Hurricane Irene-Olivia
| Category 3 hurricane ( SSHWS ) | ||
|---|---|---|
 |
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| Emergence | 11th September 1971 | |
| resolution | September 30, 1971 | |
|
Peak wind speed |
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| Lowest air pressure | 948 mbar ( hPa ; 28 inHg ) | |
| dead | 3 direct | |
| Property damage | > US $ 1 million (1971) | |
|
Affected areas |
Leeward Islands , Windward Islands , Central America , Mexico , Southwestern United States | |
| Season overview: 1971 Atlantic hurricane season, 1971 Pacific hurricane season |
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Hurricane Irene-Olivia was the first recorded tropical cyclone to migrate from the Atlantic Ocean to the eastern Pacific Ocean . It had its origin in a tropical depression that formed on September 11, 1971 in the tropical Atlantic. The cyclone moved almost due west at a very low latitude , passed the southern Leeward Islands and later the north of South America . In the southwestern Caribbean Sea , the system intensified into a tropical storm and later a hurricane . Irene moved overland in southeastern Nicaragua on September 19 and maintained its circulation as the storm crossed the Nicaraguan lowlands. After the system re-intensified over the Pacific, Irene was renamed Olivia. The hurricane finally reached its greatest strength with sustained wind speeds of 185 km / h. Olivia weakened significantly before sweeping over Baja California on September 30th and disintegrating the following day.
In the Atlantic, Irene generated moderate rainfall and winds along its path, but the effects were greatest in Nicaragua, the coast of which Irene crossed as a hurricane. A total of 96 houses were destroyed and 1200 people left homeless. Heavy rain caused floods that killed three people in Rivas . In neighboring Costa Rica , Hurricane Irene caused damage of more than one million US dollars (1971) to the banana harvest. Later, the residual low in Olivia in the southwestern United States led to heavy rainfall. Flooding occurred near Yuma , Arizona and heavy snowfalls occurred at high altitudes in the Rocky Mountains .
Storm course
The origins of the hurricane lay in a tropical wave that broke off the coast of West Africa on September 7th. This moved rapidly westward across the Atlantic Ocean and developed into a tropical depression on September 11 about 1,300 km east of the Leeward Islands. On the day it formed, the depression was one of seven other tropical systems that were active in the Atlantic Basin that day, making September 11 one of the most active days since tropical weather records began to be systematically recorded. The system existed well to the south and its intensification was initially prevented by the unfavorable combination of Hurricane Ginger and a long trough in the northwest. On September 13, the depression passed directly south of Barbados and entered the Caribbean Sea. Due to the influence of the South American mainland, the center was poorly defined and widened. Curaçao reported persistent wind speeds that almost reached storm strength when the system crossed the island on September 16. The system moved close to or over northern Venezuela and Colombia. As it neared the western Caribbean Sea, the system was able to organize itself better as the landmass of South America and the trough to the north exerted less influence. On September 17 at 00:00 UTC , the low pressure system reached tropical storm status and was named Irene when it was about 350 miles east of San Andrés . Initially, the predictions assumed that Irene would embark on a west-northwestern train path towards the northwestern Caribbean, following the path of the destructive Hurricane Edith , which was active two weeks earlier.
As a tropical storm, Irene steadily intensified on its way across the southwestern Caribbean Sea. Late on September 18, shortly before reaching the coast of Central America, Irene reached the strength of a hurricane and with sustained wind speeds of 130 km / h also the peak intensity in the Atlantic Ocean. As Irene intensified, an eye formed and spiraling bands of cloud that reached across Panama into the Pacific Ocean. Hurricane Irene lost some of its power as it approached the coast, although the central air pressure dropped to 989 mbar . On September 19, the hurricane landed in the Región Autónoma del Atlántico Sur , the first tropical cyclone to hit the coast of Nicaragua south of Bluefields since 1911 . Irene weakened overland to a tropical depression in eighteen hours. However, circulation remained organized over the lowlands in southern Nicaragua, presumably because the system crossed Lake Nicaragua . After reaching the Pacific on September 20, the low pressure area strengthened again into a tropical storm; as such, the system was named Olivia. It was the first time a tropical cyclone had been observed to transition from the Atlantic across Central America to the Pacific; however, later research indicated that previous storms also had this characteristic, but this was not known at the time.
