2005 Atlantic hurricane season

The 2005 Atlantic hurricane season was the most active Atlantic hurricane season since reliable records began with 31 depressions, 28 named storms, 15 hurricanes and 7 major hurricanes. 3,913 people died in the season and the season caused $159 billion in damage.

The season officially began on June 1 and ended on November 30. The first storm formed on June 8 and the last storm dissipated on January 6, 2006. Out of the 28 named storms, 4 of which became Category 5 hurricanes. They are Emily, Katrina, Rita and Wilma. The strongest storm of the season was Hurricane Wilma, which reached a pressure of 882mb, the lowest in the Western Hemisphere. Hurricane Katrina did the most damage in the season after hitting New Orleans as a Category 3 hurricane. Katrina is the worst natural disaster in the history of the United States. Because there were so many storms, the National Hurricane Center had to use the Greek list of names.

Tropical Storm Arlene
Early in the season, a low-pressure area formed and persisted north of Honduras. Despite moderate wind shear, the low managed to organize, and was designated Tropical Depression One on June 8. The storm strengthened further, and it was upgraded to Tropical Storm Arlene on the following day. From this point, Arlene headed north, intensifying steadily as it spread tropical storm-force winds and heavy rains to the Cayman Islands and Cuba. Arlene made landfall in Cuba near Cabo Corrientes with 50 mph (80 km/h) winds. Wind shear weakened as the storm entered the Gulf of Mexico on the morning of June 10, and the storm intensified to just under hurricane strength with 70 mph (110 km/h) winds.[1]

Arlene made landfall just west of Pensacola, Florida with 60 mph (95 km/h) winds on June 11. After moving inland, Arlene persisted as a dissipating tropical depression for two days, passing into Indiana and Michigan before being absorbed by a frontal system over southeastern Canada on June 14.

The only death attributed to Arlene was a female student caught in rip current in Miami Beach, Florida, far from the center of circulation. Damage from Arlene totaled to $11.8 million (2005 USD; $15 million 2011 USD).

Tropical Storm Bert
After nearly two weeks of inactivity, an area of disturbed weather developed in the Bay of Campeche and quickly became better organized. It was designated Tropical Depression Two on the evening of June 28, and, two hours later, data from a Hurricane Hunter aircraft indicated that it had strengthened into a tropical storm, at which point the system was named Bret. This was the first time that two tropical storms had formed in June since the 1986 season, and only the thirteenth time since 1851.

As the storm developed very close to shore, it only briefly traveled west-northwest before making landfall near Tuxpan, Veracruz,Mexico early on June 29 as a weak tropical storm. It continued inland, producing heavy rain over the state of Veracruz until dissipating over the mountains of San Luis Potosí late on June 29. Hundreds of homes were damaged, and several towns, including Naranjos and Chinampa, about 60 miles (95 km) south of Tampico, were severely flooded, but the only reported fatalities were the two occupants of a car that was swept away by floodwaters in Naranjos.

Hurricane Cindy
Tropical Depression Three formed on July 3 in the Caribbean Sea, but the next day, before being able to strengthen, it moved over the Yucatán Peninsula. The system emerged into the Gulf of Mexico on July 4 at which point a new center of circulation developed at the northern edge of the system and the system strengthened to a tropical storm, becoming Tropical Storm Cindy early July 4. The storm moved rapidly across the Gulf and made landfall near Grand Isle, Louisiana late July 5 as a minimal hurricane; though it was originally thought to have been only a tropical storm at landfall, it was upgraded to a hurricane in the post-storm analysis. As most storms do, it weakened while over land and became extratropical over the Carolinas on July 7.

As a tropical depression well inland, Cindy spawned an F2 tornado which damaged landmarks in Hampton, Georgia, including the Atlanta Motor Speedway, which suffered $40 million in damage alone. While tornadoes are often spawned by tropical systems, F2 tornadoes spawned this way are relatively rare. Large and sometimes record-breaking amounts of rain, more than 5 inches (130 mm) in places, fell over parts of Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, and Maryland. Three deaths were attributed to Cindy—two in Georgia and another in Alabama.

Hurricane Dennis
Tropical Depression Four formed in the southeastern Caribbean on the evening of July 4. Early the next day, it strengthened into Tropical Storm Dennis. The storm began moving rapidly to the west-northwest, and reached hurricane strength on the afternoon of July 6 while approaching the southern coast of Hispaniola. The next day it strengthened rapidly to become a Category 4 hurricane. Dennis moved between Jamaica and Haiti on July 7. Dennis reached its peak as the strongest recorded Atlantic storm to form before August with a minimum central pressure of 930 mbar just south of Cuba - a record that would stand only for eight days until Emily broke it. On July 8, Dennis passed over Cuba close to the capital, Havana. A second episode of rapid intensification occurred on July 9 as it moved north toward the Gulf Coast of the United States. Dennis made landfall as a Category 3 storm just southeast of Pensacola, Florida.

