2000 Atlantic hurricane season
| 2000 Atlantic hurricane season | |
|---|---|
| Seasonal boundaries | |
| First system formed | {{{First storm formed}}} |
| Last system dissipated | {{{Last storm dissipated}}} |
| Seasonal statistics | |
| Total fatalities | Unknown |
| Total damage | Unknown |
The 2000 Atlantic hurricane season officially began on June 1, 2000, and lasted until November 30, 2000. These dates conventionally delimit the period of each year when most tropical cyclones form in the Atlantic basin.
The most notable storm of the season was Hurricane Keith, which caused numerous fatalities and large amounts of damage in Belize, Nicaragua and Honduras. The only other notable storm was Hurricane Alberto, which became one of the longest-lived Atlantic tropical cyclones.
Storms
Hurricane Alberto
Template:Storm pics Alberto formed on August 3 while just south of Cape Verde. It made the transition from tropical storm to hurricane strength three times. After forming, Alberto headed west-northwest, then headed back to the east and performed a large loop, peaking at 130 mph on the 12th. On the 23rd, Alberto was classified as extratropical. The extratropical Alberto headed north-northeast and passed over northwestern Iceland before dissipating near Jan Mayen on August 25.
Alberto was the seventh longest-lived tropical cyclone ever in the Atlantic, and the second longest ever in August. Alberto holds the second-place spot for distance traveled by an Atlantic hurricane, 6,500 statute miles (10,500 km), eventually travelling as far north as Iceland and Jan Mayen Island. Alberto is not known to have caused any damage.
Alberto was one of several hurricanes that formed late in the year (Alberto formed on August 3). Such formation was not seen again until the 2004 Atlantic hurricane season when Hurricane Alex formed on July 31 and lasted until August 6.
Tropical Storm Beryl
Template:Storm pics Beryl formed in the southwestern Gulf of Mexico on August 14. Beryl headed west and landfall occurred the next day 30 n mi north of La Pesca, Tamaulipas (90 n mi south of Brownsville, Texas). Initially feared to be a hurricane at landfall, Beryl remained disorganized, and hit with 50 mph winds. The storm caused extensive flooding in Tamaulipas, with one reported drowning death. Monetary damage estimates for Mexico are not available, and there were no reports of damage in southern Texas.
Tropical Storm Chris
Template:Storm pics Tropical Storm Chris formed several hundred miles east of the Lesser Antilles on August 18 from a tropical wave. It moved to the west-northwest, becoming a tropical storm for 6 hours before dissipating on August 19. No damage was reported, as the storm remained at sea throughout its lifetime. Chris is one of the few systems to be ripped apart due to vertical shear in the deep tropics during a non-El Niño year, along with Alex of 1998.
Source: NHC [1]
Hurricane Debby
Template:Storm pics Debby formed east of the Windward Islands on August 20. The storm strengthened to a Category 1 hurricane the next day. Debby remained a somewhat disorganized hurricane for the rest of its life. It moved west, passing over the Leeward Islands, and just north of Puerto Rico and Hispaniola. Debby dissipated off the southern coast of Cuba on the 24th.
In Barbuda, Debby caused moderate roof damage. Throughout the Lesser Antilles, gusty winds damaged fruit trees and power lines. [2] In the United States Virgin Islands, damaged totaled to $200,000 (2000 USD). [3] Debby also dropped up to 12 inches of rainfall across Puerto Rico, causing mudslides and damaging bridges and roads. [4] 406 homes were affected from the flooding, with damage totaling to $501,000, primarily in the Caguas municipality. [5] Also on the island, the storm was indirectly responsible for one death. On the northern coast of the Dominican Republic, waves and rainfall caused light to moderate damage. In Cuba, the remnants of Debby helped relieve a severe drought. [6]
Tropical Storm Ernesto
Template:Storm pics Ernesto was a short-lived storm that formed on September 1 from a tropical wave. It moved west-northwestward, becoming a tropical storm on the 2nd. Unusually strong upper level shear for September prevented the storm from strengthening. A minimal tropical storm for all of its short life, Ernesto dissipated on the 3rd. There is a possibility that Ernesto was not a tropical cyclone. When it was upgraded to a tropical storm, a QUIKSCAT surface wind estimate indicated an open tropical wave, rather than a circulation. Because all of Ernesto's life was tracked by satellite, it remained classified a tropical storm upon post-analysis due to lack of data.
