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A broad low pressure area was situated in the extreme southern Caribbean Sea, off the coast of Panama and Costa Rica at the beginning of October. Although the peak of Atlantic Hurricane Season has passed, the southern Caribbean Sea is an origination zone at this point in the Tropical Atlantic Season. Conditions were increasingly favorable for some development and the system eventually showed signs of organization. On the morning of October 4th, a Tropical Depression formed 25 miles south south west of San Andreas Island, off the Nicaraguan Coast. The system strengthened and became Tropical Storm Nate on the morning of October 5th, just off the coast of Nicaragua. Nate moved inland across Nicaragua and Honduras through Friday morning October 6th. Flooding rainfall and windy conditions produced significant damage and flooding in several Central American and Caribbean countries.
Nate then moved north-northwest over the warm waters of the northwestern Caribbean Sea, where it gradually intensified. Just after passing through the Yucatan Channel, Nate officially reached hurricane status during the early morning hours of October 7th. Hurricane Nate raced toward the central Gulf Coast at unprecedented speeds and made its first landfall near the mouth of the Mississippi River at 7 PM on Oct 7th. A second landfall near Biloxi, MS, came just 5 and half hours later at 1230 AM on Oct 8th. Nate continued to accelerate northeastward and was downgraded to a Tropical Depression near Birmingham, AL, on the morning of Oct 8th. By 5 AM on Oct 9th, Nate had become post-tropical near Akron, OH.
Hurricane-force winds and storm surge caused significant damage and flooding along portions of the Mississippi and Alabama coastlines. Farther inland, gusty winds of 30-50 mph downed numerous trees and power lines and caused many power outages along Nate's path. Several tornadoes touched down across Alabama, South Carolina and North Carolina.
Record set by Nate:
- 28 mph forward motion for 12-hr period on Oct 7th was the fastest ever recorded by a tropical system in the Gulf of Mexico.
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