Hurricane Opal as a Tropical Depression moved off the Yucatan Peninsula into the Bay of Campheche. It gained strength in the Gulf of Mexico and became a hurricane and started to move north. Opal then made a more North/ Northeast turn and began to get even stronger. Opal began to intensify rapidly at its peak Opal was a category 4 Hurricane when it was about 250 SW of Pensacola Florida. Minimum central pressure at that time was recored at 916 MB. Opal made landfall as a category 3 hurricane, while moving at 20 knots at Pensacola Florida on October 4th. Opal weakened rapidly as it moved inland becoming a Tropical Storm over Alabama. Rainfall in florida was between 5 and 10 inches. Lesser amounts occurred along Opals track northward. at the Height of the storm power was out to nearly 2 million people in Florida, Georgia, Alabama and the Carolinas. 9 people in the United States were killed by Opal and damage was estimated at between 2 and 3 billion dollars.

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