2006 Atlantic hurricane season
|
Season summary map
|
First storm formed
|
June 10, 2006
|
Last storm dissipated
|
October 2, 2006
|
Strongest storm
|
Gordon
and
Helene
? 955
mbar
(
hPa
) (28.21
inHg
), 120 mph (195 km/h) (
1-minute sustained
)
|
Total depressions
|
10
|
Total storms
|
10
|
Hurricanes
|
5
|
Major hurricanes (
Cat. 3+
)
|
2
|
Total fatalities
|
14 total
|
Total damage
|
$504.42 million (2018
USD
)
|
Atlantic hurricane seasons
2004
,
2005
,
2006
,
2007
,
2008
|
Related article
|
|
The
2006 Atlantic hurricane season
was an annual event in the yearly cycle of
tropical cyclones
. It officially started on
June 1
,
2006
, and lasted until
November 30
,
2006
. Ten
tropical storms
formed during the season. Five became
hurricanes
, and one tropical storm did not have a name. It Affected USA State Of Florida
This season was unusual in that no hurricanes made landfall in the
United States of America
.
[1]
One tropical storm, Tropical Storm Zeta from the
2005 season
, continued into January, which was the second time on record that a tropical cyclone existed in two calendar years.
Because of the super-active 2005 season, forecasts and meteorologist thought that the 2006 season would also be very active, but not as active as 2005. However, an
El Nino
event, combined with the presence of the Saharan Air Layer over the tropical
Atlantic Ocean
, contributed to a slow season and forcing all tropical cyclones to dissipate after
October 2
.
[2]
On
June 10
, an area of
thunderstorms
became the year's first
tropical depression
. This storm moved closer to
Florida
, and the depression became a
tropical storm
on the morning of
June 11
. In the
Gulf of Mexico
, warm waters helped the storm to grow in strength, but it weakened slightly over the cooler waters near the coast of the
United States
.
Alberto crossed the coast about 50 miles southeast of
Tallahassee, Florida
on
June 13
. Parts of Cedar Key and Crystal River were flooded from the high sea waves associated with Alberto. Because Alberto was big in size, it took a long time to weaken over
Georgia
,
South Carolina
and
North Carolina
. Alberto moved to the northeast, as it changed from a tropical cyclone to an
extratropical cyclone
. As an extratropical storm, Alberto quickly became stronger while off the
New England
coast. Damage in the United States was about $565,000.
One tropical storm formed in July off the United States coast. It was not identified as a storm at the time, therefore, the storm did not have a name. It was identified as a tropical storm when a close review was taken at the end of 2006. If it was identified at the time it would have been named Beryl.
In the middle of
July
, a series of
low pressure areas
formed off the
United States
. The southern-most low slowly mov
Pre-160 Atlantic hurricane seasons
ed to the south as it became more organized a few hundred miles east of the
North Carolina
coast. On the morning of
July 18
, the low pressure area became the second tropical depression of the season, more than a month after Tropical Storm Alberto existed. That afternoon, the depression became Tropical Storm Beryl.
Beryl continued moving to the north until it turned to the northeast on
July 20
. Beryl moved parallel to the East Coast of the United States and crossed over
Nantucket Island
, before becoming extratropical southwest of
Nova Scotia
on
July 21
.
On about
July 26
, a large and well-organized tropical wave formed off the coast of
Africa
and slowly moved we
stward. It slowly developed due to poor environmental conditions and it became a
tropical depression
late on 31 July about 160 miles (257 km)
east
of
Antigua
. The depression soon strengthened further and was named Tropical Storm Chris six hours later.
National Hurricane Center
forecasters dismissed some computer models, which dissipated Chris quickly, as they did not have a handle on the strength of the storm. Tropical Storm Chris moved to the northwest and slowly strengthened before reaching its peak strength on
August 2
with winds of 65 miles per hour (105 km/h), when it was to the northeast of the
United States Virgin Islands
. The storm was forecast to strengthen further and become a hurricane as it moved into the
Bahamas
and thus into the
Gulf of Mexico
. However, Chris began to be affected by strong
wind shear
and became disorganized. The storm weakened to a tropical depression on
August 4
, and dissipated as it approached the
Cuban
coast.
