Hurricane Humberto

Hurricane Humberto was a Category 1 hurricane that formed and intensified faster than any other North Atlantic tropical cyclone on record, before landfall. The eighth named storm and third hurricane of the 2007 Atlantic hurricane season, Humberto developed on September 12, 2007, in the northwestern Gulf of Mexico. The tropical cyclone rapidly strengthened and struck High Island, Texas, with winds of about early on September 13. It steadily weakened after moving ashore, and on September 14, Humberto began dissipating over northwestern Georgia as it interacted with an approaching cold front. Damage was fairly light, estimated at $50 million (2007 USD). Precipitation peaked at , while wind gusts to were reported. The heavy rainfall caused widespread flooding, which damaged or destroyed dozens of homes, and closed several highways. Trees and power lines were downed, knocking out power to hundreds of thousands of customers. The hurricane caused one fatality in the State of Texas. Additionally, as the storm progressed inland, rainfall was reported throughout the Southeast United States. Meteorological history The origins of Humberto can be traced to the remnants of a frontal trough—the same one that spawned Tropical Storm Gabrielle—that moved offshore of south Florida on September 5. The combination of a weak surface trough and an upper-level low pressure system produced disorganized showers and thunderstorms from western Cuba into the eastern Gulf of Mexico. Tracking slowly west-northwestward, unfavorable wind shear initially inhibited tropical cyclone development.