page_title: Hurricane Inez
section_title: Meteorological history
hierarchical_section_title: Hurricane Inez / Meteorological history
caption_attribution_description: English: ESSA 3 television photograph (orbit 042) on October 5, 1966 at 2016 GMT over Hurricane Inez.
context_page_description: Hurricane Inez was a powerful major hurricane that affected the Caribbean, Bahamas, Florida, and Mexico in 1966. It was the first storm on record to affect all of those areas. It originated from a tropical wave over Africa, and became a tropical depression by September 21. It moved slowly westward, initially failing to intensify much; it was upgraded to Tropical Storm Inez on September 24. The storm strengthened into a hurricane and was quickly intensifying when it struck the French overseas region of Guadeloupe on September 27. Inez severely damaged the island's banana and sugar crops, and thousands of homes were damaged, leaving 10,000 people homeless. Damage on Guadeloupe was estimated at $50 million, and there were 40 deaths. After entering the Caribbean, Inez briefly weakened before restrengthening, attaining peak sustained winds of 150 mph on September 28. That day a hurricane hunters flight reported a gust of 197 mph, which was the highest recorded at the time.
  Continuing westward, Inez made landfall as a small hurricane on the Barahona Peninsula of the Dominican Republic. There, the storm flooded many rivers and destroyed over 800 houses.
context_section_description: The origins of Inez were from a tropical wave that formed over the Sahara in central Africa on September 15 from the monsoon. It moved westward in the prevailing winds, exiting the west coast of Africa on September 18. The precursor to Inez was a disturbance along the northern portion of the wave, which was considered a tropical depression by September 18 in the annual tropical cyclone summary. Tracked by satellites, the system moved to the west-southwest, and was officially classified a tropical depression on September 21 about halfway between the Lesser Antilles and Africa. The system remained weak as it turned toward the west-northwest. A Hurricane Hunters flight indicated some intensification in the system, prompting the National Hurricane Center (NHC) to initiate advisories on Tropical Storm Inez, located about 800 mi (1,300 km) east of Martinique. With warm water temperatures, the storm developed a circular area of convection over its center. Inez slowed while curving westward around a ridge to its north and quickly intensified, reaching hurricane status on September 26.
  On September 27, Inez strengthened to reach winds of 120 mph (195 km/h), making it a Category 3 hurricane on the Saffir–Simpson scale. Later that day, it moved directly over the island of Guadeloupe. At the time, Inez was a small cyclone, with hurricane-force winds extending 50 mi (80 km) from the center; meteorologists labeled it as a "micro-hurricane... because of its characteristic small, tight cloud structure and strong maximum surface wind." Its structure became disrupted by the island, and the central pressure rose from 961 mbar (28.4 inHg) to 970 mbar (29 inHg), indicative of weakening. However, Inez re-intensified after entering the eastern Caribbean Sea, reaching a minimum pressure of 929 mbar (27.4 inHg) south of Puerto Rico on September 28. The Hurricane Hunters reported sustained winds of 197 mph (317 km/h) at a height of 8,000 ft (2,400 m), the strongest winds recorded for the storm. The same flight estimated surface winds between 150 to 175 mph (241 to 282 km/h) near the center. The peak intensity listed in the HURDAT, the Atlantic hurricane database, is 150 mph (240 km/h), making Inez a strong Category 4 hurricane. In 2017, a preliminary re-analysis conducted as part of the ongoing Atlantic hurricane reanalysis project concluded that Inez was likely stronger than originally thought – specifically, a Category 5 hurricane with winds of 165 mph (270 km/h). However, this re-analysis has not yet been officially accepted and included in HURDAT, the official hurricane database for the Atlantic Ocean.
  While near peak intensity, Inez was located about 160 mi (260 km) southwest of San Juan, Puerto Rico, and the eye was tracked by radar from the island. Its increasing outflow caused Tropical Storm Judith to the east over the central Atlantic to dissipate. On September 29, the small but powerful hurricane made landfall on the Barahona Peninsula, and quickly weakened over land. It briefly moved offshore and struck the southern peninsula of Haiti near Jacmel. The eye emerged into the Windward Passage near Léogâne, although severely weakened. The pressure rose to 987 mbar (29.1 inHg), and the winds decreased to 90 mph (150 km/h) over land. However, Inez quickly re-intensified over water, reaching winds of 115 mph (185 km/h) on September 30 before striking southeastern Cuba near Guantánamo Bay. When Inez was over Cuba, forecasters had difficulty in predicting the storm's future; it was expected that the hurricane would move to the north off the east coast of the United States due to a weakness in the ridge to the north. The hurricane drifted west-northwestward within light steering currents, weakening over the high terrain but later moving offshore the southern coast of Cuba. While over water, the eye reorganized, and the cyclone maintained hurricane intensity. Inez eventually turned to a northward drift over central Cuba and emerged into the Atlantic Ocean on October 2.
  Shortly after exiting Cuba into the Atlantic, Inez weakened into a tropical sto
caption: Hurricane Inez near Yucatán Peninsula
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