Search

During 31 August 2015, Hurricane Fred traversed through the Cape Verde islands, passing near Boa Vista and possibly making landfall over São Nicolau during the evening hours. Hurricane Fred was a category 1 storm with maximum winds of 75 kt and a sea level pressure of 986 hPa during 31 August. The African easterly wave associated with Tropical Cyclone (TC) Fred emerged from Guinea on 29 August and was named Tropical Storm Fred on 30 August. Prior to impacting Cape Verde, the storm caused the sinking of a ship and the loss of seven lives off the coast of Guinea-Bissau and damage along coastal zones of Senegal. In Cape Verde, there was no loss of life but there was damage on 7 of the 10 islands. Station data show tropical-storm-force winds in Boa Vista and Sal and hurricane-force winds in São Nicolau. Heavy precipitation with amounts in excess of 200 mm occurred on the islands of Santiago, São Nicolau, and Santo Antão. The Weather Research and Forecasting (WRF) Model and Global Forecast System (GFS) were used as primary guidance several days prior to the formation of TC Fred. Challenges for protecting populations from tropical cyclones can be addressed through annual hurricane awareness and preparedness programs in several languages. This is also an adaptation strategy related to anthropogenic climate change as warming tropical oceans may increase the risk of damage and threaten populations. Radar and buoy observations are needed now, and the movement of vulnerable populations and other adaptation strategies will need to be implemented in the coming decades.

The National Aeronautics and Space Administration’s (NASA) Hurricane and Severe Storm Sentinel (HS3) investigation was a multiyear field campaign designed to improve understanding of the physical processes that control hurricane formation and intensity change, specifically the relative roles of environmental and inner-core processes. Funded as part of NASA’s Earth Venture program, HS3 conducted 5-week campaigns during the hurricane seasons of 2012–14 using the NASA Global Hawk aircraft, along with a second Global Hawk in 2013 and a WB-57f aircraft in 2014. Flying from a base at Wallops Island, Virginia, the Global Hawk could be on station over storms for up to 18 h off the East Coast of the United States and up to about 6 h off the western coast of Africa. Over the 3 years, HS3 flew 21 missions over nine named storms, along with flights over two nondeveloping systems and several Saharan air layer (SAL) outbreaks. This article summarizes the HS3 experiment, the missions flown, and some preliminary findings related to the rapid intensification and outflow structure of Hurricane Edouard (2014) and the interaction of Hurricane Nadine (2012) with the SAL.

The 2010 Atlantic hurricane season was marked by above-average tropical cyclone activity with the formation of 19 tropical storms. A total of 12 of the storms became hurricanes and 5 became major hurricanes (category 3 or higher on the Saffir–Simpson hurricane wind scale). In addition, there were two tropical depressions that did not reach storm strength. These totals were well above the long-term averages of 11 named storms, 6 hurricanes, and 2 major hurricanes. The areas most affected by the 2010 storms were eastern Mexico, Central America, and the island nations of the western Caribbean Sea, where multiple strikes occurred. In addition, two hurricanes struck eastern Canada. Despite the high level of activity, no hurricanes made landfall in the United States in 2010. The death toll from the 2010 Atlantic tropical cyclones was 189. A verification of National Hurricane Center official forecasts during 2010 is also presented. The 2010 mean track errors were slightly larger than the previous 5-yr average at 12 and 24 h and much smaller at the other forecast times, even though the 2010 track forecasts were more difficult than normal. The 2010 mean intensity forecast errors were larger than the previous 5-yr average at 12–48 h, smaller at the longer forecast times, and had a high bias at all forecast times. As with the track forecasts, the 2010 intensity forecasts were more difficult than normal at all forecast times.

The NOAA Gulfstream IV (G-IV) routinely deploys global positioning system dropwindsondes (GPS sondes) to sample the environment around hurricanes that threaten landfall in the United States and neighboring countries. Part of this G-IV synoptic surveillance flight pattern is a circumnavigation 300–350 km from the circulation center of the hurricane. Here, the GPS sondes deployed over two consecutive days around Hurricane Felicia (2009) as it approached Hawaii are examined. The circumnavigations captured only the final stages of decay of the once-category-4 hurricane. Satellite images revealed a rapid collapse of the deep convection in the eyewall region and the appearance of the low-level circulation center over ~8 h. Midlevel dry air associated with the Pacific high was present along portions of the circumnavigation but did not reach the eyewall region during the period of rapid dissipation of the deep clouds. In contrast, the subtropical jet stream (STJ) enhanced the deep-layer vertical shear of the horizontal wind (VWS; 850–200 hPa) to greater than 30 m s−1 first in the northwest quadrant; ~6 h later the STJ was estimated to reach the eyewall region of the hurricane and was nearly coincident with the dissipation of deep convection in the core of Felicia. Felicia’s demise is an example of the STJ enhancing the VWS and inhibiting intense hurricanes from making landfall in Hawaii. The authors speculate that VWS calculated over quadrants rather than entire annuli around a hurricane may be more appropriate for forecasting intensity change.

