Hurricanes.
It’s officially hurricane season. Before the season even began we have already seen Tropical Storm Alma in the eastern Pacific and Tropical Storm Arthur in the Gulf of Mexico (actually these two storms made landfall in almost the same place in Central America).
I am a self-proclaimed weather nerd. My focus had always been on tornadoes and the severe storms that product them. I never paid much attention to hurricanes. That was until the 2005 hurricane season. It was then I realized that hurricanes are infinitely more fascinating weather occurrences than tornadoes. Don’t get me wrong, I still wanna chase storms in Oklahoma and Kansas, but I love studying hurricanes.
Here are some interesting things I have learned in reading about hurricanes of the past.
In 1995, Hurricane Ismael — a category 1 eastern Pacific storm — made landfall off the southern coast of Guatemala. The storm continued its path inland north eventually making its way to Hobbs, New Mexico (where I live for those who don’t know). For continental United States, when the remnants of Ismael dumped more than 8 inches of rain on Hobbs, it ranked 10th for the wettest hurricanes.
And on a personal Hurricane related note, in 1952, Hurricane Fox brought death and destruction to Cuba, Southeast Florida and the Bahamas. It caused $81 billion (2008 USD) in damage and killed 41 people. It made landfall in Cuba as a category 4 hurricane. Had it been part of the modern hurricane naming lists (at the time hurricanes were still named using the Joint Army/Navy phonetic alphabet), it would have been retired. Fox was the second strongest hurricane to make landfall on Cuba at the time.
Fast forward 49 years to the 2001 hurricane season. Hurricane Michelle made landfall as a category 4 hurricane on Cuba replacing Fox as the second strongest hurricane to make landfall on Cuba. It was the strongest storm to hit Cuba since Hurricane Fox. While it only caused $2.44 billion (2008 USD) worth of damage across Cuba, Florida, Bahamas, Cayman Islands, Jamaica, Honduras and Nicaragua and killed 17 people directly, Michelle was retired and will never be a Hurricane again.
Maybe in 2013, Hurricane Andrea will form and follow a similar path as Fox and Michelle and be retired. While I do not want people to die or lose property, that would be cool.
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