Nate is only the latest late-season storm to threaten Louisiana.
As Tropical Storm Nate closes in on a path toward the Gulf Coast, locals in the New Orleans area are getting the sobering reminder that a storm is still a possibility even in the waning weeks of hurricane season. As a reminder, hurricane season ends Nov. 30.
So, when was the last time a hurricane hit Louisiana in October?
That would be Oct. 3,2002, when Hurricane Lili made its final landfall near Intracoastal City as a Category 1 storm. Intracoastal City is about 20 minutes south of Abbeville.
Lili closed in on Louisiana after developing Sept. 21,2002 into a tropical disturbance in the Atlantic Ocean and strengthening to hurricane status nine days later after passing through the Cayman Islands. The storm tracked south of Cuba before entering the Gulf of Mexico.
The most recent hurricane to make landfall along the central Gulf Coast (LA, MS, AL) in October is Hurricane Lili (2002). #Nate pic.twitter.com/tXHuYMcJ8Z
Lili peaked as a Category 2 storm, though it weakened in its approach to Louisiana thanks to a combination of wind shear and cooler coastal waters.
Even so, the storm caused considerable damage in the Caribbean, killing 15 people and causing close to $1 billion in damage. In addition to cutting off oil and gas production offshore Louisiana, the storm wreaked havoc on the state’s coastal marshes and barrier islands.
Lili and Nate don’t have a lot in common, other than the fact that they are both October storms. Lili formed gradually and took the more familiar path for Atlantic hurricanes, starting as a depression in the ocean, strengthening over the Caribbean islands and entering the Gulf of Mexico. Nate formed quickly off the Central American coast and is pushing northward toward Mexico’s Yucatan Peninsula with “fast forward speed,” according to the National Hurricane Center.
Tropical Storm Nate formed Thursday morning in the Caribbean and is currently about 40 miles west of Puerto Lempira, Honduras. Nate is expected to reach the Gulf of Mexico by Saturday, and the current forecast path shows the storm making landfall somewhere between Abbeville, Louisiana to the west and Mobile, Alabama to the east. The New Orleans area is in the middle of the current forecasted path.
Read the latest on Tropical Storm Nate, and why its path zeroed in on to south Louisiana.