As a Pacific hurricane, Olivia had a well-defined discharge. The storm intensified steadily as it migrated westward parallel to the south coast of Central America. Late on September 21, the crew of a reconnaissance plane found winds of 130 km / h and an eye with a diameter of 37 km, which is why Olivia was upgraded to a hurricane. For several days Olivia moved off the Mexican coast in a westerly to west-northwest direction, but the exact course of the intensity of the storm was unknown due to the lack of precise observations. On September 25th, the eye became very clearly visible on satellite images and based on a report by Hurricane Hunter it is believed that Olivia reached the climax of the existence cycle with sustained winds of 185 km / h about 395 km southwest of Manzanillo , Colima . At that time, an air pressure of 948 mbar was determined, which was the lowest measured air pressure of the Pacific hurricane season 1971 .
The intensity of Hurricane Olivia shifted over the next two days as a ridge over northwestern Mexico steered the cyclone westward away from the mainland coast. Early on September 26th, the wind speed dropped to 165 km / h before quickly reaching the previous peak again. After that, dry air began to circulate and Olivia began to weaken over cooler water. The eye appeared less organized and eventually disappeared. Late on September 28th, Olivia weakened to a tropical storm after the storm headed northwest and then turned north. For about 24 hours, Olivia weakened as it approached the Baja California coast to a tropical depression. Most of the thunderstorm activity disappeared by the time the depression moved overland on September 30th. The next day, Olivia broke up near the states of Baja California and Baja California Sur .
Impact and records
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As a tropical low pressure area, Irene generated a gust of 69 km / h in Barbados. In Trinidad fell 85.1 mm of precipitation. Before the system arrived, the authorities pointed out the danger of flash floods in northern Venezuela and on the ABC islands . Tropical Storm Irene later struck the island of San Andrés in the western Caribbean with gale-force winds, but no major damage was reported from there.
Prior to the hurricane landed in Nicaragua, the country's army evacuated around five hundred people from a settlement near Bluefields, and boats were ordered to remain in port along the coast. When the hurricane landed, wind speeds of 74 km / h were recorded in Bluefields. The wind destroyed 27 houses in the region. There are no measurements from the sparsely populated region in which the storm landed, but it can be assumed that the storm reached hurricane strength there. In southeastern Nicaragua, serious damage to buildings and tree cover was found by reconnaissance planes. Satellite imagery suggests heavy rainfall fell from Panama to Honduras, and a monitoring site in Nicaragua reported more than 160mm of rainfall. The rain caused flooding in many localities; in Rivas three people were killed as a result. Thirty-five houses on the banks of one river were flooded, and on another river the flood washes away the crops and personal effects of the residents of three villages. The hurricane destroyed 96 houses across the country, leaving around 1200 residents homeless. In Costa Rica, Irene's passage caused more than a million US dollars in damage to the banana harvest.
In the late stages of its existence, Hurricane Olivia brought moisture to the southwestern United States. More than 50mm of rainfall has been reported from Arizona and New Mexico. Lighter rainfall also reached western Texas and southeastern California. The National Weather Service therefore warned of flash floods in the region. In the vicinity of Yuma, Arizona, thunderstorms led to power outages and the flooding of part of US Highway 95 . Large amounts of snow fell in the higher elevations of the Rocky Mountains.
Hurricane Irene-Olivia is unusual because it survived the passage from the Atlantic to the Pacific Ocean. Only seven other storms are known that have also reached the Pacific from the Atlantic and have retained their tropical characteristics. Irene was the first of three such storms in the 1970s, all of which happened to be named with an O in the Pacific.
supporting documents
- ↑ a b c d e f g h i j R.H. Simpson and John R. Hope: Atlantic Hurricane Season of 1971 . (PDF) In: American Meteorological Society (Ed.): Monthly Weather Review . 100, No. 04, April 1972, pp. 256-267. Retrieved February 11, 2010.
