National Weather Service United States Department of Commerce

This Day In Weather History

 
In 1988, 'Gilbert the Great', a huge Category 5 hurricane, barreled across the Caribbean and Gulf of Mexico with sustained winds that reached an incredible 185 mph. He is still the second most intense hurricane ever observed in the Atlantic Basin, exceeded only by Hurricane Wilma in 2005. The central barometric pressure dropped to 26.22 inches, at the time the lowest such pressure ever recorded in the Western Hemisphere. He caused around $7.1 billion damage.

 


This Day in Weather History Archive