This PEARC17 Visualization Showcase entry "Gonzalo and Sandy" is a video compilation of several short animations selected from the project, "Predictability and Data Assimilation of Severe Weather and Tropical Cyclones" supported by the Extreme Science and Engineering Discovery Environment via its Extended Collaborative Support Service (XSEDE ECSS). The animations visualize data based on Atlantic hurricanes Gonzalo, and Sandy the storm that devastated the United States East Coast, most notably the New Jersey shore.

Among the most unusual and unexpected hurricanes in United States history is the only hurricane to make landfall in the month of May. This recently rediscovered storm that struck northwest Florida on 28 May 1863 created a natural disaster in the area that became lost to history because it was embedded in a much larger and important manmade event—in this case, the U.S. Civil War. The authors document the arrival of this storm both historically and meteorologically and anachronistically name it “Hurricane Amanda” in honor of the Union ship driven ashore by the hurricane. The hurricane revealed deficiencies and strengths in combat readiness by both sides. Meteorologically, the storm nearly achieved major hurricane status at landfall and its absence from modern databases of tropical cyclone activity is a useful reminder to users of important gaps in our knowledge of tropical cyclones even in the best-sampled storm basins.

A statistical procedure for estimating the risk of strong winds from hurricanes, known as the Hurricane Risk Calculator, is demonstrated and applied to several major cities in Louisiana. The procedure provides an estimate of wind risk over different length periods and can be applied to any location experiencing this hazard. Results show that an area 100 km around the city of New Orleans can expect to see hurricane winds blowing at 49 ms−1 (44.3–53.7) [90 % confidence interval (CI)] or stronger, on average, once every 20 years. In comparison, for the same time period, the capital city of Baton Rouge and the surrounding area can expect to see hurricane winds of 43 ms−1 (38.2–47.8) (90 % CI) or stronger. Hurricane track direction is also analyzed at the cities of interest. For Morgan City, Lafayette, Lake Charles, and Alexandria, tropical cyclones with winds at least 18 ms−1 travel from the southeast to northwest. New Orleans and Baton Rouge tropical cyclones have a greater tendency to turn toward the east while within 100 km of the city, historically giving them a southwesterly approach. Tropical cyclones within 350 km off the south-central Louisiana coast occur most often in September, and the most extreme of these events are becoming stronger through time as shown with quantile regression.

The 2011 Atlantic season was marked by above-average tropical cyclone activity with the formation of 19 tropical storms. Seven of the storms became hurricanes and four became major hurricanes (category 3 or higher on the Saffir–Simpson hurricane wind scale). The numbers of tropical storms and hurricanes were above the long-term averages of 12 named storms, 6 hurricanes, and 3 major hurricanes. Despite the high level of activity, Irene was the only hurricane to hit land in 2011, striking both the Bahamas and the United States. Other storms, however, affected the United States, eastern Canada, Central America, eastern Mexico, and the northeastern Caribbean Sea islands. The death toll from the 2011 Atlantic tropical cyclones is 80. National Hurricane Center mean official track forecast errors in 2011 were smaller than the previous 5-yr means at all forecast times except 120 h. In addition, the official track forecast errors set records for accuracy at the 24-, 36-, 48-, and 72-h forecast times. The mean intensity forecast errors in 2011 ranged from about 6 kt (~3 m s−1) at 12 h to about 17 kt (~9 m s−1) at 72 and 120 h. These errors were below the 5-yr means at all forecast times.

