Hurricane Nora (1997)
| Category 4 hurricane ( SSHWS ) | ||
|---|---|---|
 |
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| Emergence | September 16, 1997 | |
| resolution | September 26, 1997 | |
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Peak wind speed |
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| Lowest air pressure | 950 mbar ( hPa ; 28.1 inHg ) | |
| dead | 2 direct, 4 indirect | |
| Property damage | US $ 100 million (1997) | |
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Affected areas |
Baja California , Southwestern United States | |
| Season overview: 1997 Pacific hurricane season |
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Hurricane Nora was the fourteenth named tropical cyclone and the seventh hurricane of the 1997 Pacific hurricane season . This September storm formed off the coast of Mexico in the Pacific . The formation over warm water was facilitated by El Niño . The hurricane hit Category 4 on the Saffir-Simpson Hurricane Wind Scale .
Nora intensified and quickly weakened before taking an unusual migration route and hitting the mainland twice as a hurricane in Baja California . After Pauline hit the California coast, her remnants reached the southwestern United States as a tropical storm, with heavy rain and flooding. Two direct deaths in Mexico are attributed to Nora, as well as extensive beach erosion on the Mexican coast, flash floods in Baja California and record rainfall in Arizona . Nora reached deep inland and is only the third known tropical cyclone to hit Arizona as a tropical system.
Storm course
Nora formed on the morning of September 16, 1997 , about 460 km southwest of the Mexican port city of Acapulco , Guerrero , from the same tropical wave that had previously produced Hurricane Erika . Due to favorable conditions associated with El Niño , the tropical disturbance quickly achieved sufficient convection and organized itself well. At 6 a.m. UTC , the National Hurricane Center designated the fault as Tropical Depression Sixteen-E. Half a day later, it had gained enough strength to be upgraded to Tropical Storm Nora.
A high pressure area over northern Mexico forced the storm on a west-northwest course for the first few days. During this period, Nora continued to intensify and became a Category 1 hurricane on September 18. Then Nora slowed down and stayed stationary for two days. The eye blurred and the convection decreased. It is believed that this happened due to a drop in water surface temperatures. The cooler water slowed Nora's winds from 165 km / h to 120 km / h. Eventually, Nora left the cool surface water area and moved parallel to Mexico's west coast. After a period of rapid intensification, the eye reappeared, and on September 21, Nora peaked as a Category 4 hurricane with a lowest air pressure of 950 mbar and sustained winds of 210 km / h. The climax phase was short, as Nora came across cooler water again as a result of Hurricane Linda . This weakened Nora's wind speed to 130 km / h and the eye collapsed on September 23.
Nora then crossed an area of unusually warm water near the west coast of Baja California , a little regained whereby the hurricane strength before it for the first time at Bahía Tortugas , Baja California Sur , reached the mainland. When Nora was overland, the storm area over the Gulf of California began to intensify again. Hurricane Nora then struck the coast for the second time, about 95 km south-southeast of San Fernando , Baja California .
Over the mainland, a meteorological channel Nora accelerated northwards and caused a train speed of 50 km / h. On the evening of September 25th, Nora reached the United States on the border between California and Arizona , still in the force of a tropical storm . Nora then began to lose strength rapidly and was downgraded to a tropical low three hours later when the center was between Blythe and Needles . Nora reached Arizona as a still tropical system and was only the third known tropical cyclone to do so. Overland, Nora collapsed and the lower-altitude center migrated north-northeast. The remnants of the rotation persisted for a while and were believed to be responsible for a period of winds that were observed by the Doppler radar at the National Weather Service in Cedar City , Utah and which almost reached hurricane strength. These debris gradually dissolved as they traveled northeast through parts of Utah, Colorado , Idaho, and Wyoming over the next two days .
Preparations
Although Nora largely kept its distance from the Pacific coast of Mexico, the Servicio Meteorológico Nacional (the national weather service) published a hurricane warning for the coast between Lázaro Cárdenas , Michoacán , and Puerto Vallarta , Jalisco and closed several larger ports on the shoreline for shipping. When the storm of the mainland coast and veered course on the peninsula Baja California took about 500 residents were out of their homes near Cabo San Lucas , Baja California Sur evacuated and in emergency shelters housed. In the state of Sonora , too , around 50 people were brought to safety from a fishing village in Guaymas . At the same time, the weather service issued tropical storm warnings for the Lower California coast, which affected the entire Gulf of California between Santa Rosalía , Baja California Sur and Bahía Kino , Sonora .
On 24 September, the continued governor of Arizona , Jane Dee Hull (Rep) aid in force with which the State wanted to respond to the flash floods that would cause the storm to expected to on the dry desert soil Arizona. In Yuma , residents started filling around 55,000 sandbags to counteract any flooding. Hull also activated the National Guard and sent water treatment and power generation equipment to Yuma. Further inland, the National Weather Service warned of flash floods for September 26 ; this affected western Arizona, southeast California, southwest Colorado , and southern Nevada and Utah .
Effects
Hurricane Nora caused two direct deaths in Mexico and three to four indirect deaths in the United States. Although the total amount of damage is unknown, Nora incurred hundreds of millions of dollars in costs. The system brought large amounts of heavy rain in the United States and Mexico, causing flooding and power outages.
Mexico
Nora killed two people in Mexico: one person was electrocuted from a hanging power line in Mexicali and a diver drowned in one of Nora's strong underwater currents off the coast of San Quintin .
