Category 4 major hurricane (SSHWS/NWS) | |
Surface weather analysis of the storm on September 20
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Formed | October 14, 1926 |
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Dissipated | October 28, 1926 |
Highest winds |
1-minute sustained: 150 mph (240 km/h) |
Lowest pressure | 934 mbar (hPa); 27.58 inHg |
Fatalities | 709 |
Areas affected | Cuba, Florida, The Bahamas, Bermuda |
Part of the 1926 Atlantic hurricane season |
The 1926 Havana hurricane devastated large areas of Cuba and Bermuda in October 1926. The tenth tropical cyclone, eighth hurricane, and sixth major hurricane of the annual hurricane season, the storm formed from a low-pressure area in the southern Caribbean Sea on October 14. Moving slowly to the north, it steadily intensified, attaining hurricane intensity on October 18 near the Swan Islands. After passing the islands, the hurricane began to rapidly intensify as it accelerated to the north, attaining major hurricane intensity the following day. The storm later made two landfalls on Cuba as it reached peak intensity with winds of 150 mph (240 km/h) and a minimum central pressure of 934 mbar (hPa; 27.58 inHg). The hurricane slightly weakened as it passed over the island, and after entering the Straits of Florida, made a close pass of southern Florida and The Bahamas. Afterwards, the storm gradually weakened, passing over Bermuda on October 22, before executing a clockwise loop and dissipating on October 28, after becoming absorbed by an extratropical cyclone.
An open trough of low pressure was first observed off the eastern coast of Costa Rica in the southern Caribbean Sea on October 14. In HURDAT—the database listing all tropical cyclones in the Atlantic basin since 1851—the disturbance was listed to have attained tropical depression strength by 0600 UTC later that day. Ships in the vicinity of the storm reported low barometric pressures. Moving slowly towards the north, the depression slowly intensified, and was estimated to have reached tropical storm early the following day, based on a drop in pressures in the region. The tropical storm continued to steadily intensify, with more ship reports indicating a cyclonic circulation in the area. By 2000 UTC on October 17, the disturbance attained a minimum central pressure of 993 mbar (hPa; 29.33 inHg), with maximum sustained winds of 70 mph (110 km/h).