Dennis claimed at least 88 lives: 56 in Haiti, 16 in Cuba, 15 in the U.S. and 1 in Jamaica. Total damages are estimated at $4–6 billion USD, including $2.23 billion in the United States and the rest in the Caribbean. Dennis was most damaging to Cuba, where the storm wiped out a significant portion of the citrus crop. As the storm struck near the end of Cuba's dry season, farmers were not yet prepared for the heavy rainfall brought by the storm. In the United States, Dennis drew comparison with Hurricane Ivan of the previous year, but it was both smaller and weaker than Ivan at landfall and caused significantly fewer damages, partly because the region had not yet fully rebuilt.

Hurricane Emily
Emily formed from Tropical Depression Five east of the Lesser Antilles on July 11. It moved westward and hit Grenada on July 14 as a Category 1 storm. It entered the Caribbean Sea and began intensifying rapidly. It reached Category 4 intensity on July 15. Emily broke Hurricane Dennis's eight-day-old record for the most intense storm to form prior to August when it reached a minimum pressure of 929 mbar, along with 160 mph (260 km/h) winds on July 16. It was originally believed that Emily peaked at Category 4. However, some readings indicated that Emily briefly reached Category 5 strength around this time, and Emily was upgraded to Category 5 status in the post-storm analysis. The storm weakened slightly, however, and after passing south ofJamaica and the Cayman Islands, Emily made landfall on the Yucatán Peninsula near Tulum on the morning of July 18 as a Category 4 hurricane. Emily emerged over the Bay of Campeche and made its second landfall in rural northeast Mexico near zBoca Madre, Tamaulipas as a Category 3 storm.

Emily is blamed for at least fourteen deaths; one in Grenada, four in Jamaica, seven in the Caribbean and two in Mexico. The storms also caused an estimated $550 million (2005 USD) in damages, almost entirely in Grenada and the Mexican state of Quintana Roo. Some minor flooding occurred in northeastern Mexico and extreme southern Texas as a result of Emily's final landfall, but damages were light.

Tropical Storm Franklin
A tropical wave off the Bahamas organized into Tropical Depression Six on the afternoon of July 21. The depression became the sixth named storm of the season only two hours later, the first time the sixth storm of the season had ever formed that early in the season. The storm headed northward from the Bahamas, then northeast over the Atlantic, becoming disorganized by July 24 under the effects of shear and drier air. It moved erratically, inching closer to Bermuda while barely remaining a tropical storm. Bermuda received some strong wind gusts, but was otherwise unaffected. Tropical Storm Franklin then accelerated north and northeast, roughly paralleling the East Coast of the United States, and intensified to near hurricane strength. Eventually, Franklin became extratropical along the coast of Nova Scotia and Newfoundland.

Tropical Storm Gert
A tropical wave, which had earlier crossed Honduras and the Yucatán peninsula, organized into Tropical Depression Seven on the afternoon of July 23 in the Bay of Campeche. It was upgraded to Tropical Storm Gert early the next day, the earliest formation of a seventh named storm on record. It strengthened little before making landfall on the coast of Mexico south of Tampico late on July 24 with maximum sustained winds of 50 mph (70 km/h) and a minimum central pressure of 1,001 mbar (29.6 inHg). It moved inland over central Mexico before dissipating on July 25.

Gert struck in roughly the same area as Hurricane Emily just four days earlier, causing fear of flooding and landslides due to saturated lands. As a precaution some 1,000 people were evacuated from low-lying residences and businesses near the towns of Naranjos and Tamiahua.

Tropical Storm Harvey
A tropical wave organized into the eighth depression of the season due southwest of Bermuda on August 2. It became a tropical storm the next day.

Harvey was not initially a particularly well-organized storm, and had some subtropical characteristics, but it soon became more tropical in nature. It passed just south of Bermuda early on August 4 while at its peak intensity, with maximum sustained winds of 65 mph (105 km/h) and a minimum central pressure of 994 mbar. Though Bermuda was soaked by Harvey, the island sustained no damage.

Harvey then headed east and later northeast over the open Atlantic. The storm became extratropical on the afternoon of August 8.

Hurricane Irene
<p style="margin-top: 0.4em; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0.5em; margin-left: 0px; line-height: 1.5em; ">Tropical Depression Nine formed from a tropical wave west of Cape Verde on the afternoon of August 4, the second Cape Verde-type storm of the season. The system encountered dry air and wind shear as it turned to the northwest and it broke down. Despite poor organization and shearing winds, it became Tropical Storm Irene on August 7. Further shear and dry air disrupted the cyclone's structure, and Irene was downgraded to a tropical depression on August 8.

