1926 Hurricane

Hurricane of September 20th, 1926

The Hurricane of September 20^th, 1926, also known as The Great Miami Hurricane, was first reported on the morning of September 14^th near the West Indies Islands. It is hypothesized that the tropical cyclone likely developed six or seven days prior to this date near the Cape Verde Islands, but this information can only be inferred as there was no observational evidence collected due to the lack of satellite imagery.

At the time of the first observation, there were two other tropical disturbances present in the North Atlantic Ocean. One system was about 300 miles southwest of Bermuda while another storm was located in between Cuba and the Bahamas. The Bermuda storm was the more intense of the two systems, but it progressed northward and did not make landfall in the United States. The system between Cuba and the Bahamas moved northeast also and quickly lost all intensity.

In the early morning hours of September 18^th, the hurricane made its first landfall at its maximum intensity over Miami, Florida. Inundation from storm tide was the predominant threat. The minimum recorded pressure was 935 mb (27.61 inHg). 114 people lost their lives while several thousand went missing or were injured. The storm left approximately 25,000 people in Miami and the surrounding areas without shelter. The total loss was estimated to have exceeded $76,000,000 as that quantity did not include damage to houses, offices, or store furnishings.

After devastating south Florida, the hurricane continued across the northeastern Gulf of Mexico at approximately 10 kts (roughly 11.5 mph). By mid-afternoon on September 20^th, the hurricane made a second landfall along the Perdido Beach community in Baldwin County, Alabama. The minimum recorded pressure was 955 mb (28.20 inHg), 20 mb (0.59 inHg) higher than the minimum pressure recorded when the hurricane made landfall over Miami.

Observations at the time of landfall indicated a lull in the wind followed by a wind shift from northeast to southwest. In Pensacola, the peak wind was 101 kts (roughly 116 mph) from the east-southeast and the highest tide recorded was 9.4 feet above MSL. The damage evaluations for the Pensacola area included $800,000 in shipping, $375,000 in railways, $3,000,000 in airplanes, buildings, and hangars, and $200,000 in miscellaneous property.

Continuing westward, the hurricane passed to the south of Mobile on the evening of September 20^th with an observed pressure of 974 mb (28.75 inHg). The peak wind in Mobile was 82 kts (roughly 94 mph) from the north and the highest tide observed along the Mobile River was 5.3 feet above MSL. As the hurricane progressed further westward, it devastated coastal Mississippi and Louisiana before eventually dissipating over east Texas on September 22^nd.

The Hurricane of September 20^th was one of the most devastating tropical cyclones to reach the coastal United States as it was responsible for a total of nearly 250 deaths and $100,000,000 in property loss.

Additional Information

Monthly Weather Review - July 1916

 

Acknowledgments: Page created by Caitlin Baldwin (forecaster) and Morgan Barry (forecaster).

LAST UPDATED: September 2022