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Hurricane Alice was the second-strongest Atlantic hurricane to make landfall in the month of June since reliable records began in the 1850s. While not a major hurricane, the storm was linked to catastrophic flooding in southern Texas and northern Mexico, especially along the Rio Grande and its tributaries. The third tropical cyclone and first hurricane of the 1954 Atlantic hurricane season, Alice was one of two storms to receive the same name that year, the other being an unusual post-season hurricane that persisted into the new year of 1955, becoming one of only two January hurricanes on record (the other having formed in 1938). The first Alice developed rather suddenly on June 24 over the Bay of Campeche, though it may well have formed earlier but went undetected due to limited surface weather observations. Moving northwestward, Alice strengthened rapidly as it neared the Mexican coastline, becoming a hurricane early the next day. By midday on June 25, the hurricane reached peak winds of before moving inland well south of the U.S.–Mexico border. The storm struck an area with few inhabitants and caused relatively minimal impacts from wind near the point of landfall and in southern Texas. As it moved inland, however, Alice produced prolific rains along and near the Rio Grande, resulting in the some of the worst flooding ever seen in parts of northern Mexico and southern Texas;〔 〕 in some areas, the flooding amounted to a one-in-2,000-year event. The Pecos River crested at , which joined with the Rio Grande to produce significant flooding. The floods destroyed bridges and dikes and flooded many cities along the inner reaches of the river, which reached its highest water levels since 1865. As the river overflowed its banks, floods breached the dikes at Piedras Negras, Coahuila, destroying large sections of the town. Other communities in Mexico reported significant flood damage. In the United States, damage was heaviest in Ozona, Texas, where the floods killed 15 people and caused $2 million in damage (1954 USD). Rainfall peaked at over , most of which fell in a 24‑hour period. In all, flooding from Hurricane Alice killed at least 55 people, including 17 in the U.S. and 38 in Mexico, though many deaths in rural Mexico may have gone unreported; the total death toll could have exceeded 150. ==Meteorological history== At 12:00 UTC on June 24, 1954, a moderate tropical storm formed about east of Tampico, Tamaulipas, with winds of . In 2015, NOAA researchers working on reanalysis with the Hurricane Research Division examined observations to determine whether Alice formed earlier, but were unsuccessful due to sparse surface weather observations over the Bay of Campeche. The first observation of gale-force winds occurred at 18:00 UTC on June 24, when a ship reported winds and an atmospheric pressure of , indicating a well-developed cyclone in the area. Based on these data, scientists concluded that Alice likely formed earlier than indicated, but went undetected until that day.〔 Regardless, Alice steadily intensified almost immediately upon detection as it headed northwestward, strengthening into the equivalent of a Category 1 hurricane on the Saffir-Simpson hurricane wind scale by 00:00 UTC on June 25.〔 Early on that day, a ship calibrated the rapid strengthening of the storm, measuring winds of at 08:17 UTC.〔 As Alice neared the coast of Mexico, reconnaissance aircraft known as Hurricane Hunters began tracking the eye of the hurricane, but apparently did not penetrate the center of the storm. They did, however, provide information about the position of the storm.〔 The storm continued to intensify rapidly as it approached the coastline south of the United States–Mexico border. Based on aircraft observations, research suggests that Alice made landfall about south of Matamoros, Tamaulipas, at 14:00 UTC on June 25.〔 The storm affected a thinly populated segment of the Mexican coastline, and few observations were available to determine the strength of the hurricane. One report, taken about south of Brownsville, Texas, suggested top winds of at least .〔 Prior to scientific reexamination, HURDAT—the official database containing tracks and intensities of cyclones in the North Atlantic and Eastern North Pacific regions—listed top winds of at landfall in Mexico.〔 However, a radiosonde, launched from Brownsville in time for the 12:00 UTC observation, recorded winds of from the southeast at in elevation. Based on this measurement, which may have represented winds in the eyewall, researchers determined that Hurricane Alice was likely significantly stronger at landfall than previously assessed.〔 They analyzed Alice as having struck Mexico with winds of , while noting the great uncertainty and the possibility that the storm may have even been much stronger than this. The central pressure in the eye was probably or lower, as corroborated by observations well inland in Texas.〔 Therefore, Alice was at least equivalent to a high-end Category 2 hurricane at landfall and conceivably could have attained major hurricane status. After hitting land, Hurricane Alice gradually weakened as it approximately followed the Rio Grande, crossing into southern Texas near La Grulla just before 00:00 UTC on June 26. The storm by then had weakened back to a moderate tropical storm with winds of , but it still produced gale-force winds in several communities across southern Texas; a few areas in Texas may have even experienced hurricane-force winds for brief periods before the storm entered the state, but there are no observations to confirm such winds.〔 The storm likely caused winds of at least in southern Texas. As it crossed into Texas, Tropical Storm Alice curved more to the north-northwest early on June 26 before assuming a sharp bend back westward later in the day. The storm degenerated into a tropical depression by 18:00 UTC and dissipated early on June 27 near the Big Bend National Park in Texas.〔 〕 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Hurricane Alice (June 1954)」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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