Hurricane Henri (1979)

Hurricane Henri

Category 1 hurricane (SSHWS/NWS)
Henri after being upgraded into a hurricane
Formed	September 14, 1979
Dissipated	September 21, 1979
Highest winds	1-minute sustained: 85 mph (140 km/h)
Lowest pressure	983 mbar (hPa); 29.03 inHg
Fatalities	None reported
Damage	Minimal
Areas affected	Mexico, Florida, Texas
Part of the 1979 Atlantic hurricane season

Hurricane Henri was a rare tropical cyclone that entered the Gulf of Mexico without having made landfall; it was the second of four times this occurred during the 20th century. The eighth named storm and fifth hurricane of the 1979 Atlantic hurricane season, it formed on September 14 in the northwestern Caribbean Sea. Throughout much of its duration, Henri moved erratically and initially maintained a general westward track. On September 16 it attained tropical storm status, and a day later it reached hurricane status. By two days later, after experiencing hostile conditions, Henri weakened to tropical depression status as it turned to the northeast, and on September 24 it merged with a frontal low in the northeast Gulf of Mexico. Due to its slow and erratic motion, the hurricane forced evacuations along the Mexican coastline. Its remnants brought rainfall and flooding to the Florida Panhandle.

Hurricane Henri developed as Tropical Depression Eighteen in the extreme northwestern Caribbean Sea on September 14 from a tropical wave, which had previously moved off the coast of Africa. The formation of a tropical depression was confirmed by reports from Hurricane Hunters. The depression tracked northward, brushing the eastern portion of the Yucatán Peninsula. After reaching the Gulf of Mexico it turned sharply westward, with a ridge preventing further northward movement. The depression turned southwestward, and intensified into Tropical Storm Henri on September 16.

Tropical Storm Henri continued to intensify as it tracked through the Bay of Campeche. On September 17, the storm turned northwestward after the ridge to its north weakened, and later that day Henri reached hurricane status; six hours later, it reached peak winds of 85 mph (140 km/h) about 150 miles (245 km) northeast of Veracruz. Subsequently, a broad low pressure area developed over the western Gulf of Mexico, causing the motion of Henri to become erratic. On September 18, the cyclone began a steady weakening trend, believed to have been caused by land interaction and the funneling of moisture toward a developing disturbance near the Texas coast. Henri turned eastward on September 19 and weakened to tropical depression status. It failed to regain significant convection, and it turned northeastward along an extended cold front. On September 24, Henri merged with the frontal trough in the northeastern Gulf of Mexico.