Overall activity during the 2011 eastern North Pacific hurricane season was near average. Of the 11 tropical storms that formed, 10 became hurricanes and 6 reached major hurricane strength (category 3 or stronger on the Saffir–Simpson hurricane wind scale). For comparison, the 1981–2010 averages are about 15 tropical storms, 8 hurricanes, and 4 major hurricanes. Interestingly, although the number of named storms was below average, the numbers of hurricanes and major hurricanes were above average. The 2011 season had the most hurricanes since 2006 and the most major hurricanes since 1998. Two hurricanes affected the southwestern coast of Mexico (Beatriz as a category 1 hurricane and Jova as a category 2 hurricane), and the season’s tropical cyclones caused about 49 deaths. On average, the National Hurricane Center track forecasts in the eastern North Pacific for 2011 were very skillful.

Record-breaking oceanic and atmospheric conditions led to a remarkable season in a key Pacific hurricane development region.

The 2010 eastern North Pacific hurricane season was one of the least active seasons on record. Only seven named storms developed, which is the lowest number observed at least since routine satellite coverage of that basin began in 1966. Furthermore, only three of those storms reached hurricane status, which is also the lowest number of hurricanes ever observed in the satellite-era season. However, two tropical storms made landfall: Agatha in Guatemala and Georgette in Mexico, with Agatha directly causing 190 deaths and moderate to severe property damage as a result of rain-induced floods and mud slides. On average, the National Hurricane Center track forecasts in the eastern North Pacific for 2010 were quite skillful.

The 2007 Atlantic hurricane season had 15 named storms, including 14 tropical storms and 1 subtropical storm. Of these, six became hurricanes, including two major hurricanes, Dean and Felix, which reached category 5 intensity (on the Saffir–Simpson hurricane scale). In addition, there were two unnamed tropical depressions. While the number of hurricanes in the basin was near the long-term mean, 2007 became the first year on record with two category 5 landfalls, with Hurricanes Dean and Felix inflicting severe damage on Mexico and Nicaragua, respectively. Dean was the first category 5 hurricane in the Atlantic basin to make landfall in 15 yr, since Hurricane Andrew (1992). In total, eight systems made landfall in the basin during 2007, and the season’s tropical cyclones caused approximately 380 deaths. In the United States, one hurricane, one tropical storm, and three tropical depressions made landfall, resulting in 10 fatalities and about $50 million in damage.

Author's Note: As I was developing the hypothetical situation depicting a devastating hurricane striking New Orleans, Louisiana, the disaster waiting to happen threatened to become a reality: Hurricane Ivan, a Category 4 hurricane (140 mph winds) fluctuating to a Category 5 (up to 155 mph winds), was slowly moving directly toward New Orleans. Forecasters were predicting a one-in-four chance that Ivan would remain on this direct path and would be an “extreme storm” at landfall. In reality, the storm veered to the north and made landfall east of Mobile Bay, Alabama, causing devastation and destruction well into the central Gulf shoreline and throughout the Southeast and the mid-Atlantic states.

The 2006 Atlantic hurricane season is summarized and the year’s tropical cyclones are described. A verification of National Hurricane Center official forecasts during 2006 is also presented. Ten cyclones attained tropical storm intensity in 2006. Of these, five became hurricanes and two became “major” hurricanes. Overall activity was near the long-term mean, but below the active levels of recent seasons. For the first time since 2001, no hurricanes made landfall in the United States. Elsewhere in the basin, hurricane-force winds were experienced in Bermuda (from Florence) and in the Azores (from Gordon). Official track forecast errors were smaller in 2006 than during the previous 5-yr period (by roughly 15%–20% out to 72 h), establishing new all-time lows at forecast projections through 72 h. Since 1990, 24–72-h official track forecast errors have been reduced by roughly 50%.

The 2005 Atlantic hurricane season was the most active of record. Twenty-eight storms occurred, including 27 tropical storms and one subtropical storm. Fifteen of the storms became hurricanes, and seven of these became major hurricanes. Additionally, there were two tropical depressions and one subtropical depression. Numerous records for single-season activity were set, including most storms, most hurricanes, and highest accumulated cyclone energy index. Five hurricanes and two tropical storms made landfall in the United States, including four major hurricanes. Eight other cyclones made landfall elsewhere in the basin, and five systems that did not make landfall nonetheless impacted land areas. The 2005 storms directly caused nearly 1700 deaths. This includes approximately 1500 in the United States from Hurricane Katrina—the deadliest U.S. hurricane since 1928. The storms also caused well over $100 billion in damages in the United States alone, making 2005 the costliest hurricane season of record.

