Hurricane Gilbert was an extremely powerful Cape Verde-type hurricane that formed during the 1988 Atlantic hurricane season and created widespread destruction in the Caribbean and the Gulf of Mexico. It is the second most intense hurricane ever observed in the Atlantic basin behind only Hurricane Wilma of the 2005 hurricane season, which was the costliest and most active Atlantic hurricane season on record. Gilbert was also one of the largest tro...
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Hurricane Gilbert was an extremely powerful Cape Verde-type hurricane that formed during the 1988 Atlantic hurricane season and created widespread destruction in the Caribbean and the Gulf of Mexico. It is the second most intense hurricane ever observed in the Atlantic basin behind only Hurricane Wilma of the 2005 hurricane season, which was the costliest and most active Atlantic hurricane season on record. Gilbert was also one of the largest tropical cyclones ever observed in the Atlantic basin. At one point, its tropical storm-force winds measured 500 nautical miles (930 km) in diameter. Gilbert was the eighth tropical storm and third hurricane of the 1988 Atlantic hurricane season. Gilbert wreaked havoc in the Caribbean and the Gulf of Mexico for nearly nine days. In total, it killed 341 people and caused about $5.5 billion (1988 USD, $9.4 billion 2006 USD) in damages over the course of its path.
On September 3, 1988, a tropical wave emerged off the African Coast. Over the next...
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