Analysis of the Weather Leading to Hurricane Mitch
Analysis of the Weather Leading to Hurricane Mitch
Many hurricanes have come and gone, but Hurricane Mitch was the worst hurricane to hit Honduras since the Great Hurricane of 1780. This hurricane devastated not only Honduras but some parts of Central America as well. A lot of the states on the Gulf Coast felt the remnants of Mitch but luckily Mitch was not the Category 5 that hit Honduras. Mitch?s beginning didn?t seem to show its strength and fury until it arrived in the Caribbean.
Everything began on October 8, 1998 when a little tropical wave off the coast of South Africa began to stir up (Storms of 1998 1). This tropical wave then arrived in the Caribbean Sea on the 18 of October and just 3 days later, shower and thunderstorm activity made its presence (Storms of 1998 1). The next day this tropical wave evolved into Tropical Storm Mitch 45 kilometres southeast of south of San Andreas Island (Storms of 1998 1). Then, the inevitable occurred. Just 470 kilometres southwest of Kingston, Jamaica, and the weak Tropical Storm Mitch began to unleash its fury and became Hurricane Mitch (Storms of 1998 1). The magnitude of Mitch became known in a 24-hour period when Mitch?s central pressure dropped an astonishing 52 millibars to 924 millibars (Storms of 1998 1). By October 26, its central pressure was at 905 millibars (Storms of 1998 1). Mitch?s central pressure was the 4th lowest pressure ever measured in an Atlantic hurricane (Storms of 1998 1). The same day Mitch reached its peak with vicious winds of 180 miles per hour (155 knots) that put it on the Saffir-Simpson scale as a Category 5 (Storms of 1998 1). Then, Mitch made its deadly move on October 27. At a Category 5, Mitch hit the island of Guanaja, Honduras (Storms of 1998 1). Mitch?s full fury devastated the little island with its powerful winds. After passing the island of Guanaja, Mitch was on a course straight for Honduras. Mitch was still a Category 5 and now it was only 60 miles north of Trujilo, a city on the north coast of Honduras (Graumann and et al 2).
Graumann states that according to a wave model, on October 27 when Mitch was right off the coast of Honduras, the waves were as...