 The meteorological history of Hurricane Luis spanned sixteen days between August 27 to September 11 , 1995 . The storm originated from an area of low pressure associated with a tropical wave on August 26 . The following day , the low became sufficiently organized to be classified as a tropical depression , while tracking general westward . By August 29 , the depression intensified into a tropical storm and was given the name Luis by the National Hurricane Center . Luis attained hurricane status the following day as an eye began to develop . On September 1 the cyclone intensified into a major hurricane — a storm with winds of 111 mph ( 178 km / h ) or higher — and further strengthened to a Category 4 hurricane later that day . 
