Hurricane Beulah
| Category 5 major hurricane (SSHWS/NWS) | |
Hurricane Beulah in the Gulf of Mexico as a Category 5 on September 19
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| Formed | September 5, 1967 |
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| Dissipated | September 22, 1967 |
| Highest winds |
1-minute sustained: 160 mph (260 km/h) |
| Lowest pressure | 923 mbar (hPa); 27.26 inHg |
| Fatalities | 688 direct |
| Damage | $1 billion (1967 USD) |
| Areas affected | Greater Antilles, Yucatán Peninsula, Northeast Mexico, South Texas |
| Part of the 1967 Atlantic hurricane season | |
Hurricane Beulah was the second tropical storm, second hurricane, and only major hurricane during the 1967 Atlantic hurricane season. It tracked through the Caribbean, struck the Yucatán peninsula of Mexico as a major hurricane, and moved west-northwest into the Gulf of Mexico, briefly gaining Category 5 intensity. It was the strongest hurricane during the 1967 Atlantic hurricane season. The hurricane made landfall just north of the mouth of the Rio Grande River as a Category 3. It spawned 115 tornadoes across Texas, which established a new record for the highest amount of tornadoes produced by a tropical cyclone. Due to its slow movement over Texas, Beulah led to significant flooding. At the time, Beulah ranked as the second-costliest hurricane on record, having left roughly $1 billion (1967 USD) in damage. Only Hurricane Betsy two years prior had caused such considerable losses. Throughout its path, at least 688 people were killed.
On August 22, 1967, an ESSA-5 satellite image depicted an area of enhanced convection—shower and thunderstorm activity—east of the Western High Plateau in Cameroon over central Africa. Reaching the western slopes of the mountains two days later, the tropical wave became more coherent with clouds condensing along its axis. As it moved over west Africa, cyclonic rotation became apparent about 2,000 ft (610 m) above the surface. A research paper published in 1969 refers to the disturbance as a depression as it neared the west coast of Africa; however, this significantly differs from the official Atlantic hurricane database which does not mention the system at that time, as a surface circulation likely did not exist. Regardless, the system emerged over the Atlantic Ocean around 12°N on August 28, as represented by barometric pressure falls in Dakar, Senegal. Once over water, the system interacted with the Intertropical Convergence Zone and continued westward along an undulating path with no further organization. It was not until a United States Navy weather reconnaissance plane flew into the disturbance on September 4, while it was located east of the Lesser Antilles, that signs of development were apparent. Corresponding observations from ships in the region on September 5 confirmed the existence of a 1010 mbar (hPa; 28.23 inHg) low-pressure area. In light of this, the disturbance was classified as a tropical depression at 12:00 UTC that day, with its center situated roughly 175 mi (285 km) east-northeast of Barbados.
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