Put Cloudbreak on your portfolio.

Leave your email and we’ll reach out within one business day.

Prefer to talk? Call 940-391-3558.

Hurricane Florence (1988)

Hurricane Florence was a Category 1 hurricane at its peak, with 81 mph winds and a lowest pressure of 982 mb, per NOAA's National Hurricane Center. Modeled winds reached tropical-storm force (39 mph) at 3 of the cities we track; the strongest was New Orleans, LA, with a modeled peak gust of 64 mph.

Peak strength81 mph winds (1-minute)
Category 1
Cities with tropical-storm-force windsModeled, of the cities we track
3
LandfallsFirst September 10, 1988
1
Lowest pressure
982 mb

Track, wind field and cities

Select a piece of the track or a city for details.

  • Depression or weaker
  • Tropical storm
  • Hurricane, Category 1 or 2
  • Major hurricane, Category 3 to 5
  • Landfall
  • City (larger ring, stronger modeled gust)
  • Modeled wind field, 39 to 111 mph sustained (darker, stronger; orange 111 mph+)
Source: NOAA/NWS National Hurricane Center best track (HURDAT2). City winds and the wind field are modeled.

The shaded areas are where our model puts Hurricane Florence’s sustained winds over open land at 39 mph or more (tropical-storm force), 58, 74 (hurricane force) and 111 mph (major hurricane force) at some point along its track. Modeled, not measured. How we model hurricane winds

Landfalls

  1. September 10, 1988, Category 1 at 81 mph, about 76 miles from New Orleans, LA

Modeled winds at cities (3)

Estimated peak winds for open, flat ground at each city’s center. Not measurements. How we model hurricane winds

CityPeak gustSustainedClosest passPeak
New Orleans, LA64 mph52 mph6 milesSep 10, 1988, 12:15 AM CDT
Slidell, LA64 mph52 mph23 milesSep 10, 1988, 1:00 AM CDT
Gulfport, MS57 mph46 mph61 milesSep 10, 1988, 1:00 AM CDT

What happened

Florence formed in the southern Gulf of Mexico on September 7, 1988, and made landfall over the western Mississippi River Delta in Louisiana at about 9 p.m. CDT on September 9.1 NHC's best track gives it sustained winds of 70 knots (81 mph) and a central pressure of 984 mb at landfall.2 Its center then passed directly over New Orleans and the western part of Lake Pontchartrain.1

Storm tides reached 7.5 feet above mean sea level on Bayou Bienvenue east of New Orleans and 6.5 feet on the Industrial Canal.1 Surge flooding was minor and mostly outside the levees in Plaquemines, St. Bernard and St. Tammany parishes.1 Peak gusts in New Orleans reached 53 knots (61 mph), and wind damage was light to moderate, mostly to trees, across Orleans, Jefferson, Plaquemines, St. Tammany and St. Bernard parishes.1 NHC estimated damage in southeast Louisiana at $2 million to $2.5 million.1

In Santa Rosa County, Florida, Florence's rain added to already swollen Coldwater and Blackwater rivers, and 30 homes along their banks were destroyed and 50 more damaged.1 Nine tornadoes in Walton County and a waterspout in Bay County caused an estimated $100,000 in damage.1 NHC's report lists one death, a man in Alabama securing a boat in Mobile Bay.1

Sources

  1. 1. NOAA National Hurricane Center: Preliminary Report, Hurricane Florence, 7-11 September 1988
  2. 2. NOAA National Hurricane Center: Atlantic hurricane database (HURDAT2), 1851 to 2023

Best track (20 positions)

TimeStatusWindPressurePosition
Sep 7, 06:00 UTCTropical depression29 mph1000 mb22.8°N, 92.0°W
Sep 7, 12:00 UTCTropical depression35 mph998 mb22.8°N, 91.2°W
Sep 7, 18:00 UTCTropical storm46 mph996 mb22.7°N, 90.2°W
Sep 8, 00:00 UTCTropical storm52 mph993 mb22.6°N, 89.6°W
Sep 8, 06:00 UTCTropical storm52 mph990 mb22.7°N, 89.8°W
Sep 8, 12:00 UTCTropical storm52 mph990 mb23.1°N, 89.7°W
Sep 8, 18:00 UTCTropical storm52 mph992 mb23.4°N, 89.5°W
Sep 9, 00:00 UTCTropical storm58 mph992 mb24.2°N, 89.2°W
Sep 9, 06:00 UTCTropical storm58 mph991 mb25.0°N, 89.2°W
Sep 9, 12:00 UTCTropical storm63 mph998 mb26.1°N, 89.2°W
Sep 9, 18:00 UTCCategory 1 hurricane75 mph985 mb27.4°N, 89.2°W
Sep 9, 23:00 UTCCategory 1 hurricane81 mph982 mb28.5°N, 89.3°W
Show all 20