2007 Hurricane Season Review

This hurricane season was a typical year in terms of how many named storms developed in the Atlantic basin. But the storms were not as intense as usual. Several dissipated very quickly or never fully developed into hurricanes. Overall, 15 tropical storms formed, six storms became hurricanes and two of these were major hurricanes with winds over 110 mph. These numbers are close to the long-term averages.

The season started off early with Subtropical Storm Andrea forming May 9 off the northeast coast of Florida. Andrea stayed offshore and was a tropical storm for less than 24 hours.

Hurricane season officially begins on June 1, and Tropical Storm Barry developed on the second day of the season in the eastern Gulf of Mexico. The circulation was a tropical storm for less than 24 hours and weakened to a depression before moving ashore near Tampa.

The tropics were quiet for over six weeks before Tropical Storm Chantal developed in the Atlantic Ocean, about 100 miles east of the North Carolina coast. Again, the winds were above 39 mph for less than 24 hours. Chantal developed and dissipated over open water.

The first real storm of the season was Hurricane Dean which developed in the deep tropics on August 13. A week later, the storm moved into the eastern Caribbean and strengthened into a major, category three hurricane. Dean stayed at category four strength with winds 145-150 mph for over two days as it tracked just south of Jamaica. The storm strengthened to a category five hurricane with 165 mph winds just as it slammed ashore near Chetumal in the Yucatan peninsula. Dean weakened while over land but strengthened back to category two strength before the second landfall between Veracruz and Tampico, Mexico on August 22.

During this same time period, Tropical Storm Erin developed in the central Gulf of Mexico. Like the first three storms of the season, Erin was a tropical storm for less than 24 hours. But Erin was a wide storm and the outer feeder bands brought heavy rain to southeast Texas. Over 9" of rain fell in eastern Harris County causing widespread street flooding. Creeks and bayous also flooded. Over 400 homes and 100 apartment units were flooded, mainly around Pasadena and La Porte. Three people died from the storm.

Hurricane Felix developed on September 1 just east of the Windward Islands. Felix moved quickly across the Caribbean Sea, just south of where Dean had tracked just two weeks earlier. The storm strengthened to a category five hurricane as it made landfall in Nicaragua.

Just after Labor Day, Tropical Storm Gabrielle developed between Bermuda and the East Coast. The storm brushed the North Carolina coast on September 9.

Hurricane Humberto was one for the record books. The storm developed just south of Galveston and strengthened from a tropical depression to a category one hurricane in less than 24 hours. Humberto made landfall near High Island on September 13. Winds estimated by the National Weather Service to be about 70-90 mph caused over $1 million in damage around High Island and along Bolivar Peninsula.  Five homes were completely destroyed and another 79 homes were damaged. Many trees and power lines were also downed along Highway 87. The high school and several businesses in High Island were also damaged by the west side of the eyewall.

Tropical Storms Ingrid and Jerry, and Hurricane Karen all developed and dissipated over the open water of the Atlantic Ocean.

In late September Hurricane Lorenzo developed over the Bay of Campeche. The storm drifted for a couple of days before making landfall in central Mexico, near where Hurricane Dean blew ashore a month earlier.

Tropical Storm Melissa developed about the same time in the far eastern Atlantic, just southwest of the Cape Verde Islands. That storm also dissipated over open water.

The tropics were quiet for about four weeks and then suddenly Hurricane Noel popped up south of Hispaniola. Noel was a slow moving storm and dumped heavy rain on Haiti, the Dominican Republic and Cuba. Flooding killed 115 people. Over 24,000 people were evacuated in Cuba and about 2000 homes were damaged by flood waters. The storm eventually moved through the Bahamas and dissipated.

Altogether, four storms made U.S. landfall: Barry, Erin, Gabrielle and Humberto. Tropical Depression #10 brought rain to the Florida panhandle but never reached tropical storm strength.

Hurricane forecast issued at the beginning of the season by NOAA correctly predicted the number of tropical storms. But fewer hurricanes and major hurricanes developed than forecast because many of the tropical storms did not strengthen or weakened after they developed. The forecast from Dr. William Gray was off by three storms.

The National Hurricane Center writes a comprehensive report on each storm that develops. You can read the reports on the NHC website.

*Subtropical Storm Olga developed in early December, bringing the season total to 15 tropical storms.

Comments

[Randy Major]

Tim,,,,
Just out of curosity, how can the NHC call Chantal and Jerry "Tropical Storms" since they formed and were never nearer The Tropics than 1000's of miles. Seem like they were stretching for named storms to try and make their forecast...........Randy (Pearland Storm Spotter)

RESPONSE from Tim Heller: Both storms had warm cores, which is the structure of a tropical weather system. By comparison, Andrea had cold temperatures in the core of the storm so it was classified a "subtropical storm."

[Randy MAjor]

Seems like storms used to not get a name until they were actually a Cat1 Hurricane. Between the Tropical Depression formation and the actually Hurricane, they always just had a number. Thanks for the prompt reply.......Randy

RESPONSE from Tim Heller: Numbers are assigned to tropical depressions. When the winds from a closed circulation exceed 39 mph, the storm is classified as a Tropical Storms and given a name at that time to help with tracking.