Meteorological History
A tropical wave moved through Cape Verde on September 6 and on September 11 Ione developed into a tropical depression. Ione remained weak for the next few days, and then began to steadily intensify as it moved north of the Lesser Antilles, reaching hurricane strength on September 15. Conditions were favorable for additional development, and Ione peaked with winds of 120 miles per hour (190 km/h) on September 18 while north of the Bahamas.
Drier and cooler air gradually became entrained in Ione's circulation, and the storm weakened into a minimal hurricane at the time of its Wilmington, North Carolina, landfall on September 19, which made Ione the third hurricane to hit the state in six weeks and fourth in 11 months. Ione was the first tropical cyclone to be observed on the Cape Hatteras radar during landfall and was one of the first observed to make small-scale oscillations within its track. The storm weakened to a tropical storm over land but restrengthened to a Category 2 hurricane over the northwestern Atlantic. Ione continued northeastward and became an extratropical cyclone on September 21. The extratropical storm crossed over Newfoundland and was last seen on September 24 moving across the North Atlantic.
Read more about this topic: Hurricane Ione
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