Hurricane Gustav (2002)

Hurricane Gustav

Category 2 hurricane (SSHWS/NWS)
Hurricane Gustav near peak intensity off the New England coast on September 11
Formed	September 8, 2002
Dissipated	September 15, 2002
(Extratropical after September 12)
Highest winds	1-minute sustained: 100 mph (155 km/h)
Lowest pressure	960 mbar (hPa); 28.35 inHg
Fatalities	4 total
Damage	$340,000 (2002 USD)
Areas affected	East Coast of the United States, Nova Scotia, Newfoundland, Atlantic Canada
Part of the 2002 Atlantic hurricane season

Hurricane Gustav was a Category 2 hurricane that paralleled the East Coast of the United States in September 2002 during the 2002 Atlantic hurricane season. It was the seventh named storm and first hurricane of the season. Initially a subtropical depression north of the Bahamas, Gustav passed slightly to the east of the Outer Banks of North Carolina as a tropical storm before moving northeastward and making two landfalls in Atlantic Canada as a Category 1 hurricane. The storm was responsible for one death and $100,000 in damage, mostly in North Carolina. The interaction between Gustav and a non-tropical system produced strong winds that caused an additional $240,000 (2002 USD) in damage in New England, but this damage was not directly attributed to the hurricane.

Gustav spent the early part of its existence as a subtropical storm, and was the first such storm to be named from the current lists by the National Hurricane Center. Previously, subtropical storms were not given names. The cyclone was also the latest-forming first hurricane of the season since 1941.

An area of disturbed weather in association with a weak surface trough and a stronger upper-level trough between the Bahamas and Bermuda developed on September 6.High pressure ridging strengthened by Tropical Storm Fay caused the trough to become more organized and close off into a broad non-tropical low on September 7. By September 8, the system had developed enough convection near its center of circulation to be classified Subtropical Depression Eight while located southeast of Cape Hatteras, North Carolina. Later that day, data from a Hurricane Hunter reconnaissance aircraft indicated that the system had strengthened into a subtropical storm, and the depression was upgraded to Subtropical Storm Gustav.