Although Nora's center of rotation was far from mainland southwest Mexico, waves up to 6 m high have been reported to hit the coast and destroy dozens of homes. Nora's winds caused rough seas and high waves that caused significant beach erosion , especially in the Acapulco area where the beach at Pie de la Cuesta was washed away. In the states of Guerrero and Jalisco , Nora toppled trees and washed down the foundations of houses without causing personal injury.
Heavy rains also fell on the northern edge of the storm area, with the highest values of 532 mm in La Cruz / Elota and 426 mm in Ligüí / Loreto. About 350 to 400 residents were made homeless by the floods in the town of Arroyo de Santa Catarina in northern Baja California . Severe damage and flooding have been reported in San Felipe , which is on the northwestern end of the Gulf of California , including extensive beach erosion. Local roads and overland routes were destroyed, and the city's port was badly damaged. On the northeastern shore in Puerto Peñasco , Nora knocked down trees, billboards, power lines, and kiosks, and tore cladding material from the houses. The wave height there reached 3 m.
United States
There were no direct deaths from the hurricane in the United States . The California Highway Patrol, however, attributes three or four road accident victims in southern California to the weather.
Total damage in the United States has not been determined, but media surveys have shown agricultural losses estimated at hundreds of millions of dollars, and one study cites US $ 150–200 million in this regard. Dollar. The damage to the lemon trees in southern California has been estimated at 30-40 million. Even though Nora lost hurricane strength long before that, winds have been observed in the Dixie National Forest in southwestern Utah that almost reached hurricane strength and where gusts tore off the tops of large trees.
The Yuma weather radar showed a small area on the Lower California coast to the Gulf of California , where nearly 250 mm of rain fell. In the United States, the greatest amount of rain was recorded in the Harquahala Mountains of Arizona, where 304mm of rainfall was measured, causing flash floods in western Arizona.
In the vicinity of Phoenix , the storm caused the rupture of a small dam, the Narrows Dam . Elsewhere in Arizona, California, Nevada and Utah, more than 75 mm of rainfall is comparable to the amount of rain that otherwise falls in some of these areas on a long-term average. Floods also occurred in Somerton , San Diego , El Centro , Palm Springs and Indio , with around 12,000 residents losing power in Yuma, Los Angeles and southwestern Utah.
Despite the damage it caused, the World Meteorological Organization did not remove the name Nora from the list of tropical cyclone names during the spring 1998 meeting, which is why Nora was used during the 2003 Pacific hurricane season and is also on the list of names used in the year 2009 is used.
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b c Farfán, Luis M. and Joseph Zehnder: An Analysis of the Landfall of Hurricane Nora . (PDF) In: Monthly Weather Review . 129, No. 8, August 2001. Accessed on February 26, 2006. ( 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.
- ↑ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Rappaport, Edward N .: Preliminary Report: Hurricane Nora: 16-26 September 1997 . National Hurricane Center . October 30, 1997. Retrieved February 20, 2006.
- ^ Servicio Meteorológico Nacional ( Mexico ): Huracán Nora . Comisón Nacional del Agua (Spanish). 1997. Archived from the original on May 5, 2006. 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 February 21, 2006.
- ^ A b Lawrence, Miles B .: Eastern North Pacific Hurricane Season of 1997 . (PDF) In: Monthly Weather Review . 127, No. 10, October 1999, pp. 2448-2450. Accessed on December 18, 2006. ( 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.
- ^ A b c Flood Control District of Maricopa County : TS Nora Storm Report . 1997. Archived from the original on February 23, 2001. 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 26, 2006.
- ^ North-moving Nora lashes Baja's southern tip , Associated Press. September 23, 1997. Retrieved April 10, 2006.
- ^ Hurricane Nora lashes Baja California , Associated Press. September 24, 1997. Retrieved November 11, 2006.
- ↑ a b Hurricane Nora to hit Baja Thursday morning , Associated Press. September 25, 1997. Retrieved May 11, 2006.
- ^ Hurricane Nora nears Mexico , Associated Press. September 24, 1997. Retrieved November 11, 2006.
- ↑ Nora weakens, but heavy rains threaten US , Associated Press. September 25, 1997. Retrieved November 11, 2006.
- ^ Hydrometeorological Prediction Center : Storm Summary for Tropical Depression Nora, 4 on EDT September 26, 1997 . NOAA. Archived from the original on December 10, 2005. 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 March 6, 2006.
- ^ A b Hurricane Nora lashes Mexico's Pacific coast , Associated Press. September 22, 1997. Retrieved May 11, 2006.
- ^ Hydrometeorological Prediction Center. Hurricane Nora - September 14-28, 1997. ( Memento of the original from October 8, 2006 in the Internet Archive ) 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 January 4, 2007.
- ^ Hurricane Nora, San Felipe, Baja California . San Felipe, Baja California Official Website. September 1997. Retrieved March 26, 2006.
- ↑ Nora gives Arizona a soaking , Associated Press. September 25, 1997. Retrieved May 11, 2006.
- ^ National Drought Mitigation Center: Reported Effects of the 1997-98 El Niño . University of Nebraska-Lincoln. Archived from the original on March 4, 2009. Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. Retrieved February 26, 2006.
- ^ National Climatic Data Center: NCDC Event Details . NOAA . September 25, 1997. Archived from the original on February 4, 2012. 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 January 4, 2011.
- ^ Cooperative Program for Operational Meteorology, Education and Training: Nora: After Landfall (VIS) . University Corporation for Atmospheric Research. Retrieved April 10, 2006.
- ^ Rebecca Carter: Tropical Storm Impacts on Arizona and New Mexico . Climate Assessment for the Southwest Project, Institute for the Study of Planet Earth, University of Arizona. 2002. Archived from the original on June 23, 2006. 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 March 3, 2006.
