What we had in 1987 (and I couldn't get to work on tbe morning of 16 October because of fallen trees) was not a hurricane. It was a particularly energetic Atlantic depression which deepened explosively as it tracked into the western approaches. On that occasion there was a particularly marked temperature contrast between tropical-maritime air and polar-maritime air either side of the polar front, exacerbated by the still-warm North Atlantic. Hurricanes are tropical systems which are not allied with the earth's major frontal zones, unlike Atlantic lows which rely on the contrasts in temperature, humidity and vertical profiles between two airmasses either side of the polar front. Hurricanes derive their energy largely from very warm oceans in late summer. The problem with Harvey is that a huge blocking high over continental North America caused the storm system to stall over an area where it could continue to draw massive amounts of energy from the very warm Gulf of Mexico. That led to incessant rainfall which wasn't on the move, unlike what happens with most tropical storm systems in the Gulf of Mexico, which tend to track inland and weaken as they are more and more cut off from their source of energy.