Keith began developing on 28 September when a tropical depression formed over the northwestern Caribbean Sea. The cyclone moved slowly northwestward on the 29th as it became a tropical storm, then it rapidly intensified into a Category 4 hurricane on the 30th while drifting westward toward the coast of Belize. Keith stalled with the eyewall over the offshore islands of Belize on 1 October, and it wasn’t until the 3rd that the center made landfall in Belize. Keith weakened during this time and was a tropical storm at landfall. It moved west-northwestward over the Yucatan Peninsula and further weakened to a depression on the 4th.

Keith emerged in the Bay of Campeche late that day and quickly regained tropical storm strength. It again became a hurricane on the 5th before making landfall just north of Tampico, Mexico as a Category 1 hurricane. The cyclone dissipated over northeastern Mexico the next day.

Keith was responsible for 24 deaths – 12 in Nicaragua, 5 in Belize, 6 in Honduras, and 1 in Mexico. The deaths in Belize occurred when two catamarans broke loose during the storm, while 5 of the deaths in Honduras occurred when an airplane disappeared near Roatan Island. Damage to property, agriculture, and tourism in Belize was estimated at $225 million.

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