Dissipation of Matagorda Hurricane

Date: August 31, 1942 • Location: Mexico City, Mexico

The Matagorda hurricane, the most intense and costliest tropical cyclone of the 1942 Atlantic hurricane season, dissipated after causing $26.5 million in damages and eight deaths.

The 1942 Matagorda hurricane was the most intense and costliest tropical cyclone of the 1942 Atlantic hurricane season. The second tropical storm and hurricane, as well as the first major hurricane of the year, it originated from a tropical wave near the island of St. Lucia on August 21. Moving generally westward across the Caribbean Sea, the storm remained weak for much of its early existence. However, it gradually intensified, and reached hurricane strength south of Jamaica on August 25 before coming ashore on the Yucatán Peninsula late on August 27. Once in the Gulf of Mexico, the hurricane quickly strengthened, and attained its peak intensity on August 29 as a Category 3 hurricane with winds of 115 mph (185 km/h). Nearing the Texas Gulf Coast, the storm maintained intensity, and continued to do so by the time it made a final landfall near Matagorda on August 30. Continuing inland, the hurricane weakened, and dissipated into a remnant low on August 31.