the storm abruptly turned towards the north in the direction of the Turks and Caicos before resuming a more westerly trajectory a day later. At 06:00 UTC on September 7, the cyclone strengthened to hurricane intensity north of Crooked Island. Traversing westward across the southern extents of the Bahamas, the newly developed hurricane steadily grew in size and intensity. September 7, the hurricane reached the equivalent of a Category 2 on the modern-day Saffir–Simpson scale and later reached major hurricane strength on September 8 shortly before crossing Andros Island. On September 9, the storm intensified further to Category 4 strength before passing roughly south of Key West, Florida in the Florida Straits. At 07:00 UTC on September 10, the hurricane made landfall on the Dry Tortugas at peak intensity with winds of 150 mph (240 km/h) extending as far as 17 mi (28 km) outwards from the center and a low barometric pressure of 927 mbar (hPa; 27.37 inHg) based on a barometer observation in the eye of the storm. At the time, this made the tropical cyclone the second strongest to strike the United States since 1851, only behind the 1886 Indianola hurricane. After landfall, the storm slowly moved westward into the Gulf of Mexico. From September 10 to September 14, the tropical cyclone traversed the Gulf of Mexico, maintaining a powerful intensity. On September 12, the hurricane briefly weakened to Category 3 intensity before restrengthening shortly thereafter. The following day, the storm reached a secondary peak intensity with winds of 145 mph (235 km/h) and a minimum pressure of 931 mbar (hPa; 27.50 inHg) over the western Gulf of Mexico before weakening precipitously afterwards. At 21:00 UTC on September 14, the hurricane made its final landfall near Baffin Bay as a Category 3 hurricane with winds of 115 mph (185 km/h) and a central pressure of 950 mbar (hPa; 28.06 inHg). Upon moving ashore, the storm was unusually large; its radius of maximum winds measured 40 mi (65 km) compared to the average of 21 mi (33 km) for storms of similar intensities. As the hurricane tracked further inland, land interaction weakened the cyclone, with winds dropping below hurricane-force on September 15 and then below tropical storm-force the next day. By 18:00 UTC on September 16, the tropical cyclone had dissipated over West Texas, near the border between Texas and Mexico. Preparations Due to the lack of hurricane