RA IV Hurricane Committe, Twenty-sixth session - WMO

APPENDIX III, p. 2
Tropical Storm Bill formed over the southern Gulf of Mexico on 29 June, from the
interaction of a tropical wave with an upper-level low. It moved northward and made landfall in
southeastern Louisiana with winds to 60 mph late on the next day. Bill produced at least five
tornadoes, coastal flooding, and heavy rain. One tornado struck Reserve, Louisiana, damaging
20 mobile homes and injuring four persons. Bill was absorbed by a frontal system over Virginia
on 3 July, after producing locally heavy rain and floods over much of the southeastern United
States. Bill was responsible for four deaths and 50 million dollars in damage.
Hurricane Claudette developed from a tropical wave over the central Caribbean Sea on
8 July. Claudette’s winds briefly reached 80 mph on 10 July, before the storm made landfall on
the east coast of the Yucatan Peninsula with 60-mph winds on 11 July. Claudette then moved
slowly northwestward to west-northwestward across the Gulf of Mexico, before making landfall
at Matagorda Island just east of Port O’Connor, Texas on 15 July with 90-mph winds. Claudette
turned westward after landfall and moved across southern Texas and northern Mexico, and
finally dissipated over the high terrain of northwestern Mexico on 17 July. Claudette was slow to
weaken over land, as radar and satellite images indicated that its structure remained distinct for
more than 24 hours after landfall. Claudette was directly responsible for one death and
180 million dollars in damage in Texas. Minor damage was reported from St. Lucia in the
Windward Islands from the pre-Claudette tropical wave.
Hurricane Danny developed from a tropical wave about 625 miles east of Bermuda on
16 July. Danny moved northward and then eastward across the North Atlantic Ocean on a
lengthy clockwise loop. Danny became a hurricane with 75-mph winds on 18 and 19 July. On
21 July, Danny weakened to a non-convective remnant low that continued on the clockwise
track, with a smaller loop superimposed on the larger-scale track, for six more days. The
remnant low finally dissipated on 27 July about 1250 miles east of Bermuda and only 650 miles
east of where Danny originated.
Hurricane Erika was first detected as a weak surface low detached from a decaying
frontal system about 1150 miles east of Bermuda on 8 August. This low interacted with an
upper-level cold low and the combined system moved across the Bahamas and south Florida,
before developing into a tropical cyclone in the eastern Gulf of Mexico on 14 August. Erika
briefly strengthened to a 75-mph hurricane as it made landfall along the northeastern coast of
Mexico, about 45 miles south of Brownsville, Texas on 16 August. Extreme southern Texas
experienced tropical-storm force winds. Erika dissipated on the next day over the mountains of
northern Mexico. Two persons died in Montemorelos, Mexico when their truck was swept away
by flood waters as they tried to cross a partially-submerged bridge. Damage in Mexico
consisted of roof and automobile damage, as well as numerous highways blocked by mud
slides. Interestingly, Erika was not operationally upgraded to a hurricane, but a post-storm
review of Brownsville Doppler radar data indicates that Erika was briefly a hurricane at landfall.
Hurricane Fabian developed on 27 August from a tropical wave over the far eastern
tropical Atlantic Ocean. Its track followed a clockwise path around the western periphery of a
subtropical high pressure ridge until it became extratropical over the far North Atlantic Ocean to
the east of Newfoundland on 8 September. Fabian moved west-northwestward across the
tropical Atlantic from 27 August until 3 September, while strengthening to its peak intensity of
145 mph (category four hurricane), which it reached on 1 September. Fluctuating in intensity for