Hurricane Floyd (1987)

Hurricane Floyd

Category 1 hurricane (SSHWS/NWS)
Satellite image of Hurricane Floyd approaching Florida
Formed	October 9, 1987
Dissipated	October 13, 1987
Highest winds	1-minute sustained: 75 mph (120 km/h)
Lowest pressure	993 mbar (hPa); 29.32 inHg
Fatalities	1 reported
Damage	$500,000 (1987 USD)
Areas affected	Cuba, Florida and The Bahamas
Part of the 1987 Atlantic hurricane season

Hurricane Floyd was the only hurricane to make landfall in the United States in the 1987 Atlantic hurricane season. The final of seven tropical storms and three hurricanes, Floyd developed on October 9 just off the east coast of Nicaragua. After becoming a tropical storm, it moved northward and crossed western Cuba. An approaching cold front caused Floyd to turn unexpectedly to the northeast, and late on October 12 it attained hurricane status near the Florida Keys. It moved through southern Florida, spawning two tornadoes and leaving minor damage. The hurricane also produced rip tides that killed a person in southern Texas. Floyd maintained hurricane status for only 12 hours before the cold front imparted hostile conditions and caused weakening. It passed through the Bahamas before becoming extratropical and later dissipating on October 14.

The origins of Hurricane Floyd were from a low pressure area in the Gulf of Honduras on October 5. Over the subsequent few days, it drifted eastward and later southward to a position off the east coast of Nicaragua. On October 9, a Hurricane Hunters flight confirmed the development of an organized circulation, which indicated that Tropical Depression Thirteen had developed. After continuing a southward drift, the depression turned to the north and later northwest due to a building ridge to its east. With an anticyclone aloft, the depression gradually organized, intensifying into Tropical Storm Floyd on October 10.

After reaching tropical storm status, Floyd accelerated to the north in the western Caribbean Sea, due to an approaching cold front. Steadily intensifying, the storm moved over extreme western Cuba early on October 12. Initially it was forecast to make landfall between Naples and Fort Myers, Florida. Unexpectedly the storm turned sharply northeastward into the southeastern Gulf of Mexico. Based on reports from the Hurricane Hunters, Floyd briefly attained hurricane status on October 12. Around the same time, the nearby cold front spawned a low pressure area that cut off the hurricane's inflow. While moving through the Florida Keys, Floyd became the only hurricane to affect the United States that year. However, its convection was rapidly decreasing over the center due to the front, and shortly thereafter Floyd weakened to tropical storm status. The circulation became nearly impossible to track on satellite imagery, although surface observations indicated it passed just south of Miami, Florida. The storm underwent extratropical transition as it weakened over the Bahamas, and Floyd was no longer a tropical cyclone by late on October 18. The circulation dissipated within the cold front early the next day.