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Hurricane Flora is among the deadliest Atlantic hurricanes in recorded history, with a death total of over 7,000. The seventh tropical storm and sixth hurricane of the 1963 Atlantic hurricane season, Flora developed from a disturbance in the Intertropical Convergence Zone on September 26 while located southwest of the Cape Verde islands. After remaining a weak depression for several days, it rapidly organized on September 29 to attain tropical storm status. Flora continued to quickly strengthen to reach Category 3 hurricane status before moving through the Windward Islands and passing over Tobago, and it reached maximum sustained winds of in the Caribbean. The storm struck southwestern Haiti near peak intensity, turned to the west, and drifted over Cuba for four days before turning to the northeast. Flora passed over the Bahamas and accelerated northeastward, becoming an extratropical cyclone on October 12. Due to its slow movement across Cuba, Flora is the wettest known tropical cyclone for Cuba, Haiti, and the Dominican Republic. The significant casualties caused by Flora were the most for a tropical cyclone in the Atlantic Basin since the 1900 Galveston Hurricane.〔 ==Meteorological history== A disturbance in the Intertropical Convergence Zone organized into a tropical depression on September 26 while located about southwest of the island of Fogo in the Cape Verde Islands. Upon forming, the depression had a poorly organized circulation with banding features to its north and east. The depression moved west-northwestward, and the system failed to organize significantly by a day after developing. On September 27, the banding features dissipated, though the area of convection around the center increased. Satellite imagery was unavailable until September 30, during which there were not sufficient ship reports to indicate the presence of a low-level circulation. The depression continued west-northwestward, and it is estimated it intensified into Tropical Storm Flora on September 29 while located about east-southeast of Trinidad, or about north of Cayenne, French Guiana. Operationally, advisories were not initiated until a day later. Flora quickly intensified after it became a tropical storm, and early on September 30 it attained hurricane status. Later that day, Reconnaissance Aircraft confirmed the existence of the hurricane, with the flight reporting a well-defined, circular wide eye. One observer noted Flora to be the best organized tropical cyclone over the previous two years. After attaining major hurricane status, Flora passed directly over the island of Tobago late on the 30th with winds of . The hurricane continued west-northwestward as it entered the Caribbean, and early on October 2 its winds reached . Thirty hours later, Flora intensified slightly further and attained peak winds of while located about south of the border of Haiti and the Dominican Republic.〔 After turning to the northwest, Hurricane Flora maintained its peak strength, and made landfall in the Sud Department of Haiti late on October 3 as a Category 4 hurricane on the Saffir-Simpson Scale with gusts from .〔 The calm of the eye lasted for up to 70 minutes in one location. After quickly weakening to a hurricane, Flora turned more to the west in the Windward Passage, and restrengthened slightly to strike southeastern Cuba about east of Guantanamo Bay with winds of . A high pressure system to its north turned the motion of the hurricane to a westward drift, causing it to weaken quickly over land. Flora neared the north coast of Cuba on October 4 before turning to the south. It executed a cyclonic loop and entered the coastal waters off Granma Province. An anticyclone to the west of Flora turned the hurricane to the north, bringing it ashore near Santa Cruz del Sur on October 7 with winds of around . Flora initially turned southeastward over central Cuba, and late on October 8 a short-wave trough turned the hurricane northeastward, bringing it into the coastal waters of the Holguín Province.〔 Flora remained a hurricane while drifting over land due to abundant moisture and a favorable upper level environment. After passing over the southeastern Bahamas early on October 9, Flora began to restrengthen, and on October 10 it again reached major hurricane status while located south of Bermuda. The hurricane gradually weakened as it continued northeastward, and weakened to a Category 1 hurricane on October 11. Flora gradually lost its convection over the north Atlantic Ocean, and transitioned into an extratropical cyclone on October 12 while located east-southeast of Cape Race, Newfoundland. The extratropical remnant dissipated the next day.〔 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 Flora」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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