In response and some fear to the storm's projected path into the
Gulf of Mexico
, prices for
crude oil
rose on the New York Mercantile Exchange at branch offices in
London
.
Natural gas
prices rose considerably in New York Mercantile Exchange electronic trading on August 2. Anticipation of a threat to supply by a potential Hurricane Chris coupled with high demand during an ongoing heat wave are cited as reasons for the price move. Also, numerous oil rigs were closed and ditched in response to the storm for the fear of
Hurricane Katrina
a year earlier. On
August 2
approximately 600 tourists evacuated the
Puerto Rican
islands of Vieques and Culebra as tropical storm warnings had been issued. Cruise lines such as
Royal Caribbean
re-routed their ships to avoid the storm. In
Puerto Rico
, rainfall from the storm caused the Fajardo River to overflow its banks. The overflown waters temporarily closed a highway in the northeastern portion of the island. Rainfall reached up to 2 inches (50 mm) across portions of
Hispaniola
, the Turks and Caicos, the
Bahamas
, and eastern
Cuba
, and reached 4 inches (100 mm) in some mountainous areas.
A tropical system off the coast of
Africa
, which the National Hurricane Center was monitoring for several days, was upgraded to tropical depression status on
August 21
and designated as Tropical Depression Four. Consequently, a tropical storm warning was immediately issued for the
Cape Verde
islands, as the system threatened to pass over or near the southern part of the archipelago. However, the system failed to strengthen into a tropical storm before passing the chain of islands, and the warning was discontinued the following morning.
The depression was upgraded to a tropical storm and was named Debby late on
August 22
. While it had been expected to strengthen into a hurricane, Debby weakened into a tropical depression on
August 26
. It continued to the north and lost tropical characteristics on
August 27
.
At 3:15 p.m. EDT (1915 UTC) on 24 August, a reconnaissance flight determined that a tropical wave passing through the Windward Islands had developed a closed tropical circulation, and advisories were commenced on Tropical Depression Five. By 5 p.m. EDT (2100 UTC) on 25 August, a second flight had found sustained tropical-storm force winds, and the system was named Ernesto. Ernesto became a hurricane on the morning of 27 August just south of Haiti, before it was downgraded back to a tropical storm in the afternoon. The storm caused 2 deaths in Haiti due to rainfall.
Ernesto made landfall near Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, early in the morning on 28 August. At one point the storm was predicted to become a major hurricane in the Gulf of Mexico and threaten parts of the Gulf Coast, a grim possibility in light of the one-year anniversary of Hurricane Katrina's landfall. However, Ernesto moved much farther east than anticipated, and made landfall as a tropical storm on the southern tip of Florida on 29 August. Two people died in Florida in road traffic accidents attributed to the weather conditions, as the cyclone slowly moved northward across the southern half of the peninsula. Ernesto restrengthened into a tropical storm as it emerged from land near
Cape Canaveral
, and was just below hurricane strength when it made landfall again in North Carolina on 31 August.
Damage in Virginia totaled to $104 million (2006 USD)
Tropical Depression Six formed from an area of low pressure midway between Africa and the Lesser Antilles on 3 September. Initial strengthening of the depression was slow due to shearing wind conditions. Despite the moderate to high wind shear, it strengthened enough to become Tropical Storm Florence on the morning of 5 September. After becoming a tropical storm, Florence's wind field began to expand greatly; at one point tropical storm-force winds extended outward up to 405 miles from the center. With a disorganized structure and multiple circulation centers, Florence remained a weak tropical storm for several days, even after external conditions became favorable for strengthening. Around the evening of 8 September it resolved to a single center and steady strengthening resumed - "science had prevailed", as one forecaster remarked. On the morning of 10 September, Florence reached hurricane strength. Large swells, rip tide, and undertow were reported on Bermuda, the Leeward Islands, the Virgin Islands, and Hispaniola. Florence soon reached its peak as a Category 1 hurricane very near Bermuda, and became extratropical on 12 September, while still a hurricane.