<p style="margin-top: 0.4em; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0.5em; margin-left: 0px; line-height: 1.5em; ">Irene cycled between apparent reintensification and significant weakening, becoming so disorganized in the early morning of August 10 that forecasters were considering declaring the storm dissipated. However, the depression continued to move westward into more favorable conditions and again attained tropical storm status, rapidly strengthening to a Category 1 hurricane on August 14. Later, it strengthened even further in low shear conditions under an upper level anticyclone. On August 16 it briefly strengthened to a Category 2 hurricane, but began to weaken in cooler waters shortly thereafter. It became extratropical southeast of Cape Race, Newfoundland on August 18, having never posed a threat to land.

Tropical Depression Ten
Tropical Depression Ten formed 1100 statute miles (1770 km) east of the Lesser Antilles on August 13. Conditions were not favorable for development, as strong vertical shear literally ripped the system apart, and advisories were discontinued the next day when it showed no organized deep convection. The remnants of Tropical Depression Ten continued drifting northwestward before degenerating into a tropical wave north of the Leeward Islands. The mid-level remnant circulation eventually merged with another system in the "complex genesis" of what would become Tropical Depression Twelve and, eventually, Hurricane Katrina.

Tropical Storm Jose
<p style="margin-top: 0.4em; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0.5em; margin-left: 0px; line-height: 1.5em; ">Tropical Depression Eleven formed in the Bay of Campeche on August 22. Later in the day it strengthened into Tropical Storm Jose over the warm waters of the Gulf of Mexico and achieved a maximum strength of 60 mph (95 km/h) before it made landfall in the state of Veracruz, Mexico on August 23. It then rapidly weakened and soon dissipated as it moved inland over Mexico. While drenching Mexico's Gulf coast, Jose forced some 25,000 residents from their homes in Veracruz state. Eight deaths (six direct) were attributed to Jose's heavy rains in the Mexican state of Oaxaca. Two more were reported missing. Damage in Mexico totaled to $45 million.

<p style="margin-top: 0.4em; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0.5em; margin-left: 0px; line-height: 1.5em; ">Later analysis showed that Jose became more organized two hours before making landfall and was forming an eye, but its winds remained under hurricane strength. The final report suggested that the winds made it up to 60 mph (95 km/h) and made landfall as such, but was still rapidly intensifying before running out of water.

Hurricane Katrina
<p style="margin-top: 0.4em; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0.5em; margin-left: 0px; line-height: 1.5em; ">An area of disturbed weather over the Bahamas developed into a tropical depression on August 23, becoming a tropical storm on August 24 and a hurricane on August 25. It made landfall on August 25 in southern Florida, emerging a few hours later into the Gulf of Mexico. Katrina rapidly intensified to Category 5 status on the morning of August 28, becoming the fourth most intense recorded hurricane in the Atlantic basin. The hurricane weakened to a Category 4 as it turned northward, and weakened to a Category 3 hurricane with 125 mph (200 km/h) winds as it made landfall in southeastern Louisiana (as confirmed by the post-storm report; initially it was estimated as a Category 4 landfall). Hours later, it crossed the Breton Sound and held its strength, making its third and final landfall with 120 mph (190 km/h) winds near Pearlington, Mississippi.

<p style="margin-top: 0.4em; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0.5em; margin-left: 0px; line-height: 1.5em; ">The Mississippi and Alabama coastlines suffered catastrophic damage from the storm's 30-foot (nine m) storm surge. New Orleans escaped the worst damage from the storm, but levees along the Gulf Intracoastal Waterway and 17th Street and London Avenue Canals ultimately were breached by storm surge, flooding about 80% of the city. 1,836 people have been confirmed dead across seven US states. Katrina is the costliest and one of the deadliest natural disasters in U.S. history, with damage totals around $81.2 billion (USD; $104 billion 2011 USD). The damage and fatality estimates remain incomplete.

Tropical Storm Lee
<p style="margin-top: 0.4em; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0.5em; margin-left: 0px; line-height: 1.5em; ">A tropical wave moved off the coast of Africa on August 24. It developed into an area of low pressure as it crossed the Atlantic, and organized into Tropical Depression Thirteen on August 28 while 960 mi (1550 km) east of the Lesser Antilles. Because of northeasterly shear, the center of the circulation was removed from the convection, and the depression degenerated into a remnant low late on August 29. Many of the models had indicated that this was likely, but the National Hurricane Center (NHC) instead chose to forecast slight strengthening.

<p style="margin-top: 0.4em; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0.5em; margin-left: 0px; line-height: 1.5em; ">The remnant low moved to the north and later northeast, due to a non-tropical system. The convection increased and the depression regenerated on August 31. That afternoon, the depression strengthened further into Tropical Storm Lee, reaching its peak intensity with winds of 40 mph (65 km/h), in between Bermuda and the Azores. There was uncertainty in its intensity, and it quickly weakened to tropical depression status again. Lee moved around the non-tropical low to its west, causing forecasting difficulties with regards to how tropical it remained. Later on September 1, shear again removed the convection of the depression, and Lee became a remnant low that survived until September 4 when it was absorbed by a cold front. It never affected land, and there were no reports of damage or fatalities.