Hurricane Dean was the strongest
tropical cyclone of the
2007 Atlantic hurricane season. It was the most intense
Atlantic hurricane since
Hurricane Wilma of
2005, tying for seventh overall. Additionally, it made the third most intense Atlantic hurricane
landfall. A
Cape Verde-type hurricane that formed on August 13, 2007, Dean took a west-northwest path from the eastern Atlantic Ocean through the
Saint Lucia Channel and into the
Caribbean Sea. It strengthened into a major hurricane, reaching Category 5 status on the
Saffir–Simpson Hurricane Scale before passing just south of
Jamaica on August 20. The storm made landfall on the
Yucatán Peninsula on August 21 as a powerful Category 5 storm. It crossed the peninsula and emerged into the
Bay of Campeche weakened, but still a hurricane. It strengthened briefly before making a second landfall near
Tecolutla in the Mexican state of
Veracruz on August 22. Dean drifted to the northwest, weakening into a remnant
low which dissipated uneventfully over the southwestern United States.