Resuming its northwestward course, Carla continued intensification and on September 11, became what would today be classified as a Category 4 hurricane. By early on the following day, the storm became a major hurricane after reaching Category 3 intensity. Late on September 7, Carla entered the Gulf of Mexico while passing just northeast of the Yucatán Peninsula. Shortly thereafter, the storm curved northward while approaching the Yucatán Channel. About 24 hours later, Carla was upgraded to a hurricane. Initially a tropical depression, it strengthened slowly while heading northwestward, and by September 5, the system was upgraded to Tropical Storm Carla. The third named storm of the 1961 Atlantic hurricane season, Carla developed from an area of squally weather in the southwestern Caribbean Sea on September 3. Hurricane Carla was the most intense tropical cyclone landfall in Texas in the 20th century. Part of the 1961 Atlantic hurricane season Yucatán Peninsula, Texas, Central United States, Great Lakes region, Canada, Greenland Satellite image of Hurricane Carla on September 10.
