a tropical wave exited the west coast of africa and entered into the atlantic ocean between september 7 and september 8. although it had a large circulation, deep convection was minimal. after tracking steadily westward over the next few days, the system began developing convection. by 18:00 utc on september 12, the system became tropical depression fifteen, while centered about 585 mi (940 km) east-southeast of barbados. the depression strengthened and became tropical storm marilyn six hours later. early on september 14, marilyn further intensified to a hurricane. later that day, marilyn made landfall near jenny point, dominica, with winds of 80 mph (130 km/h) at 21:00 utc. shortly thereafter, marilyn entered the caribbean sea. while approaching the virgin islands and puerto rico, the storm became a category 2 hurricane. after avoiding landfall, marilyn re-entered into the atlantic ocean on september 16. the storm continued to intensify and early on september 17, it peaked as a minimal category 3 hurricane. while curving northward, marilyn fluctuated in intensity until beginning a weakening trend on september 20. the storm turned east-northeastward, and by the following day, it weakened to a tropical storm. by 06:00 utc on september 22, marilyn became extratropical while about 315 mi (505 km) southeast of sable island. the remnants of marilyn lasted until merging with a cold front on october 1.