Noel moves across Cuba
Tropical Storm Noel moved across Cuba today as a much weaker storm than the one that hit Hispaniola yesterday. Noel dumped heavy rain across Haiti and the Dominican Republic yesterday. The storm caused a nation-wide power outage in the Dominican Republic, and killed at least 20 people. This makes Noel the deadliest storm to hit the country since Hurricane Georges hit in 1998. Rain amount have been over 17 inches in the Dominican Republic, and over 10 inches in Haiti. When tropical system hit this island, they routinely dump torrential amount of rain. The reason is the tall mountains on the island (over 10,000 feet tall) wring tremendous amount of water out of storms. These same mountains also disrupt the circulation of tropical systems that come nearby. I like to refer to Hispaniola as a hurricane eater, because it is hard for hurricanes that move over the island to survive.... hard, but not impossible. We have our own experience with a Hispaniola hurricane. Hurricane Hazel, in 1954 was severely weakened as it crossed Hispaniola, but it had plenty of time to regain strength before hitting the Grand Strand as a category 4 hurricane.
Noel will not share Hazel's fate. After leaving Hispaniola, Tropical Storm Noel headed toward Cuba, and has spent most of the day today weakening over land. Even after the center re-emerges over water tomorrow, it will take time to organize after the brush with the "Hurricane Eater" island. Noel does not have time. A cold front moving into the plains today will draw Noel northward tomorrow, and wisk it out to sea by Friday. This storm will come close to south Florida (perhaps as close as 100 miles) on Halloween, but will still be a weak tropical storm. Noel is expected to remain 400-500 miles off the Carolina coast, and will not have much effect on our weather.
Posted by
on 10/30 at 06:16 PM