After the disastrous Atlantic hurricane season of 1954, the Weather Bureau created the National Hurricane Research Project (NHRP) to advance tropical cyclone science and improve forecasts. In the late 1950s, NHRP pioneered quantitative observations with instrumented aircraft and shaped the modern understanding of tropical cyclones. By the early 1960s, it was intimately involved in Project STORMFURY, the U.S. Government's hurricane modification program. During this time, it was collocated with the Miami, Florida, hurricane forecast office, and became a permanent laboratory. Its scientists became involved in international experiments and collaborated with researchers from around the world. In the 1970s, its theoretical and computer modeling work advanced, supporting STORMFURY. The project required the acquisition of new aircraft. Ironically, the improved instrumentation led to the dissolution of STORMFURY in 1983. Researchers found new avenues of investigation, including hurricane climatology, synoptic flow...

The landfall of Hurricane Juan (September 2003) in the Canadian Maritimes represents an ideal case in which to study the performance of operational forecasting of an intense, predominantly tropical feature entering the midlatitudes. A hybrid cyclone during its genesis phase, Juan underwent a tropical transition as it drifted slowly northward 1500 km from the east coast of the United States. Shortly after reaching its peak intensity as a category-2 hurricane, the storm accelerated rapidly northward and made landfall near Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada, with maximum sustained winds of 44 m s−1. Although the forecasts and warnings produced by the U.S. National Hurricane Center and the Canadian Hurricane Centre were of high quality throughout Hurricane Juan’s life cycle, guidance from numerical weather prediction models became unreliable as the storm accelerated toward the coast. The short-range, near-surface forecasts from eight operational models during the crucial prelandfall portion of Juan’s track are investigated in this study. Despite continued improvements to operational numerical forecasting systems, it is shown that those systems not employing advanced tropical vortex initialization techniques were unable to provide forecasters with credible near-surface guidance in this case. A pair of regional forecasts, one successful and one from the failed model set, are compared in detail. Spurious asymmetries in the initial vortex of the deficient model are shown to hamper structural predictions and to cause nonnegligible track perturbations from the trajectory implied by the well-described deep-layer mean flow. The Canadian Mesoscale Compressible Community model is rerun with an improved representation of the hurricane’s vortex in the initial state. The hindcast produced following the tropical cyclone initialization contains reduced track, structure, and intensity errors compared with those generated by the model in real time. The enhanced initial intensity produces a direct improvement in the forecast storm strength throughout the period, and the symmetrization of the vortex eliminates the interactions that plague the operational system. The southeastward relocation of the implanted vortex to Juan’s observed location eliminates a significant northwestward track bias under the influence of a broad area of southerly steering flow. The study concludes that the initialization of Hurricane Juan’s structure and position adds value to numerical guidance even as the storm accelerates poleward at a latitude where the implantation of a quasi-symmetric vortex may not be generally valid.

The 2003 Atlantic hurricane season is described. The season was very active, with 16 tropical storms, 7 of which became hurricanes. There were 49 deaths directly attributed to this year’s tropical cyclones.

Hurricane Andrew of 1992 caused unprecedented economic devastation along its path through the Bahamas, southeastern Florida, and Louisiana. Damage in the United States was estimated to be $26 billion (in 1992 dollars), making Andrew one of the most expensive natural disasters in U.S. history. This hurricane struck southeastern Florida with maximum 1-min surface winds estimated in a 1992 poststorm analysis at 125 kt (64 m s−1). This original assessment was primarily based on an adjustment of aircraft reconnaissance flight-level winds to the surface. Based on recent advancements in the understanding of the eyewall wind structure of major hurricanes, the official intensity of Andrew was adjusted upward for five days during its track across the Atlantic Ocean and Gulf of Mexico by the National Hurricane Center Best Track Change Committee. In particular, Andrew is now assessed by the National Hurricane Center to be a Saffir–Simpson Hurricane Scale category-5 hurricane (the highest intensity category possible) ...

The 2002 Atlantic hurricane season is summarized. Although the season's total of 12 named storms was above normal, many of these were weak and short-lived. Eight of the named cyclones made landfall in the United States, including Lili, the first hurricane to hit the United States in nearly 3 yr.

The statistical structure of hurricane winds is studied using the data of observation at 50 meteorological stations in Georgia for the period of 1961–2008. Determined are the number of days and the duration of hurricane winds in different regions of the country. Studied are the empirical functions of their distribution and the areal limits.

