Hurricane Allison (1995)

Hurricane Allison

Category 1 hurricane (SSHWS/NWS)
Hurricane Allison in the Gulf of Mexico
Formed	June 2, 1995
Dissipated	June 11, 1995
(Extratropical after June 6, 1995)
Highest winds	1-minute sustained: 75 mph (120 km/h)
Lowest pressure	987 mbar (hPa); 29.15 inHg
Fatalities	1 direct
Damage	$1.7 million (1995 USD)
Areas affected	Yucatan Peninsula, western Cuba, Florida, Georgia, Carolinas, Atlantic Canada
Part of the 1995 Atlantic hurricane season

Hurricane Allison was the first named storm and first hurricane of the 1995 Atlantic hurricane season. It was an early season hurricane that delivered heavy rains and caused minor damage, primarily across Cuba, Florida and Georgia.

The storm developed on June 2, less than 48 hours after the official start of the hurricane season. It strengthened into a tropical storm early on June 3 and into a hurricane on June 4 in the Gulf of Mexico. It would make landfall in the Big Bend area of Florida on June 5 before tracking northward as an extratropical system. One death was reported in Cuba. Allison's early formation heralded the start of what would eventually become a very active 1995 hurricane season.

The origins of the system can be traced to a tropical wave that moved across the eastern Caribbean Sea in the last week of May. The wave gradually organized itself as it entered the western Caribbean Sea on June 1. The circulation continued to close up on June 2 and that evening it was declared Tropical Depression One while east of Honduras.

The depression was in an unusually low-shear environment for early June as it began tracking northward, which allowed the system to strengthen into Tropical Storm Allison on the morning of June 3 as it tracked into the Yucatan Channel. Despite the fact that westerly wind shear began to increase, the warm water allowed Allison to gradually strengthen more that afternoon and evening. Late that evening, while between the Yucatan Peninsula and Cuba, Allison developed a circular central dense overcast and became a high-end tropical storm. As the storm emerged into the Gulf of Mexico, the warm waters allowed Allison to strengthen further and it was upgraded to a hurricane on the morning of June 4 while travelling almost due north.