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