Hurricane Noel (1995)

Hurricane Noel was the fourteenth named storm and the eighth hurricane of the very active 1995 Atlantic hurricane season. Its movement was erratic, as it moved due north on a few occasions and it varied greatly in strength. The forward speed also varied, during some periods in its duration, it would appear to be accelerating but would become stationary. Noel remained far out in the Atlantic, causing no affects on land.

Meteorological history
A tropical wave moved off the coast of Africa on September 22 as depicted on satellite images. This tropical wave did not gain not much organization for about three days. After the three days, deep convection began appearing and it also gained some more tropical characteristics. A low level circulation within the tropical wave became more apparent soon thereafter. On September 26 at 1800 UTC, the National Hurricane Center began to classify the wave as a tropical depression; it was the sixteenth tropical depression of the season. Tropical Depression Sixteen headed to the north-northwest strengthening slightly. Upper level wind shear was present, though it did not prevent further development of Tropical Depression Sixteen.

It was upgraded to a tropical storm on September 27 at 1500 UTC, this new tropical storm received the name "Noel". Simultaneously, it also began to move on a more northwest course. Tropical Storm Noel strengthened further at a relatively fast pace, wind speeds increased by 5 - 10 mph between advisories on the cyclone. Despite this, Tropical Storm Noel was not predicted to quickly become a hurricane. Tropical Storm Noel was upgraded to Hurricane Noel on September 28, 2100 UTC. Hurricane Noel simultaneously attained peak intensity, maximum sustained winds were at 75 mph and the minimum central pressure was at 987 mbar.

Noel headed briefly to the north before turning to the north-northeast, soon thereafter it headed to the northeast. The hurricane was soon forecast to weakened back to a tropical storm due to an increase in vertical wind shear. Hurricane Noel was officially downgraded back to a tropical storm on September 30 at 1500 UTC as maximum sustained winds were only at 70 mph. After weakening, Tropical Storm Noel became nearly stationary. Wind shear greatly weakened Noel, it was also predicted to quickly weaken to a tropical depression. On October 3, Tropical Storm Noel had diminished to only a minimal tropical storm.

Wind shear decreased, this allowed Tropical Storm Noel to strengthen into a hurricane again. Hurricane Noel had also matched its prior peak intensity, both the maximum sustained winds and the minimum pressure were the same as before. It had been upgraded back to a hurricane while located roughly 950 mi to the west-southwest of the Azores. Noel had quickly began to move roughly east on October 5.

Unfavorable conditions returned, causing Hurricane Noel to weaken back to a tropical storm on October 6 at 0000 UTC. Tropical Storm Noel vigorously weakened over the next several hours while it still headed east. Losing tropical characteristics, the National Hurricane Center issued its last advisory on the dissipating cyclone. The remnants of Noel lasted for about 18 hours before they became absorbed by a cold front.

Impact
There were no reports of any impact or casualties.

The use of the name Noel marked only the second time in Atlantic that an "N" name was used. Hurricane Nana of 1990 was the first; an "N" name has been used eight times since.