mid-Atlantic and New England coasts to them.

Hurricane Hugo in the northeastern Caribbean

Hugo formed southeast of the Cape Verde Islands on 10 September and became a hurricane on 13 September, about 2,000 km east of the Leeward Islands. The first reconnaissance aircraft reached it on 15 September and measured 918 mb with an estimated surface wind of 72 m/s, about 140 kt, which proved to be Hugo's peak. The archive places that peak on 15 September.

By the time Hugo's eye crossed Guadeloupe at 0500 UTC on 17 September, its winds had eased to an estimated 62 m/s. The eye passed over St. Croix 24 hours later at the same intensity, then over Vieques and the eastern tip of Puerto Rico with winds near 57 m/s. Roosevelt Roads recorded 46 m/s sustained winds and 946.1 mb. About 90 percent of buildings on St. Croix were damaged or destroyed, and ten people were killed on Montserrat.

Hugo's landfall at Charleston

Hugo weakened to 966 mb north of Puerto Rico, then deepened again over the 30 hours before landfall. It crossed the South Carolina coast at Sullivans Island near Charleston at 0400 UTC on 22 September, with an estimated one-minute wind of 62 m/s, about 120 kt, below its Caribbean peak. Survey teams found storm tides near 6.1 m at Bulls Bay and 3.9 to 4.9 m at McClellanville. Hugo was still a hurricane near Shaw Air Force Base and passed just west of Charlotte as a tropical storm.

The NHC counted 49 deaths from Hugo, 21 of them on the United States mainland, and put damage near $10 billion in 1989 dollars, $7 billion of it in the continental United States, making Hugo the costliest hurricane in the country's history at the time. Later totals give about $11 billion in 1989 dollars and 107 deaths across the storm's path. The name Hugo was retired.

Tropical Storm Iris followed Hugo from Africa and nearly reached hurricane strength northeast of Antigua, but Hugo's outflow sheared it apart. Tropical Storm Karen, the last storm, formed south of Cuba in late November and dropped 254 to 380 mm of rain on western Cuba. The NHC counted it as the eighth November named storm in ten years, twice the long-term rate, and the archive's last tropical-stage observation falls on 4 December.