Hurricane Gert was a strong tropical cyclone that brought heavy surf and rip currents to the East Coast of the United States in August 2017. Gert originated from a tropical wave that moved off the coast of Africa on August 3 yet failed to organize significantly until August 12, when the system coalesced into a tropical depression east of the Bahamas. A few hours later, the depression became the seventh tropical storm of the annual hurricane season and was named Gert. For the next day, though, further intensification was hindered by the proximity of dry air. Once Gert was able to overcome that on August 14, however, Gert resumed strengthening while moving northwards, paralleling the United States coastline. Gert reached its peak intensity on August 16 at Category 2 status on the Saffir–Simpson scale as it accelerated northeastwards. Thereafter, increasing vertical wind shear and decreasing sea surface temperatures caused Gert to rapidly weaken and transition into an extratropical cyclone on August 17, well east of Atlantic Canada. The remnants of Gert dissipated late on August 18, after they merged with another extratropical cyclone over the open Atlantic. Category 2 hurricane: peak winds of 110 mph (95 knots), lowest pressure 962 mb. August 12 – August 18, 2017. Accumulated cyclone energy: 7.8. Wiki link Track: NOAA National Hurricane Center, HURDAT2 best track AL082017 (public domain).