|name=. Remove this parameter; the article title is used as the name by default. Surface weather analysis of the hurricane near landfall and at peak strength in the Gulf of Mexico on October 18; also indicated are isobars, weather fronts, and areas of precipitation (shaded) | |
| Meteorological history | |
|---|---|
| Formed | October 9, 1916 |
| Dissipated | October 19, 1916 |
| Category 2 hurricane | |
| 1-minute sustained (SSHWS/NWS) | |
| Highest winds | 110 mph (175 km/h) |
| Lowest pressure | 970 mbar (hPa); 28.64 inHg |
| Overall effects | |
| Fatalities | 29 |
| Damage | $100,000 (1916 USD) |
| Areas affected | |
Part of the 1916 Atlantic hurricane season | |
The 1916 Pensacola hurricane was a tropical cyclone that swept across the western Caribbean Sea and Gulf of Mexico in October 1916. It was the last hurricane of the 1916 Atlantic hurricane season, forming as a tropical depression near Jamaica on October 9 and moved slowly southwest and west, taking an unusual track for storms in October. Intensification was initially slow, but proceeded in earnest after October 11 as the depression strengthened into a tropical storm and then a hurricane. It passed over the Swan Islands before moving ashore the Yucatán Peninsula on October 15 near the border between British Honduras and Mexico. Plantains and coconuts in British Honduras sustained harsh losses. Twenty people were killed following the loss of a ship in the western Caribbean. The tropical cyclone weakened as it moved across the peninsula and curved north into the Gulf of Mexico on October 16.
The hurricane restrengthened as it accelerated towards the U.S. Gulf Coast, reaching a peak with winds of 110 mph (180 km/h) shortly before making landfall near Pensacola, Florida, on the morning of October 18. Records for extreme wind velocities were set in Pensacola and in Mobile, Alabama, where gusts above 120 mph (190 km/h) were recorded. Two people were killed in Alabama. However, the storm's quick movement into the coast reduced the associated storm surge and rainfall, lessening the damage wrought by the hurricane. Total property damage in the Pensacola area amounted to approximately $100,000.[nb 1] In Louisiana, the storm's rainfall was beneficial for crops struggling from a concurrent drought. After moving inland, the storm weakened and merged with another area of low pressure near the Great Lakes on October 19. The resulting storm produced gusty winds over much of the Eastern United States and was blamed for the loss of 49 lives on Lake Erie in what became known as Black Friday.
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