|
Tropical Storm Cindy was a weak but unusually wet Atlantic tropical cyclone that caused disastrous floods and mudslides across Martinique in August 1993. Forming east of the island, Cindy became the annual hurricane season's third named storm on August 14. Due to unfavorable atmospheric conditions, the storm remained disorganized throughout its journey across the northeastern Caribbean Sea. After attaining maximum sustained winds of 45 mph (75 km/h), Cindy began to weaken from interaction with the high terrain of Hispaniola. It made landfall in the Dominican Republic as a tropical depression on August 16, and dissipated over the territory the following day. Despite its poor cloud and wind structure, Cindy dropped torrential rain over portions of the northeastern Caribbean. The island of Martinique received a record 12 inches (305 mm) of rain over a 24-hour period, affecting many northern villages and communes. Le Prêcheur in particular was devastated by an extensive debris flow, which washed away entire structures. The disaster left two people dead and hundreds homeless on the island, and wrought $19 million (1993 USD) in damage. En route to Hispaniola, Cindy affected the Virgin Islands and Puerto Rico with rough surf and moderate rain. Heavy downpours and flooding killed two people in the Dominican Republic, though the exact extent of the damage there is unknown. ==Meteorological history== The origins of Tropical Storm Cindy can be traced to a tropical wave that departed the western coast of Africa on August 8, 1993. Over the following days, the wave tracked steadily west-northwestward across the tropical Atlantic while retaining a distinct cloud pattern on satellite images. Although initial data from a reconnaissance aircraft mission on August 13 indicated that the system lacked a defined wind circulation, a second mission at 1200 UTC the next day revealed an improvement in its structure at the lower levels of the atmosphere. The National Hurricane Center (NHC) thus classified the system as a tropical depression—a tropical cyclone with sustained winds of less than 39 mph (62 km/h)—and initiated public advisories on it soon thereafter. Steered by a mid- to low-level wind flow, the depression decreased in forward speed and continued west-northwest toward Martinique. Satellite images showed the development of a central dense overcast, and reconnaissance soon revealed that wind speeds near the center had increased to gale force. Based on this, the NHC upgraded the depression to Tropical Storm Cindy at 1800 UTC on August 14, at which time the cyclone was located over Martinique with winds of 40 mph (65 km). Although Cindy briefly developed a favorable outflow, its upper-level structure debilitated after it moved away from the Lesser Antilles, preventing further development.〔 Over the course of August 15, Cindy's cloud pattern remained disorganized due to unfavorable wind shear; the center of circulation became ill defined, with the strongest thunderstorms confined to the eastern portion of the cyclone. Despite the unfavorable conditions, the storm managed to strengthen marginally on August 16, attaining its peak intensity with winds of 45 mph (75 km/h) and a minimum pressure of 1007 mbar (hPa; 29.74 inHg), roughly 85 mi (140 km) southeast of Santo Domingo.〔 Shortly after peaking in strength, Cindy began to interact with the mountains of nearby Hispaniola. The high terrain disrupted its circulation, causing it to weaken to a tropical depression around 2100 UTC on August 16. The depression made landfall near Barahona, Dominican Republic, with winds of 35 mph (55 km/h). It became increasingly disorganized over land, prompting the NHC to declassify it as a tropical cyclone on August 17. The remnants proceeded inland near the border with Haiti and emerged into the Atlantic, where they spread across the Bahamas before eventually dissipating 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「Tropical Storm Cindy (1993)」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
|