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Hurricane Hanna Slams Southern Texas, but Douglas Spares Hawaii

Written by Team Morecast

 

Over the past three days, not one but two hurricanes threatened people and property in the United States. Residents of the Hawaiian Islands were lucky to escape any significant damage from Hurricane Douglas. However, Hurricane Hanna slammed directly into southern Texas and adjacent northeast Mexico. Major flooding and high winds caused significant damage.

 

 

 

 

Hanna came ashore on Saturday afternoon after rapidly intensifying Friday night into Saturday morning. Torrential rainfall fell across southern Texas and the adjacent Mexican states of Tamaulipas and Nuevo Leon. Totals were generally 5-10 inches (125-250 mm) with locally higher amounts (14.35″ near Sullivan City, Texas). The highest winds were recorded at the coast, up to 103 mph (166 kph) at Rincon Del San Jose, Texas. Most inland areas saw gusts of around 60-70 mph (95-110 kph) but that was plenty enough to damage or destroy many mobile homes across the region. Power lines were knocked down across the region with outages which are expected to last through the rest of the week in some cases. Other homes reported flood waters entering the ground floors, and emergency services responded to numerous calls for water rescues from stalled vehicles.

Several brief tornadoes were embedded within the larger hurricane circulation. One of them struck the Brownsville International Airport, ramming a 737 passenger jet into the terminal wall, causing significant damage.

 

 

Fortunately, the story was different a few thousand miles to the west. Hurricane Douglas appeared to be a major threat for the Hawaiian Islands, holding strength despite repeated forecasts of weakening. Ultimately the storm turned a bit north and missed causing significant damage (see satellite animation above).

Hurricane Douglas Rolling Towards the Hawaiian Islands!

Written by Team Morecast

 

Category One Hurricane Douglas continues on a steady west-northwest course over the open Pacific. The storm is now within a few hundred miles of the Hawaiian Island. Douglas will skirt the northern sides of the Islands early next week, bringing damaging winds, flooding rainfall, and a significant storm surge.

 

 

Douglas was moving through a very favorable environment of warm ocean waters and light shear earlier this week. The cyclone reached a peak intensity of Category Four on the Saffir-Simpson scale on Thursday. Since then, Douglas has been gradually weakening, and additional weakening will occur as the storm moves over progressively cooler waters. However, Douglas is still expected to be a hurricane as it nears Hawaii. The island of Oahu could see the worst impacts and a hurricane warning is in effect there. Winds of 70-80 mph (kph) will threaten Oahu later on Sunday into early Monday. Heavy rains up to 10 inches (125-250 mm) in spots along with a dangerous storm surge up to 3-4 feet (1-1.3 m) will affect northern portions of Oahu and nearby islands. Douglas will continue to affect the western islands as a weakening tropical storm later Monday into Tuesday. Lead photo courtesy Sgt Shane Cuomo, USAF.

Rapidly Intensifying Hanna Will Be a Hurricane Prior to Texas Landfall on Saturday!

Written by Team Morecast

 

Tropical Storm Hanna is poised to bring hurricane-force conditions to parts of south Texas this weekend. Hurricane hunter aircraft recently found increasing winds near the center, and an eye appears to be forming on satellite imagery. Hanna is undergoing rapid intensification tonight and will likely be a hurricane by daybreak on Saturday. The storm is moving through an area of very warm ocean waters with low shear, classic ingredients for strengthening. Its small size also makes it a prime candidate for sudden fluctuations in intensity. Landfall of this dangerous storm is expected on Saturday afternoon or evening, although conditions will deteriorate quickly as early as Saturday morning.

 

 

Major population centers such as Corpus Christi, home to nearly half a million residents, will see the worst impacts. These will include destructive winds to 80 mph (kph) and a potentially deadly storm surge locally up to 4-5 feet (m). Flooding rainfall of 5-10 inches (mm) will affect a much larger region of south Texas and northeast Mexico (see map below) with locally higher amounts likely. Weakening will occur as the system moves further inland Sunday into Monday.

 

Triple Threat in the Tropics as 3 Storms Pose Threats in Atlantic and Pacific

Written by Team Morecast

An already active 2020 hurricane season just got even busier with the formation of three storms within the last several days. Tropical Storm Gonzalo was named on Wednesday afternoon and is currently churning in the central Atlantic. Tropical Depression 8 has just been upgraded to Tropical Storm Hanna as of the writing off this article, in the central Gulf of Mexico, while Major Hurricane Douglas is in the central Pacific.

Gonzalo continues the trend of record breaking early formation of named storms in the Atlantic this year, by becoming the earliest seventh named storm on record. The previous record was set on July 24th 2005 by Tropical Storm Gert. On average, a seventh storm isn’t named until September 16th, but 2020 has proved to be anything but average. Although compact in size, and not looking that impressive on the satellite, Gonzalo is expected to become the first hurricane of 2020 in the Atlantic as it moves towards the Windward Islands by the weekend. If Gonzalo becomes a hurricane, it would be the first hurricane to form south of 10 degrees north latitude since Hurricane Ivan in 2004.

Tropical Storm Hanna, which formed late on Thursday night, is now the eighth named storm of the 2020 Atlantic hurricane season. The formation of Hanna is also record breaking by becoming the earliest eighth named storm ever recorded in the Atlantic. The previous record was set on August 3rd 2005 by Tropical Storm Harvey. Hanna is likely to strengthen further as it moves towards the Texas coastline later on Sunday. Tropical storm watches, extending from Corpus Cristi to the Mexican border, have already been issued in the anticipation of Hanna’s arrival.

As if two tropical storms weren’t enough, there is Hurricane Douglas, a formidable Category 3 storm packing winds of 132 mph (212 kph). Douglas will be approaching Hawaii over the next few days. It is likely the storm will weaken substantially before reaching Hawaii, as it moves over cooler waters, but it is possible that it will still be a minimal hurricane as it reaches the island chain.