page_title: Hurricane Luis
section_title: Meteorological history
hierarchical_section_title: Hurricane Luis / Meteorological history
caption_attribution_description: English: Tropical Storm Luis (lower right) on August 29, 1995
context_page_description: Hurricane Luis was a very large, long-lived, powerful and very destructive Category 4 Cape Verde hurricane, as well as one of the strongest and most notable hurricanes of the 1995 Atlantic hurricane season. Luis was also the strongest hurricane to make landfall, and the third-most intense hurricane recorded during the extremely active season. It was the twelfth tropical storm, sixth hurricane, and second major hurricane of the season. At one point, the storm was one of four simultaneous tropical systems in the Atlantic basin, along with Humberto, Iris, and Karen. The storm lasted for 14 days as a tropical storm between late August and mid-September.
  Luis caused extensive damage in Antigua and St. Barthelemy and catastrophic damage in Barbuda, most area on St Martin and Anguilla as a Category 4 with winds between 130 mph and 135 mph. The storm accounted for 19 deaths, left over 70,000 disaster victims and near 20,000 homeless and caused roughly $3.3 billion in damage across the affected areas.
context_section_description: The origins of Hurricane Luis trace back to an area of disturbed weather associated with a tropical wave over the eastern Atlantic Ocean, on August 26. A low-level circulation center formed and moved westward until it developed a weak surface low on August 27; consequently, a tropical depression was designated at 1200 UTC that day. The depression attained 36 hours later into a Tropical Storm named "Luis" on August 29. Though convective activity fluctuated for the next two days as a result of nearby wind shear, the storm slowly intensified while pressure rose. The shear relented the next day, allowing an eye to gradually form, and the system attained hurricane status thereafter on early August 31, then a Category 3 major hurricane 18 hours later.
  Hurricane Luis continued to strengthen as it tracked west-northwestward into a Category 4 on the Saffir-Simpson Hurricane Scale on September 2 and the cyclone turned more towards the west earlier that day as it maintained a rectilinear slow motion; the intensity was confirmed by a reconnaissance flight on September 3. At this time, it was located approximately 540 miles (870 km) to the east of the Lesser Antilles. The storm began to slightly accelerate as it moved along a subtropical ridge due to the absorption of Karen by the stronger Iris.
  By the day of September 4, Luis sustained a large wind field as it approach the Lesser Antilles, its tropical storm-force winds measured from 345 mi (555 km) to 365 mi (587 km) in diameter as it began to affect Antigua, Barbuda, Dominica and Guadeloupe in the night. On the morning of September 5, islands such as Dominica and even the island of Guadeloupe, which experienced hurricane-force winds on the northeastern coast of Grande-Terre and Désirade, have been relatively spared by the storm. However the eyewall of the hurricane skimmed Antigua and directly passed over Barbuda while weakened slightly. During the time, it proceeded slowly northwestward affecting Montserrat, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Sint Eustatius and Saba causing moderate damage. Later, Luis moved along St. Barthelemy, St. Martin and ultimately crossed Anguilla, where maximum sustained winds within the eyewall were estimated to have reached 135 mph (217 km/h), and its central pressure had dropped from 945 to 942 mbar (27.9 to 27.8 inHg).
  A large and powerful hurricane, Luis retained Category 4 intensity until September 7, while situated about 150 mi (240 km) to the north of Puerto Rico. The storm gradually re-curved over the northern Atlantic as a Category 2 storm, after having spent 7 consecutive days as a major hurricane with maximum sustained winds of at least 115 mph (185 km/h), from September 1 to 8. From there on, the center of the storm passed 200 miles (320 km) to the west of Bermuda on September 9 causing minor damage, and then later weakened to a Category 2 hurricane, with winds of 110 mph (165 km/h). Several hours later, the hurricane made its closest approach to Bermuda, passing about 200 mi (320 km) west of the island. Later that day, the storm began to accelerate as it traveled northeast ahead of a strong trough located to the northwest of Luis. During the afternoon of September 10, Hurricane Luis began to undergo an extratropical transition as it rapidly approached the Canadian coastline. Due to the rapid movement of the storm, significant weakening did not occur until Luis was at an unusually high latitude as the central pressure of the storm decreased to 961 mbar (28.38 inHg) but sustained winds did not exceed 90 mph (140 km/h) according to the NHC.
  Luis maintained this intensity until it made landfall on the Avalon Peninsula in eastern Newfoundland early on September 11. While tracking over Newfoundland, cold, dry air became entrenched in Luis's circulation and the system began to merge with the approaching trough. The NHC issued their final advisory on Hurricane Luis at 0900 UTC on September 11, as the system tracked nearly 65 mph (100 km/h) to the northeast and transitioned into an extratropical cyclone on September 11, and moved ashore on eastern Newfoundland.
caption: Tropical Storms Karen (left) and Luis (right) on August 29
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