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Twenty years ago on this date.
On September 12, 1989, Tropical Storm Hugo, still far out at sea in the middle Atlantic, continued to grow more organized. Heavy thunderstorms thickened near the storm’s center and in four prominent spiral bands. Updrafts from the intense thunderstorms near the storm’s core began reaching the base of the stratosphere, creating high cirrus clouds that an upper-level anticyclone over the storm carried away. By nightfall, Hugo had intensified to a strong tropical storm with 65 mph winds. Now three days from the Lesser Antilles Islands, the storm continued to churn westward across the open Atlantic at 20 mph. ….read more - by Dr. Jeff Masters (read his blog here)

…and 21 years ago - Hurricane Gilbert

On September 3, 1988, a tropical wave emerged off the African Coast. Over the next several days, a low pressure area slowly developed from this wave, going on to develop an organized circulation center on September 8. Early on September 9 the storm was designated Tropical Depression Twelve, near the Windward Islands about 400 miles (640 km) east of Barbados. It quickly strengthened into Tropical Storm Gilbert that afternoon, becoming the seventh named storm of the season while crossing the Lesser Antilles.

Gilbert approaching Jamaica on September 12, 1988.

With no inhibiting to strengthening, Gilbert quickly became a hurricane late on September 10 and then a major (Category 3) hurricane on the 11 th. It moved consistently west-northwest influenced by a strong high pressure system to its north. This movement led to the hurricane’s first landfall in Jamaica. The eye passed completely over Jamaica on September 12 with 125 mph (205 km/h) winds and a central pressure of 960 mb (28.35 inHg), making it a Category 3 hurricane on the Saffir-Simpson Hurricane Scale.

Twenty years ago…
On September 11, 1989, Tropical Depression Eight continued to grow more organized, building a large region of heavy thunderstorms near its center. Two hooking spiral bands formed, prompting the National Hurricane Center to upgrade the depression to a tropical storm in their 11 am advisory. The new storm’s name: Hugo. Tropical Storm Hugo continued to trek westward across the open Atlantic at 20 mph, still four days from the Lesser Antilles Islands.

That day at NOAA’s Miami-based Office of Aircraft Operations–the hurricane hunting division of NOAA–we joked about the fearsome new storm with the same name as the director of NOAA’s Atlantic Oceanographic and Marine Laboratory (AOML), Hugo Bezdek. AOML housed the offices of NOAA’s Hurricane Research Division, whose scientists would decide whether or not our hurricane hunting group would intercept the new storm once it got close enough to the Lesser Antilles Islands. Even if Hugo was a dud, we figured we’d be flying the storm for sure, since it shared the same first name as the big boss of the hurricane research scientists.

After work that evening, I celebrated my 29th birthday by biking through the sun-dappled shaded streets of Coconut Grove. As I stopped to watch a perfect tropical fuchsia-red sunset, my thoughts roamed out over the eastern horizon. What kind of birthday present had the weather gods delivered me today? I was first on the list of flight meteorologists that would deploy to meet Hugo, should we fly the storm…Jeff Masters (read his blog here)