It is believed that the tropical wave organized into a tropical depression shortly thereafter, early on August 14, and it became a tropical storm a few hours later. On the morning of August 14, the Hurricane Hunters flew to investigate for a closed circulation near the Bahamas and near the Cayman Islands. The crew observed a developing center in the western Caribbean, and winds had reached tropical storm status. By then, the storm had strengthened into a strong tropical storm with winds of 60 mph (95 km/h), about west-northwest of Grand Cayman. Upon first being classified as a tropical storm, Camille was located in an area favorable for further strengthening, although initially it slowly intensified. It was located within an area of very light wind shear and an overall warm environment. Additionally, the storm developed strong low-level inflow from the deep southern Caribbean, which continuously brought moisture into the storm. Throughout its duration, it was a small tropical cyclone, although with a radius of gale-force winds spreading to the north, the storm's thunderstorm area quickly spread over Cuba. As the storm approached the western coast of Cuba, it began rapid deepening, reaching hurricane status and less than 12 hours later attained winds of 110 mph (175 km/h). Prior to landfall, its eye was tracked by radar from Havana; it is estimated the hurricane moved ashore between Cape San Antonio and Guane late on August 15 as a strong Category 2 hurricane. Camille was a small hurricane as it crossed western Cuba, and its winds decreased slightly to 105 mph (165 km/h) over land before it emerged into the Gulf of Mexico. Initially, Hurricane Camille was forecast to turn northeastward toward the Florida panhandle. Instead, it continued northwestward and rapidly intensified after leaving Cuba. Its eye contracted to a diameter of less than , and strong rainbands developed around the entire hurricane. Due to the small eye, Hurricane Hunters at first had difficulties in determining the strength; however a flight late on August 16 found a strong Category 5 hurricane on the Saffir–Simpson scale and recorded a very low pressure of 908 mbar (hPa; 26.82 inHg), with winds estimated at 175 mph (280 km/h). At the time, it was not expected to intensify further. However, a subsequent Hurricane Hunters flight early on August 17 recorded a central pressure of 905 mbar (hPa; 26.73 inHg), at the time the lowest pressure recorded by reconnaissance aircraft.