- ↑ a b c R.H. Simpson and John R. Hope: Atlantic Tropical Systems of 1971 . (PDF) In: American Meteorological Society (Ed.): Monthly Weather Review . 100, No. 04, April 1972, pp. 268-275. Retrieved February 10, 2011.
- ↑ Staff Writer: Hurricane Edith on Irene Route . In: Associated Press , September 17, 1971. Archived from the original on June 5, 2016 Info: The archive link has been inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. . Retrieved June 11, 2009.
- ↑ a b c d NHC Hurricane Research Division: Atlantic hurricane best track . NOAA. 2009. Retrieved June 9, 2000.
- ^ A b c William J. Denny: Eastern Pacific hurricane season of 1971 . (PDF) In: American Meteorological Society (Ed.): Monthly Weather Review . 100, No. 04, April 1972, pp. 276-293. Retrieved January 11, 2011.
- ↑ Joint Typhoon Warning Center: Annual Typhoon Report (PDF) 1971. Accessed on February 11, 2011. ( Page no longer available , search in web archives ) Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ Staff Writer: Edith Threatens Gulf Coast ( English ) In: Associated Press . September 15, 1971. Archived from the original on December 3, 2015. Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. Retrieved June 11, 2009.
- ↑ Diaz, et al .: Morphology and Marine Habitats of Two Southwestern Caribbean Atolls ( English , PDF; 1.6 MB) National Museum of Natural History. April 1996. Retrieved February 11, 2011.
- ↑ Staff Writer: Storm Irene Loses Blow in Nicaragua ( English ) In: United Press International . September 20, 1971. Archived from the original on February 3, 2016. Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. Retrieved June 12, 2009.
- ↑ a b c Dirección General de Meteorología: Huracán Irene (1971) ( Spanish ) Instituto Nicaragüense de Estudios Territoiales. July 7th, 2008. Archived from the original on October 24th, 2007. Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. Retrieved February 11, 2011.
- ^ A b Staff Writer: Irene Reforming in Pacific Ocean ( English ) In: Associated Press . September 21, 1971. Archived from the original on February 1, 2016. Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. Retrieved June 12, 2009.
- ↑ Staff Writer: Banana Crop is Hit by Hurricane Irene ( English ) The Chillicothe Constitution-Tribune. September 23, 1971. Accessed on June 12, 2009. ( Page no longer available , search in web archives ) Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ^ Robert E. Taubensee: Weather and Circulation of September 1971 . (PDF) In: American Meteorological Society (Ed.): Monthly Weather Review . 99, No. 12, December 1971, p. 986. Retrieved February 11, 2011.
- ↑ Staff Writer: Major Weather Change Seen Possible in State ( English ) Avalanche-Journal. October 1st, 1971. Archived from the original on November 26th, 2015. Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. Retrieved June 12, 2009.
- ↑ Jack Williams: Background: California's tropical storms ( English ) USA Today. May 17, 2005. Retrieved February 11, 2011.
- ^ A b Staff Writer: Heavy Rains Lashing Southwest ( English ) The Huntington and Mount Union Daily News. September 30, 1971. Accessed on June 12, 2009. ( Page no longer available , search in web archives ) Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ Loren Listiak: Heavy Storm Sneaks Into Town ( English ) In: The Yuma Daily Sun . Archived from the original on January 13, 2016. Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. Retrieved June 12, 2009.
- ↑ Stephen Caparotta; D. Walston; Steven Young; & Gary Padgett: Subject: E15) What tropical storms and hurricanes have moved from the Atlantic to the Northeast Pacific or vice versa? ( English ) Atlantic Oceanographic and Meteorological Laboratory . Retrieved February 11, 2011.
