The hurricane developed near the Leeward Islands as a tropical depression on September 2 and gradually gained in strength as it tracked on a generally west-northwesterly path, crossing the Mona Passage and moving across the Bahamas.

Over the next several days, the intense cyclone traversed the Gulf of Mexico, fluctuating in strength before making landfall near Texas' Baffin Bay on September 14 as a large Category 3 hurricane.

Based on isolated observations east of the Lesser Antilles on September 1, the precursor to the 1919 Florida Keys hurricane may have been a disorganized tropical wave that tracked westward towards the Leeward Islands.

Gradual strengthening occurred as the depression tracked west-northwest, attaining tropical storm intensity at 06:00 UTC on September 3.

[3] Twelve hours later, the tropical cyclone clipped the extreme-southwestern portion of Puerto Rico with maximum sustained winds of 50 mph (80 km/h).

[3] Traversing westward across the southern extents of the Bahamas, the newly developed hurricane steadily grew in size and intensity.

[3][4] At 07:00 UTC on September 10, the hurricane made landfall on the Dry Tortugas at peak intensity with winds of 150 mph (240 km/h) extending as far as 17 mi (27 km) outwards from the center and a low barometric pressure of 927 mbar (hPa; 27.37 inHg) based on a barometer observation in the eye of the storm.

The following day, the storm reached a secondary peak intensity with winds of 145 mph (233 km/h) and a minimum pressure of 931 mbar (931 hPa; 27.5 inHg) over the western Gulf of Mexico before weakening precipitously afterwards.

[2] As the hurricane tracked further inland, land interaction weakened the cyclone, with winds dropping below hurricane-force on September 15 and then below tropical storm-force the next day.

In addition, the storm's projected path into the Gulf of Mexico prompted the bureau to also direct the clearance of ships in the hurricane's trajectory.

[10] On the islands, strong winds produced by the hurricane destroyed numerous homes and sank several schooners, leaving many homeless.

[12] Although the hurricane never made landfall on Cuba, the storm's close proximity to the northern stretches of the island led to considerable impacts.

A strong storm surge combined with wind-swept waves topped the Havana seawall, flooding areas of the city as far as six blocks inland and prompting the evacuation of homes at risk.

The storm surge caused by this hurricane prompted the city of Corpus Christi to construct a breakwater in 1925, and a seawall was subsequently built in 1940.