Wikinews has related news:
As Hurricane Florence moved norhtwestward, an area of low-pressure with scattered thunderstorm activity slowly became more organized while northeast of the
Lesser Antilles
. On the evening of
September 10
, it developed a closed circulation and was called
Tropical Depression Seven
. It continued to strengthen, and was then named
Tropical Storm Gordon
on
September 11
and
Hurricane Gordon
late on
September 12
. Gordon attained Category 2 status on the evening of
September 13
, and was further upgraded to Category 3 status that same night, making it the first major hurricane of the season.
Around
September 16
it was nearly froze for some time in the mid-Atlantic about 1000 miles east of
Bermuda
, and became a weak hurricane. However, it subsequently accelerated eastwards and strengthened to become category 2. On 19 September hurricane warnings were issued for the
Azores
, as the predicted path passed through the center of that archipelago. It became
extratropical
on
September 20
after passing through Azorean waters, but the remnants side-swiped north-western
Spain
and then moved rapidly north towards
Ireland
and the west of
Britain
on
September 21
. By the morning of
September 22
, it had been absorbed into a large Atlantic low to the west of Ireland.
On
September 10
, an area of clustered thunderstorms began to move off the western African coast. It quickly became stronger and organized itself to become
Tropical Depression Eight
. Continuing to organize, it reached tropical storm strength on
September 13
, becoming a hurricane on
September 16
and a major hurricane (Category 3 or higher on the Saffir-Simpson hurricane scale) on
September 17
. Helene moved generally west-northwestward before commencing a northeasterly turn. Large currents from Helene lashed
Bermuda
. The hurricane then became an
extratropical storm
on
September 24
and died shortly after.
An area of low pressure in mid-Atlantic generated active thunderstorms for several days and eventually organized into Tropical Depression Nine on 27 September and a tropical storm by 28 September. By that time it was about 810 miles (1,304 km) east-southeast of Bermuda. It became a hurricane on 30 September, and passed about 280 miles (451 km) east of Bermuda before swinging northwards towards Newfoundland. As it was still a strong tropical storm near the Avalon Peninsula, tropical storm warnings were issued on 2 October due to the potential for high winds. Isaac passed 45 kilometres (28 mi) to the southeast of Cape Race late that afternoon. The Canadian Hurricane Centre reports that if Isaac had tracked just 50 to 100 km (30 to 60 miles) further north than it did, the St. John's area would have experienced much higher winds than the peak gust of 54 kilometres per hour (34 mph) it received.
At its closest approach to the Avalon Peninsula, Isaac was still tropical, and had maximum sustained winds of 50 knots (58 mph) and a minimum central pressure of 993 mbar. Strongest winds on land in Newfoundland were reported at Cape Race, where a maximum gust to 96 kilometres per hour (60 mph) with a sustained wind of 74 kilometres per hour (46 mph) was recorded. At Cape Pine, a peak wind was reported at 76 kilometres per hour (47 mph). However, due to Isaac's small size and fast forward speed, winds were lighter over most of the Avalon Peninsula.
Rainfall from Isaac was not reported to be higher than 25 millimetres (1 in) in most areas due to Isaac's speed and decreasing amount of moisture. The highest measured amount was 26 millimetres (1 in) at Cape Race, while Cape Pine reported 19 millimetres (1 in) and St. John's reported less than 10 millimetres (0 in).
strength.
These names will be used for storms that form in the North Atlantic in 2006. The names not retired from this list will be used again in the 2012 season. The list is the same as the
2000 season
's list except for Kirk, which replaced
Keith
.
While it had been previously reported that a new backup list would be chosen (after it was first used in 2005), the
National Hurricane Center
reported in its first tropical weather outlook for the season that it would again use names from the
Greek alphabet
should the main list run out. It would again start with Alpha.
|
- Helene
- Isaac
- Joyce
(unused)
- Kirk
(unused)
- Leslie
(unused)
- Michael
(unused)
- Nadine
(unused)
|
- Oscar
(unused)
- Patty
(unused)
- Rafael
(unused)
- Sandy
(unused)
- Tony
(unused)
- Valerie
(unused)
- William
(unused)
|
No names were retired, and this was announced by the
World Meteorological Organization
in the spring of
2007
. The names will be used again for
2012 Atlantic hurricane season
.