Hurricane Donna, the only major hurricane to strike the United States during the 1960 Atlantic hurricane season, passed over the middle Florida Keys near Sombrero Key before making landfall southeast of Naples, near Goodland, Florida, on 10 September at approximately 1600 UTC. This study makes detailed retrospective surface wind analyses of Hurricane Donna utilizing the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Hurricane Research Division's (HRD) H*Wind surface wind analysis system. Analyses were produced at intervals of 6 h between 1800 UTC 9 September and 1200 UTC 11 September 1960 while the hurricane was close to and over Florida. These analyses depict the storm track as well as the distribution and extent of tropical storm force, 50 kt (25.7 m s−1), and the hurricane-force wind radii throughout this time period and include new methodologies for adjusting aircraft flight-level data to the surface in the tropical cyclone core environment. Algorithms were developed to account for th...

Activity during the 2001 hurricane season was similar to that of the 2000 season. Fifteen tropical storms developed, with nine becoming hurricanes and four major hurricanes. Two tropical depressions failed to become tropical storms. Similarities to the 2000 season include overall activity much above climatological levels and most of the cyclones occurring over the open Atlantic north of 25°N. The overall “lateness” of the season was notable, with 11 named storms, including all the hurricanes, forming after 1 September. There were no hurricane landfalls in the United States for the second year in a row. However, the season's tropical cyclones were responsible for 93 deaths, including 41 from Tropical Storm Allison in the United States, and 48 from Hurricanes Iris and Michelle in the Caribbean.

The recent development of the global positioning system (GPS) dropwindsonde has allowed the wind and thermodynamic structure of the hurricane eyewall to be documented with unprecedented accuracy and resolution. In an attempt to assist operational hurricane forecasters in their duties, dropwindsonde data have been used in this study to document, for the first time, the mean vertical profile of wind speed in the hurricane inner core from the surface to the 700-hPa level, the level typically flown by reconnaissance aircraft. The dropwindsonde-derived mean eyewall wind profile is characterized by a broad maximum centered 500 m above the surface. In the frictional boundary layer below this broad maximum, the wind decreases nearly linearly with the logarithm of the altitude. Above the maximum, the winds decrease because of the hurricane's warm core. These two effects combine to give a surface wind that is, on average, about 90% of the 700-hPa value. The dropwindsonde observations largely confirm recent...

The 1998 hurricane season in the Atlantic basin is summarized, and the individual tropical storms and hurricanes are described. It was an active season with a large number of landfalls. There was a near-record number of tropical cyclone–related deaths, due almost entirely to Hurricane Mitch in Central America. Brief summaries of forecast verification and tropical wave activity during 1998 are also presented.

The 1999 Atlantic basin hurricane season produced 4 tropical storms and 8 hurricanes for a total of 12 named tropical cyclones. Seven of these affected land. Hurricane Floyd—the deadliest U.S. hurricane since Agnes in 1972—caused a disastrous flood event over the U.S. mid-Atlantic and northeastern coastal states, resulting in 56 U.S. deaths and 1 death in the Bahamas. Heavy rain from a tropical depression contributed to some 400 inland flood deaths in Mexico.

There were 11 tropical storms, 6 hurricanes, and 2 tropical depressions during the 2000 eastern North Pacific hurricane season. Two tropical storms made landfall in Mexico.

The hurricane season in USA runs between June 1 and November 30, and peak hurricane activity generally is between mid-August and mid-October. In an average year, there have been about 10 tropical storms developed in the Gulf of Mexico, Caribbean Sea, or Atlantic Ocean since 1950, and only six storms became hurricanes. Approximately five hurricanes hit the United States mainland in a typical 3-year span, with two designated as major hurricanes (Categories 3 5). The southeastern United States is the region most vulnerable, and the States most likely to be hit by a major hurricane are the states of Florida, Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana, and Texas.

The 1998 eastern North Pacific hurricane season is reviewed. There were 15 tropical cyclones, consisting of nine hurricanes, four tropical storms, and two tropical depressions. During 1998, two tropical cyclones made landfall; Hurricane Isis made two landfalls in Mexico while Tropical Depression Javier dissipated near Cabo Corrientes, Mexico. Corresponding author address: Dr. Lixion A. Avila, NHC, NCEP/NWS/NOAA, Tropical Prediction Center, 11691 SW 17th Street, Miami, FL 33165-2149.

