Hurricane Gilbert

[Jim Eshelman]

September 14, 1988, dawn, use Playa del Carmen, Mexico

Struck Caribbean and Gulf of Mexico, striking Jamaica 9/11 as a Category 3 (where its impact was most severe) then made landfall on Cozumel on 9/13 and the Yucatan Peninsula "around dawn" 9/14 as a Cat 5 (winds 185 mph). 318 died, $2.98 billion in damages. At the time, it was the most intense Atlantic hurricane (low barometric pressure), later surpassed in 2005 by Hurricane Wilma. (NY Times eye witness says "dawn Wednesday" i.e., 9/14 in Yucatan, a meteorological site says 15:00 UT = 9:00 AM CST 14th in Cozumel, which seems too late). Cozumel is just off the Yucatan coast, so essentially the place of impact, which probably was about Playa del Carmen (looking at a map). Dawn was 6:35 AM.

Deaths: 318 (over 200 of them in Mexico). Damages estimated at $2.98 billion ($6.4 billion in 2019).

A Saturn-Uranus conjunction drives the event.

Year: Capsolar {+1}
Sun on Asc 0°32'
Mercury sq. MC 0°52'
Pluto distantly foreground
-- Mercury-Pluto sq. 3°00' in mundo
Moon-Mars conj. 0°46'
Moon-Venus sq. 2°39' in mundo

Bridge
CanQ Moon sq. p Jupiter 0°58', s Jupiter 1°00'
t Neptune sq. Cansolar MC 0°17'
t Uranus conj. Cansolar Asc 0°49'
t Saturn conj. Cansolar Asc 1°47'
p Mars op. Cansolar MC 1°21'

Quarter: Cansolar {+3}
Uranus on Asc 0°13'
Saturn on Asc 0°56'
-- Sa/Ur on Asc 0°22'
-- Saturn-Uranus conj. 0°37'
Neptune sq. MC 0°40'
Mercury sq. MC 0°44'
-- Me/Ne sq. MC 0°02'
-- Mercury-Neptune op. 1°15' in mundo
Mars more widely foreground
Moon-Jupiter sq. 0°55'

Month: Caplunar {+2}
Mercury on MC 2°56'
Saturn on EP 1°04'
Uranus more widely angular
-- Saturn-Uranus conj. 1°09'

Week: Liblunar {+2}
Saturn on Dsc 0°16'
Uranus on Dsc 0°44'
-- Saturn-Uranus conj. 0°29' in mundo
Sun more widely foreground - [Sun sq. non-angular Jupiter 2°47']

Day: Capsolar {-1}
t Venus sq. s MC 0°20'

Day: Cansolar Quotidian & Transits
p Moon sq. p Jupiter 0°58', s Jupiter 1°00'
p Asc op. p Moon 0°47', sq. s Jupiter 0°13'
p MC op. t Jupiter 1°45'
------------------------------------
t Neptune sq. s MC 0°17'
t Uranus conj. s Asc 0°49'
t Saturn conj. s Asc 1°47'
p Mars op. s MC 1°21'