How the Storm Began
The storm that destroyed Galveston in 1900 began far away, over West Africa, where hot air, moisture, and shifting winds came together in just the right way. A tropical disturbance drifted west over the Atlantic, one of many such systems that form every year. Most die out over open water, but a few find the heat and structure they need to grow into something much more dangerous.
As the system moved west, the conditions ahead of it grew more favorable. The summer of 1900 had been brutally hot across the United States, and the Gulf of Mexico held an unusual amount of warmth. Warm water is fuel for a hurricane, and the Gulf was ready to provide it in abundance.
At first, no one on the American mainland had reason to see this storm as historic. It was only one weather system among many, still far away and not yet fully formed. But the atmosphere was setting up a disaster that would expose the limits of science, the dangers of confidence, and the terrible cost of delay.
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