1941 Texas hurricane
| Category 3 major hurricane (SSHWS/NWS) | |
A daily weather map for September 24, 1941 depicting the storm
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| Formed | September 16, 1941 |
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| Dissipated |
September 27, 1941 (extratropical after September 24) |
| Highest winds |
1-minute sustained: 125 mph (205 km/h) |
| Lowest pressure | 942 mbar (hPa); 27.82 inHg (estimated) |
| Fatalities | 7 direct |
| Damage | $6.5 million (1941 USD) |
| Areas affected | Texas, Midwestern United States, eastern Canada |
| Part of the 1941 Atlantic hurricane season | |
The 1941 Texas hurricane, the second storm of the 1941 Atlantic hurricane season, was a large and intense tropical cyclone that struck coastal Texas as a major hurricane in September 1941, causing relatively severe damage. The storm is estimated to have formed in the eastern Gulf of Mexico on September 16. After attaining hurricane strength, it completed a clockwise loop and turned northwestward. The hurricane continued to strengthen until it made landfall near East Matagorda Bay, Texas, with winds of 125 miles per hour (201 km/h), but rapidly weakened as it headed inland. Damage from the storm amounted to about $6.5 million, and crops throughout the region were largely destroyed. The city of Houston suffered extensive damage as the storm passed to the east. The hurricane disrupted activities related to the Louisiana Maneuvers. Later, the system became extratropical and passed over Lake Huron, killing three people in Toronto. Overall, seven people lost their lives due to the cyclone.
In the middle of September, disturbed atmospheric conditions from a trough or tropical wave existed over the western Caribbean Sea and gradually coalesced near western Cuba on September 15–16. Even so, surrounding surface weather observations did not suggest that an area of low pressure had generated, but gradual organization continued until a tropical depression formed on September 17 in the central Gulf of Mexico about 120 miles (193 km) north of the Yucatán Peninsula. Operationally, the United States Weather Bureau failed to detect a tropical cyclone in the Gulf of Mexico until a day later. After formation, the system initially moved northwestward, a heading that continued early on September 18. At that time, the system became a tropical storm more than 300 mi (483 km) to the south-southeast of New Orleans, Louisiana.
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