Hurricane Gabrielle and Tropical Storm Iris caused light effects on land, with the former resulting in nine fatalities from rip currents offshore the East Coast of the United States and Atlantic Canada, while the latter produced minor flooding in the United States Virgin Islands.

[3] Few other storms in 1989 caused significant damage; hurricanes Chantal and Jerry both resulted in flooding and wind impacts in Texas.

[1] Prior to the season, the Weather Research Center (WRC) in Houston, Texas also issued a forecast, which called for ten named storms and six hurricanes.

Although it rapidly became extratropical over land, the remnants of Allison meandered over the Southern United States and reached as far north as Indiana.

The wave quickly developed a low-level circulation by July 9 and was designated Tropical Depression Three at 1800 UTC, while located about midway between Africa and the Lesser Antilles.

By July 13, Barry weakened back to a depression and dissipated shortly after while located 545 miles (880 km) northeast of the Lesser Antilles.

[28] While making landfall in Texas, the storm produced relatively small tides, with most locations reporting waves less than 4 feet (1.2 m) in height.

Two tornadoes were reported, with one wrecking a shed in Crystal Beach, Texas, and the other knocking over several trees and mobile homes in Iota, Louisiana.

Tracking northward, Dean accelerated and intensified into a Category 2 hurricane while bypassing Bermuda late on August 6.

[32] In Atlantic Canada, light to moderate rainfall was reported, and tropical storm force winds were observed in some areas.

Convection diminished due to cooler sea surface temperatures, but a small, well-defined low-level circulation remained.

The storm intensified into a hurricane on August 22, after being in the northeastern quadrant of an upper-level low, which caused the flow aloft to become more divergent.

Southwesterly winds sheared away much of the deep convection, causing Felix to weaken back to a tropical depression on August 29.

[22] Tropical Depression Nine did not re-develop in the Atlantic or the Caribbean Sea, although the remnants entered the Pacific and regenerated into Hurricane Octave on September 8.

[40] Gabrielle further weakened to a Category 2 hurricane late on September 8, and became nearly stationary roughly almost halfway between Bermuda and Cape Race, Newfoundland.

[40] Although it never approached land, Gabrielle was an extremely large and powerful storm that generated swells up to 20 ft (6 m) all the way from the Lesser Antilles to Canada.

After weakening on September 17, Hugo entered the Caribbean Sea after passing between Guadeloupe and Montserrat with winds near 140 mph (225 km/h) and later made landfall on St. Croix at the same intensity.

As Hugo accelerated to the northwest, re-intensification occurred, and it eventually reached a secondary peak intensity as a low-end Category 4 hurricane.

After landfall, Hugo rapidly weakened as it turned to the northeast, and transitioned into an extratropical cyclone in northwestern Pennsylvania on September 23.

In Puerto Rico, the storm downed thousands of trees in the El Yunque National Forest and caused near complete destruction of coffee and damage crops.

[46] In South Carolina alone, the Red Cross estimates that 3,307 single family homes were destroyed, 18,171 were inflicted major damage, and 56,580 sustained minor impact.

[47] Overall, Hugo caused at least 88 fatalities and $9.47 billion in losses,[44][45][46][3][50] making it the costliest hurricane in the Atlantic basin, at the time.

[52] While passing east of the Lesser Antilles, Iris produced 7.53 in (191 mm) of rainfall on Saint John in the U.S. Virgin Islands, resulting in flooding.

[22] Although the depression was predicted to intensify to near hurricane status by October 5,[54] a mid-latitude trough increased wind shear, inducing weakening.

The remnants moved through the Tennessee Valley ahead of a frontal zone and eventually offshore the coast of the Mid-Atlantic states.

[61] Despite the issuance of a hurricane warning just eight hours prior to landfall, Jerry caused only three fatalities in Texas, possibly due to the storm's small size; a car fell over the Galveston Seawall, killing its three occupants.

[58] A tropical wave moved off the coast of Africa on November 13 and failed to organize until reaching the western Caribbean Sea.

The depression moved northwestward then northeastward, intensifying into Tropical Storm Karen on November 30, while located southwest of Isla de la Juventud, Cuba.

[64] While Karen was threatening landmasses in the northwestern Caribbean Sea, tropical storm watches and warnings were issued for Cozumel on the Yucatán Peninsula, Isle de la Juventud, and western Cuba.

The World Meteorological Organization retired Hugo from the Atlantic hurricane name lists after the 1989 season on account of its devastating impact.