AAAS MEETINGWASHINGTON, D.C.-- A team of climatologists has proposed that a long-term climate pattern over the Atlantic Ocean steers most hurricanes toward either the Gulf of Mexico or the Eastern Seaboard, but not both, for decades to millennia at a time. They reported the results of their comparison of weather records and hurricane landfall reports from the last 150 years at the annual meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, which was held here 17 to 22 February.

A summary of the 1996 Atlantic hurricane season is given, and the individual tropical storms and hurricanes are described. This was the second active year in a row with a large number of intense hurricanes. Hurricane Fran, which hit the coast of North Carolina, was the strongest system to make landfall, and also the most destructive.

The National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR), in a joint effort with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and the German Aerospace Research Establishment, has developed a dropwindsonde based on the Global Positioning System (GPS) satellite navigation. The NCAR GPS dropwindsonde represents a major advance in both accuracy and resolution for atmospheric measurements over data-sparse oceanic areas of the globe, providing wind accuracies of 0.5–2.0 m s−1 with a vertical resolution of ~5 m. One important advance over previous generations of sondes is the ability to measure surface (10 m) winds. The new dropwindsonde has already been used extensively in one major international research field experiment (Fronts and Atlantic Storm Track Experiment), in operational and research hurricane flights from NOAA's National Weather Service and Hurricane Research Division, during NCAR's SNOWBAND experiment, and in recent CALJET and NORPEX El Nino experiments. The sonde has been deployed from a ...

In August 2005, 80 per cent of New Orleans was devastated by flood damage precipitated by Hurricane Katrina. Christiana Spens was on a college exchange in Memphis when the hurricane hit. Here she gives her impressions of the city in the wake of the storm. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Statistical analyses of the most recent 40 yr of hurricane tracks (1956–95) are presented, leading to a version of the North Atlantic climatology and persistence (CLIPER) model that exhibits much smaller forecast biases but similar forecast errors compared to the previously used version. Changes to the model involve the inclusion of more accurate historical tropical cyclone track data and a simpler derivation of the regression equations. Nonlinear systems analysis shows that the predictability timescale in which the average errors increase by a factor e is approximately 2.5 days in the Atlantic basin, which is larger than that found by similar methods near Australia. This suggests that 5-day tropical cyclone track forecasts may have some benefit, and therefore a version of CLIPER extended to 5 days to be used as a baseline to measure this skill is needed.

The National Hurricane Center (a component of the Tropical Prediction Center) tracked nine tropical storms, five of which became hurricanes, during the 1996 eastern North Pacific hurricane season. Five tropical storms or hurricanes made landfall in Mexico. An overview of the 1996 hurricane season is presented.

Hurricanes Fran and Floyd, the two most costly disasters in the history of the state of North Carolina (USA), struck within a three year time span. This provides a unique opportunity to assess the degree to which lessons were transferred from one extreme event to another in terms of the state-level approaches taken to address recovery needs at the local level, including the proactive adoption of supportive state policies advancing hazard mitigation and sustainable development measures in anticipation of the next disaster. The lessons uncovered in a review of these two events include three important themes that are relevant to climate change adaptation: (1) large-scale disasters in the U.S. trigger considerable amounts of post-disaster assistance and attention; (2) the manner in which the “window of opportunity” to garner and effectively coordinate the distribution and use of these resources through changes in policies, plans, public perceptions and programmes varies significantly over time; and (3) the transfer of lessons from one event to another, including the institutionalisation of policies and the hiring of personnel needed to sustain the implementation of these policies requires a significant commitment of political, financial, technical and administrative resources and is difficult to achieve in practice.

The 1994 Atlantic hurricane season had only three hurricanes forming from just seven tropical storms. Several of these tropical cyclones, however, caused loss of life and great damage. Gordon, as a tropical storm, produced floods that killed more than 1100 people in Haiti. Alberto, Beryl, and Gordon hit the United States, causing 38 deaths and nearly $1 billion in damage over the southeastern states.

On October 4, 1995, over 2000 km of coast-line stretching from southwest Florida to Louisiana was struck by storm-generated waves as Hurricane Opal moved northward across the Gulf of Mexico toward landfall east of Pensacola Beach, Florida (Figure 1). Approximately 12 hours before landfall on October 4, Opal neared category 5 strength (measured on the Saffir/Simpson scale) with sustained wind speeds of over 65 m s−1. Storm surge levels of ∼5 m were estimated across the Northwest Florida shelf by the National Hurricane Center (NHC), resulting in the overwash of most of Santa Rosa Island, the most extensively affected section of coast in the Gulf.