Stan developed from Tropical Depression Twenty in the Caribbean Sea. This image represents the average composite sea surface temperature (SST) derived from NOAA satellite AVHRR data over the 7 days ending 3 October 2005. The averaging is done to remove clouds. The temperature scale for SST is 26C to 32C. The track of Stan is overlaid on this image.

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As early as October 6, a broad cyclonic circulation formed between the Cayman Islands and Honduras along the tail of an old frontal boundary. A tropical wave moved across the Caribbean Sea, becoming convectively active on the 4th, and interacting with the area of broad low pressure by the 7th. Diffluent northerly flow over the system led to further development, and convective banding improved. By late on the 7th it had become a tropical depression east of Nicaragua. By late the next day, it became a tropical storm which was moving northward towards the Yucatan channel. After turning westward, hurricane strength was achieved on the 10th. Becoming a major hurricane by mid-afternoon on the 10th, the cyclone struck the Yucatan peninsula and tracked westward into the Bay of Campeche while retaining hurricane strength. Briefly weakening to a tropical storm, it became a hurricane again by the 14th before transcribing an anticyclonic loop and weakening back into a tropical depression. Weakening over upwelled waters from its previous passage over the region, Roxanne eventually sunk south-southwest into Mexico ahead of an advancing cold front. Below is its track, supplied by the National Hurricane Center.

<<Retired Hurricane

Tropical Storm Noel pounded the Dominican Republic with heavy rain as it passed over the island on October 28 and October 29, 2007. The rainfall flooded low-lying areas, such as the area shown in this pair of images. The top image was captured by the Advanced Spaceborne Thermal Emission and Reflection Radiometer (ASTER) flying onboard NASA’s Terra satellite on November 6, 2007. A comparison of this image with one ASTER took a year earlier reveals how damaging Tropical Storm Noel was to the region.

On Saturday, Nov. 3, as Noel moved northward to Canada, it brought heavy rains and 85 mph gusts to Cape Cod, Massachusetts downing trees and power lines and causing outages. Up to 50,000 residents were without power.

Noel started affecting Canada on Saturday afternoon, Nov. 3 as strong winds and rain moved into southwestern Canadian Maritimes. By Saturday night and Sunday, Noel moved into eastern Canada. The fringes of Noel even brought snow to northwestern New Brunswick, southeastern Québec and Labrador.

During the early morning hours of Sunday, Nov. 4, Noel’s center reached the southwest coast of Nova Scotia, packing maximum sustained winds of 140 km/hr (86 mph). Noel’s hurricane-force winds downed trees and power lines and caused 170,000 people to lose power throughout Nova Scotia, Canada. By Sunday afternoon the storm was over Labrador and fully extra-tropical in nature.

The Canadian Hurricane Centre reported rainfall amounts and maximum wind gusts in towns through New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, Prince Edward Island and other areas. In New Brunswick, the town of Meadowbrook reported the greatest amount of rainfall at 112.3 mm (4.4 inches). The town of Moncton reported the strongest maximum wind gust at 96 km/hour (60 mph).

Nova Scotia had the most consistent reports of high winds, many towns reporting sustained winds over 100 km/hour (62 mph). Some of those include: Baccaro Point with 126 km/hour gusts (78 mph); McNabs Island with 135 km/hour gusts (83 mph), Halifax with 113 km/hour gusts (70 mph); Caribou Point with gusts to 122 km/hour (76 mph); Beaver Island peaking at 137 km/hour (85 mph); and the strongest winds at Grand Etang at 146 km/hour (91 mph).

On Prince Edward Island, two towns, North Point and East Point, reported maximum wind gusts to 111 km/hour (69 mph). Meanwhile, Grindstone Island, one of the Magdalen Islands reported a maximum wind gust of 115 km (72 mph). hour, with 26.6 mm (1.04 inches) of rainfall.

By 6:00 p.m. Atlantic Standard Time on Nov. 4, the Canadian Hurricane Centre of Environment Canada had issued its last bulletin on Noel. At that time, Noel had become “completely extratropical.”

<<Retired Hurricane

A tropical wave moved through the Cape Verde Islands on September 6. It formed as a tropical depression on the 11th and reached hurricane intensity 3-4 days later to the north of the Leeward Islands. The cyclone turned northwest towards North Carolina, reaching category 3 strength. Weakening as it reached the coast,Ione made landfall as a category one hurricane before recurving back out into the Atlantic near Norfolk,Virginia. At the time it made landfall, it was the third hurricane for North Carolina in six weeks and the fourth in 11 months. Rainfall data for the graphics below was provided by the National Climatic Data Center in Asheville, North Carolina. Note how the maximum occurred to the west of the track as it moved through North Carolina.

<<Retired Hurricane

A weak tropical depression moved off the coast of Africa on the morning of September 18th. It moved westward through the tropical Atlantic. Further development finally commenced by the afternoon of the
24th, when the system had become a tropical storm several hundred miles east of Martinique. Slowing down its westward progression, strengthening continued, and Inez developed into a hurricane by the morning of the 26th.

Inez moved west-northwest, directly over Guadeloupe as a category 3 hurricane and was a storm of small diameter with hurricane force winds only extending 50 miles from the center. Intensification resumed across the eastern Caribbean, where the system reached category 5 status about 160 miles southwest of San Juan. Striking the Barahona Peninsula of the Dominican Republic around noon on the 9th, Inez rapidly weakened. Intensifying rapidly after leaving Hispanola, Inez hit Cuba near Guantanamo City on the morning of the 30th as a category 4 hurricane. Moving along the southern coast of the island for a time, it moved across Central Cuba around the 1st and continued a slow recurvature into the northwest Bahamas.

The high pressure ridge built in across the Gulf of Mexico, and Inez turned to the west-southwest, moving over all the Keys from Key Largo to Key West, and brushed to northern coast of the Yucatan Peninsula. It briefly turned northwest in the Gulf of Mexico as the ridge weakened, but rising pressures across south Texas turned the system back to the west-southwest to just north of Tampico on the morning of the 10th.The graphics belowshow the storm total rainfall for Inez. Data was provided by the National Climatic Data Center in Asheville, North Carolina.

<<Retired Hurricane