1920 Louisiana hurricane
| Category 2 hurricane (SSHWS/NWS) | |
Surface weather analysis of the storm on September 21
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| Formed | September 16, 1920 |
|---|---|
| Dissipated | September 23, 1920 |
| Highest winds |
1-minute sustained: 100 mph (155 km/h) |
| Lowest pressure | 975 mbar (hPa); 28.79 inHg |
| Fatalities | 1 |
| Damage | $1.45 million (1920 USD) |
| Areas affected | Jamaica, Cuba, Louisiana and Texas |
| Part of the 1920 Atlantic hurricane season | |
The 1920 Louisiana hurricane was a strong tropical cyclone that caused significant damage in parts of Louisiana in September 1920. The second tropical storm and hurricane of the annual hurricane season, it formed from an area of disturbed weather on September 16, 1920, northwest of Colombia. The system remained a weak tropical depression as it made landfall on Nicaragua, but later intensified to tropical storm strength as it moved across the Gulf of Honduras, prior to making a second landfall on the Yucatán Peninsula. Once in the Gulf of Mexico, the storm quickly intensified as it moved towards the north-northwest, reaching its peak intensity as a Category 2 hurricane with winds of 100 mph (160 km/h) prior to making landfall near Houma, Louisiana with no change in intensity. Afterwards, it quickly weakened over land, before dissipating on September 23 over eastern Kansas.
As it approached the United States Gulf Coast, the hurricane forced an estimated 4,500 people to evacuate off of Galveston Island, and numerous other evacuations and precautionary measures to occur. At landfall, the hurricane generated strong winds along a wide swath of the coast, uprooting trees and causing damage to homes and other infrastructure. Heavy rainfall associated with the storm peaked at 11.9 in (300 mm) in Robertsdale, Alabama. The heavy rains also washed out railroads, leading to several rail accidents. Across the Gulf Coast, damage from the storm totaled to $1.45 million, and one death was associated with the hurricane.
In mid-September, a trough moved across the central Caribbean Sea and into the vicinity of the Colombian islands. Becoming more organized, it developed a closed circulation on September 16, and as such was classified as a tropical depression at 0600 UTC that day. For much of its early existence the depression remained weak, with winds remaining at 35 mph (55 km/h) and a minimum barometric pressure below 1,005 mbar (29.7 inHg). The weak disturbance later made landfall at that intensity on the Mosquito Coast near the border of Honduras and Nicaragua by 0600 UTC on September 18. The small system gained intensity as it moved over Honduras, attaining tropical storm strength on September 19 prior to entering the Gulf of Honduras near Trujillo, Colón. In the Gulf of Honduras, the tropical storm slightly intensified to maximum sustained winds of 50 mph (80 km/h) on September 20, and later made landfall on the Yucatán Peninsula as it accelerated towards the north-northwest. Despite initially being reported to have maintained intensity across the peninsula, a reanalysis of the storm determined that it had weakened to minimal tropical storm strength, before entering the Gulf of Mexico late on September 20.
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