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Hurricane Gilbert had the lowest sea level pressure (888 Mb) ever recorded in the Western Hemisphere. Gilbert reached category 5 status, but at the time of it's landfall over Cozumel, Mexico on September 14 it had weakened to a category 3 storm. Gilbert's northeastern track into Texas and Oklahoma caused $40-50 million in damages from the more than 29 tornadoes reported. Coastal regions in Mexico received 5-10 inches of rain. A total 318 people died due to the effects of this storm.
The after image represents the turbidity structure six days following Gilbert's landfall and the changes in turbidity are therefore only modest. The largest changes are seen in sections of the west side of the Yucatan peninsula especially off Punta Morro, Mexico. Slightly further offshore to the west the overall turbidity appears to have increased although clouds make interpretation difficult. A large amount of sunglint is apparent in the far left of both the before and after images. The difference image also indicates that the largest changes and gradients are found on the west coast of the peninsula.
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Interpretations based on the SST image set are difficult to make because the before and after image represent different seasons and thus the difference image is biased towards heating. The only striking feature in the after image is a cool band of water that runs east-west offshore of the north end of the Yucatan peninsula that may have been induced by the hurricane as the result of surface cooling and perhaps upwelling.
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