Hurricane Florence
Template:Storm pics A cold front that left North America in the second week of September spawned a low pressure system that took on tropical characteristics and was named Florence on September 11. It quickly reached hurricane strength the same day. Florence meandered for several days before taking a track to the northeast that took it past Bermuda. As it reached cooler waters, Florence weakened and on the 17th was absorbed by an extratropical low while south of Newfoundland. Florence was responsible for no reported damage or direct fatalities. However Florence did caused 3 indirect deaths from drowning incidents.
Hurricane Gordon
Template:Storm pics Tropical Depression Eleven formed just east of the Yucatán Peninsula on September 14. After cutting across land into the Gulf of Mexico, the depression began heading north-northeast and on the 16th was upgraded to Tropical Storm Gordon. A day later, it reached hurricane strength. Gordon began weakening rapidly as it approached Florida, and made landfall near Cedar Key, Florida on the 18th as a tropical storm. The remnants of Gordon continued up the east coast of the United States for several days before being absorbed by another system.
Twenty-three deaths in Guatemala are blamed on flooding caused by the tropical depression that became Gordon. One drowning death was reported at Pensacola, Florida. Damage in Florida was largely limited to downed trees and power lines, and is estimated at $10.8 million. No monetary damage figures for Guatemala are available.
Tropical Storm Helene
Template:Storm pics Tropical Depression Twelve formed east of the Windward Islands on September 15. It weakened, and travelled across the Caribbean. Late on the 19th, it regained tropical depression status, and on the 21st was named Tropical Storm Helene while in the southeastern Gulf of Mexico. The storm turned north, and made landfall at Fort Walton Beach, Florida on September 22. The system weakened to a tropical depression, but stayed intact as it moved across the southern US and passed over the North Carolina coast and back over water. Helene regained tropical storm strength and headed rapidly east-northeast. It merged with a cold front on the 25th. One person was killed by a tornado generated as the tropical depression moved through South Carolina. Flooding was reported in Tallahassee, Florida.
Hurricane Isaac
Template:Storm pics Isaac was a powerful Cape Verde-type hurricane - the second strongest hurricane of the season - that remained at sea. It becamed a named storm on September 22. Isaac moved west-northwest for the next week, strengthening as it moved. As it reached Category 4 intensity with 140 mph winds and a minimum pressure of 943 mbar (hPa), it began a turn from moving northwest to a more northeasterly track. During the turn, Isaac weakened greatly and by October 1 had fallen to tropical storm strength. Later that day, it became extratropical. The extratropical storm continued to the northeast, and was absorbed by a larger low pressure system north of Scotland. Although it remained well away from North America, Isaac generated waves that capsized a boat off Long Island, and one of the passengers drowned.
Hurricane Joyce
Template:Storm pics Satellite observations of Joyce are inconclusive about when it became a named storm, but it became a Category 1 hurricane on September 28 while midway between Africa and the Lesser Antilles. A weakening Joyce headed west and dropped to a tropical depression as it crossed into the Caribbean Sea on October 1. It dissipated the next day. No damage was reported.
Hurricane Keith
Template:Storm pics A long-lived tropical wave organized into a tropical depression while 60 n mi north-northeast of Cape Gracias a Dios, Nicaragua on September 28. A day later it was classified as Tropical Storm Keith. Keith began to rapidly intensify as it moved slowly west, reaching Category 4 strength. Keith weakened slightly and after its eyewall passed over Ambergris Cay and Caye Caulker, Belize on October 1, it spent two days meandering off the coast of Belize. During this time it weakened dramatically and was a Category 1 hurricane when it made landfall in Belize between Belize City and Chetumal, Quintana Roo.
It passed through Belize into Campeche, and from there back into the Gulf of Mexico. After emerging over water, Keith restrengthened and was a minimal hurricane at its second landfall just north of Tampico.
Keith is responsible for twenty-four deaths, twelve due to flooding in Nicaragua. Monetary damage in Belize is estimated at 225 million USD. No damage estimates are available for Keith's final landfall in Mexico, or for Guatemala where it caused flooding.
