MIATWSATHOMEACTIVE CYCLONESFORECASTSIMAGERYABOUT TPCRECONNAISSANCE 355 ABNT30 KNHC 011225 TWSAT MONTHLY TROPICAL WEATHER SUMMARY NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE MIAMI FL 8 AM EDT WED SEP 01 1999 FOR THE NORTH ATLANTIC...CARIBBEAN SEA AND THE GULF OF MEXICO... ...SUMMARY OF TROPICAL CYCLONE ACTIVITY DURING AUGUST... FOUR TROPICAL CYCLONES FORMED IN THE ATLANTIC BASIN DURING AUGUST ...HURRICANE BRET...HURRICANE CINDY...HURRICANE DENNIS...AND TROPICAL STORM EMILY. TWO OF THESE...BRET AND CINDY...REACHED SAFFIR-SIMPSON CATEGORY FOUR STRENGTH. SO FAR...1999 HURRICANE SEASON ACTIVITY HAS BEEN SLIGHTLY ABOVE AVERAGE...WITH FIVE NAMED STORMS...THREE HURRICANES...AND TWO MAJOR HURRICANES. AN AVERAGE SEASON WOULD HAVE PRODUCED FOUR NAMED STORMS...TWO HURRICANES...AND NO MAJOR HURRICANES BY SEPTEMBER 1. BRET FORMED IN THE SOUTHERN GULF OF MEXICO ON THE 18TH ABOUT 310 MILES EAST-SOUTHEAST OF TAMPICO MEXICO...AND REACHED TROPICAL STORM STRENGTH DURING THE AFTERNOON OF THE 19TH. BRET MOVED ON A NORTHWARD TRACK AND BECAME A HURRICANE LATE ON THE 20TH. BRET TURNED TOWARD THE WEST-NORTHWEST DURING THE 22ND...AND IS ESTIMATED TO HAVE REACHED ITS PEAK INTENSITY OF 140 MPH...CATEGORY FOUR ON THE SAFFIR- SIMPSON HURRICANE SCALE...ON THE MORNING OF THE 22ND ABOUT 100 MILES EAST OF THE SOUTH TEXAS COAST. BRET MADE LANDFALL LATER THAT EVENING AS A CATEGORY THREE HURRICANE...WITH MAXIMUM SUSTAINED WINDS OF 125 MPH...IN A SPARSELY-POPULATED AREA MIDWAY BETWEEN BROWNSVILLE AND CORPUS CHRISTI TEXAS. BRET GRADUALLY WEAKENED WHILE PRODUCING HEAVY RAINS AS IT MOVED SLOWLY WEST-NORTHWEST OVER EXTREME SOUTHERN TEXAS. CINDY FORMED IN THE EASTERN TROPICAL ATLANTIC NEAR THE CAPE VERDE ISLANDS LATE ON THE 18TH...INTENSIFIED TO A TROPICAL STORM ON THE AFTERNOON OF THE 20TH...AND BECAME A HURRICANE LATE ON THE 21ST. BY THE 22ND...CINDY BEGAN EXPERIENCING STRONG EASTERLY VERTICAL SHEAR AND WAS DOWNGRADED TO A TROPICAL STORM THAT AFTERNOON. THE SHEAR RELAXED ON THE 25TH AND CINDY REGAINED HURRICANE STATUS LATER THAT DAY. THE HURRICANE REACHED ITS PEAK INTENSITY OF 140 MPH...CATEGORY FOUR...ON THE MORNING OF THE 28TH. CINDY MOVED WEST-NORTHWEST THROUGH THE 24TH...AND THEN NORTHWEST FROM THE 25TH THE 28TH. ON THE 29TH THE SYSTEM TURNED NORTHEAST AND BEGAN TO ACCELERATE ON THE 30TH. CINDY WAS DECLARED EXTRATROPICAL ON THE MORNING OF THE 31ST AS IT MERGED WITH A MID LATITUDE LOW OVER THE NORTH ATLANTIC ABOUT 985 MILES WEST OF THE AZORES. DENNIS FORMED IN THE WESTERN ATLANTIC A COUPLE HUNDRED MILES EAST OF THE TURKS AND CAICOS ISLANDS LATE ON THE 23RD. THE SYSTEM MOVED SLOWLY WEST-NORTHWEST TO NORTHWEST FOR THE NEXT FIVE DAYS...BECOMING A TROPICAL STORM ON THE AFTERNOON OF THE 24TH...AND A HURRICANE EARLY ON THE 26TH. DENNIS REACHED A PEAK INTENSITY OF 105 MPH... CATEGORY TWO...ON THE AFTERNOON OF THE 28TH AND MAINTAINED THIS INTENSITY UNTIL EARLY ON THE 30TH WHILE PARALLELING THE LOWER SOUTHEAST U.S. COAST. THE HURRICANE LASHED THE NORTH CAROLINA COAST ON THE 30TH AND PART OF THE 31ST WITH SUSTAINED TROPICAL STORM FORCE WINDS...WITH GUSTS TO HURRICANE FORCE...LARGE WAVES AND HIGH SURF. THE HURRICANE TURNED NORTHEASTWARD AWAY FROM THE COAST ON THE MORNING OF THE 30TH...THEN BEGAN TO ACCELERATE LATER THAT DAY WHILE MOVING TO THE EAST-NORTHEAST. DENNIS STALLED ABOUT 150 MILES EAST OF CAPE HATTERAS NORTH CAROLINA ON THE MORNING OF THE 31ST AND THEN BEGAN TO DRIFT WESTWARD AND WEAKEN. AS THE MONTH CONCLUDED... TROPICAL STORM DENNIS WAS DRIFTING WESTWARD ABOUT 100 MILES EAST OF CAPE HATTERAS. EMILY FORMED ABOUT 400 MILES EAST OF THE WINDWARD ISLANDS ON THE AFTERNOON OF THE 24TH. THE SYSTEM WAS UPGRADED TO A TROPICAL STORM BASED ON DATA RECEIVED FROM AN AIR FORCE RESERVE RECONNAISSANCE AIRCRAFT. BY THE 26TH...HURRICANE CINDY BEGAN TO DISRUPT THE SMALL CIRCULATION OF EMILY...AND EMILY WAS DOWNGRADED TO A DEPRESSION THAT AFTERNOON WHILE MOVING NORTHWESTWARD. EMILY TURNED NORTHWARD ON THE 27TH...AND BRIEFLY REGAINED TROPICAL STORM STATUS. HOWEVER...THE INTERACTION WITH CINDY CONTINUED TO TAKE ITS TOLL AND EMILY WAS ABSORBED INTO THE CIRCULATION OF CINDY ON THE 28TH. SUMMARY TABLE NAME DATES WIND DEATHS U.S. DAMAGE --------- -------------- ---- ------ ----------- BRET 18 AUG - 23 AUG 140 * CINDY 19 AUG - 31 AUG 140 0 DENNIS 24 AUG - 105 1 * EMILY 24 AUG - 28 AUG 65 0 * - PRELIMINARY ESTIMATES ARE NOT AVAILABLE AT THIS TIME AVILA/BEVEN/FRANKLIN/GUINEY/LAWRENCE/PASCH Problems?