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Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands: September 17-18, 1989-- Meteorology
Pages 16-47

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From page 16...
... This early intensification and vortex development climatologically favors further intensification, as the storm traverses a long stretch of very warm tropical Atlantic waters at low latitudes, thus reducing chances of weakening or early recurvature, because of interactions with midlatitude westerlies. Other notable Cape Verde hurricanes of this century that have affected Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands include the famous West Indian or San Felipe hurricane, 1928; the San Ciprian storm, 1932; the Santa Clara storm, 1956; Hurricane Donna, 1960; and Hurricanes Frederic and David, 1979.
From page 17...
... Other meteorological aspects of Hurricane Hugo, in the context of the 1989 Atlantic hurricane season as a whole, are discussed by Case (1990.) During the night of September 14, 1989, Hurricane Hugo slowed its forward speed and turned more toward the west-northwest.
From page 18...
... These data indicated that Hugo had intensified to a rare category 5 status on the Saffir-Simpson scale (Hebert et al., 1984~. Figure 1-5 shows an enlarged visible GOES satellite image of Hugo near the time of the NOAA aircraft penetration.
From page 19...
... Gus ~ , ~ ~ 'Santa Clara storms 'A FIGURE 1-3 Tracks of three notable Cape Verde hurricanes that impacted Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands. 19 the eyewall sloped outward slightly with height, and had higher reflectivities reaching greater heights (14 km)
From page 20...
... 20 Table 1-1. The Most Intense U.S.
From page 21...
... Others at NOAA/HRD/AOML in Miami are researching the data taken during this and other flights into Hugo; these data include Doppler wind measurements made in the rainbands of Hugo with the NOAA P-3 tail radar. (See also Marks and Houze, 1984, for Doppler analyses made on Hurricane Debby.)
From page 22...
... MESOSCALE VARIATIONS IN STORM AND STRUCTURE The well-developed eye of Hugo approached the Lesser Antilles during the afternoon of September 16. A profound striated structure in the cirrus outflow clouds emanating from the hurricane 's northern portion is illustrated in the visible satellite photograph of Figure I-~.
From page 23...
... . ~—A.' I ~ I23 it_ Em FIGURE 1-6b A northwest-southeast radar cross-section through the hurricane ~ s eye obtained with the 3-cm tail radar.
From page 24...
... Courtesy of NOAA/HAD. FIGURE 1-8 A remarkable striated structure in the cirrus outBow clouds emanating from the hurricane ~ s northern portion in this visible satellite photograph.
From page 25...
... A time history of eye surface pressures and peak sustained winds at 10,000 ft measured by NOAA and USAF reconnaissance aircraft from September Il-19, 1989, is given in Figure I-10. In general, there is a lag in the customary wind-pressure relationship.
From page 26...
... 11-19) 970 960 950 940 E ~n 930 920 910 900 FIGURE 1-10 A time-history of eye surface pressures and peak sustained winds at 10,000 ft measured by NOAA and U.S.
From page 27...
... Virgin Islands and eastern Puerto Rico, derived from San Juan's NWS radar film and NHC's official fixes. Note that by early afternoon on September 17, in response to subtle, poorly observed, large-scale changes in Hu~o's environment (noted above)
From page 29...
... After pummeling the U.S. Virgin Islands for several hours Hurricane Hugo slowly looped into Vieques Sound between the islands of Culebra and Vieques during the predawn hours of September IS (Figures I-~1 and I-13~.
From page 31...
... Croix for several hours on September 17-18. All images were recorded approximately 150 km from the San Juan radar.
From page 32...
... 32 FIGURE 1-14c Third photograph in the sequence, 0108 AST September 18. Em_ FIGURE 1-14d Fourth photograph in the sequence, 0555 AST September 18.
From page 33...
... ::~ :. ., if_ EM FIGURE 1-14e Fifth photograph in the sequence, 0700 AST September 18.
From page 34...
... 34 _ it_ FIGURE 1-14g Seventh photograph in the sequence, 0930 AST September 18. "se ;~ FIGURE 1-14h Eighth photograph in the sequence, 1050 AST September 18.
From page 35...
... Satellite data and San Juan radar (Figure I-14) indicate that the west wall of the eye moved over land near the towns of Ceiba (Roosevelt Roads Naval Air Station)
From page 36...
... The radar sequence in Figure I-14 supports the pressure data indications that Hugo was filling as it crossed the northeast coast of Puerto Rico. However, it must be emphasized that the western eyewall passed just to the east of metropolitan San Juan, probably affecting Loiza and Pinones (Figures I-~1 and 1-13~; moreover, this geometry is entirely consistent with the large gradations of damage and surge effects (especially overwash)
From page 37...
... 120 100 80 60 20 HURRICANE HUGO Roosevell Roads, PR Seplember 1B, 1989 0 ~ - - ~ ~~ '1 2460 400 840 ~ I o 360 on 270 _ 180 _ 90 ~ C] ~ 1 1 1 O 1200 1600 2000 GMT FIGURE 1-17b Time-plot of measured peak gust windspeeds during Hurricane Hugo ' s strongest period at Roosevelt Roads NAS, Puerto Rico.
From page 38...
... A time history of peak wind gusts for these sites is shown in Figures I-17 a and b, respectively. Recall that San Juan Airport probably experienced the fringes of Hugo ' s western eyewall between 1300 and 1400 GMT, while Roosevelt Roads Naval Air Station experienced the eye itself about -/2 to 2 hours earlier.
From page 39...
... Figure I-19 shows the final smoothed verifying track for Hurricane Hugo (clerived from all NOAA and USAF reconnaissance aircraft fixes and satellite eye positions bold line) and the official forecasted tracks.
From page 40...
... ID IO_ ID llh ~1 Ups i cot .,( i, ,; Ad I 40 D _, V, U
From page 41...
... Virgin Islands had sufficient time to make all necessary preparations. Most importantly, there was an early decision, based on updated NHC advisories with rising hurricane strike probabilities, to evacuate the populace of San Juan and send them to shelters.
From page 42...
... The team found no evidence of any tornadoes from either the aerial or the ground damage surveys it performed on Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands.
From page 43...
... Meteorology FIGURE 1-21a Microburst damage as seen from the low-fly~ng aircraft over Vieques (first photo)
From page 44...
... 4¢ Humcane Hugo FIGURE 1-21c Microburst damage as seen from the low-flying aircraft over the north coast of St. Croix (first photo)
From page 45...
... 1989. An Historical Look at Tropical Cyclone Paths in Relation to Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands.
From page 46...
... National Oceanic & Atmospheric Administration Technical Memorandum, NWS NHC 24. Miami, Florida: National Hurricane Center.
From page 47...
... Meteorology 47 Willoughby, H


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