Tropical Storm Leslie
Template:Storm pics A low pressure area formed offshore of Fort Myers, and drifted across Florida causing significant rainfall across the southern portion of the state...with 17.50" falling in South Miami. A storm total rainfall map for southern Florida lies here. Designated a subtropical depression as it moved off the eastern coast of Florida, the cyclone organized into Tropical Storm Leslie on October 5 while 200 n mi east of St. Augustine, Florida. It remained a weak tropical storm as it moved east, then north-northeast, and became extratropical on the 7th. No damages were associated with Leslie or the subtropical depression. However, the disturbance that formed them was responsible for $700 million in damage in Florida, most of it agricultural losses.
Hurricane Michael
Template:Storm pics A cold-core upper level low induced the formation of a surface low over the subtropical Atlantic Ocean in early October. It developed enough organized convection to be classified a subtropical depression on October 15, and became a subtropical storm the next day. A warm core developed, and it was re-classified as Tropical Storm Michael on October 17 while several hundred miles southwest of Bermuda. It became a hurricane later that day, and after stalling for its early life, began moving rapidly to the northeast. Through baroclinic processes, Michael continued to strengthen and reached 100 mph winds before hitting Newfoundland on the 20th. It became extratropical due to upper level shear and cool air, and was absorbed by a larger low the next day. Damage in Newfoundland was light.
Tropical Storm Nadine
Template:Storm pics The final tropical storm of the season developed from a tropical wave on October 19 roughly 600 n mi east-southeast of Bermuda. Increased outflow and low shear allowed it to strengthen to become Tropical Storm Nadine on the 20th, and the storm reached its peak of 60 mph on the 21st. Conditions quickly became unfavorable for development, and Nadine degenerated to a weak extratropical low on the 22nd. No damage is associated with Nadine, as it remained at sea throughout its lifetime.
Unnamed Subtropical Storm
Template:Storm pics A subtropical storm formed in the latter days of October from an extratropical low. Having formed over the Bahamas on October 25, it tracked northward, steadily strengthening to a 60 mph subtropical cyclone. It turned to the northeast off the east coast of the United States, where it reached a peak of 65 mph on the 28th. It became extratropical several miles south of Nova Scotia without making landfall. This storm never attained tropical characteristics. It was the last operationally confirmed subtropical storm to go unnamed before naming began in 2002; had it been named, it would have been Subtropical Storm Oscar.
Other storms
In addition to the fourteen storms, HPC suggested that one more subtropical storm have formed in August. This was, however, not confirmed by NHC. [7]
Accumulated Cyclone Energy (ACE) Ranking
| ACE (104 kt2) – Storm | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 36.9 | Alberto | 8 | 3.48 | Helene |
| 2 | 28.4 | Isaac | 9 | 3.35 | Gordon |
| 3 | 12.2 | Keith | 10 | 1.33 | Leslie |
| 4 | 8.49 | Florence | 11 | 1.24 | Nadine |
| 5 | 7.55 | Joyce | 12 | 0.89 | Beryl |
| 6 | 5.83 | Debby | 13 | 0.74 | Ernesto |
| 7 | 5.08 | Michael | 14 | 0.12 | Chris |
The table on the right shows the Accumulated Cyclone Energy for each storm in the season. The ACE is, broadly speaking, a measure of the power of the hurricane multiplied by the length of time it existed for, so hurricanes that lasted a long time (like Hurricane Alberto) have higher ACEs. The total ACE for the 2000 season was 116, which is considered above average.
2000 storm names
The following names were used for named storms that formed in the north Atlantic in 2000. The names not retired from this list will be used again in the 2006 season. This is the same list used for the 1994 season. Storms were named Joyce (which replaced Joan from the 1988-1994 list), Leslie, Michael, and Nadine for the first time in 2000. Names that were not assigned are marked in gray.
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Retirement
The World Meteorological Organization retired one name in the spring of 2001: Keith. The name Kirk was used in its place for the Template:Tcseason, and every seven years thereafter until it is retired.
See also
External links
- Monthly Weather Review
- National Hurricane Center 2000 Atlantic hurricane season summary
- NHC Alberto Report
Tropical cyclones of the 2000 Atlantic hurricane season | ||
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