Hurricane Claudette (2003)
Claudette was the first hurricane to make landfall in the United States since Hurricane Danny in the 1997 season. The hurricane caused two deaths and moderate damage in Texas, mostly from strong winds, as well as extensive beach erosion. Claudette also caused significant rainfall and minor damage in the Mexican state of Quintana Roo as a tropical storm.
About Hurricane Claudette (2003) in brief
Claudette was the first hurricane to make landfall in the United States since Hurricane Danny in the 1997 season. The hurricane caused two deaths and moderate damage in Texas, mostly from strong winds, as well as extensive beach erosion. Claudette also caused significant rainfall and minor damage in the Mexican state of Quintana Roo as a tropical storm. The storm finally lost its low-level circulation early on July 17 over Chihuahua, although its rainfall and upper-level winds continued into the Southern Pacific Ocean. It was the third tropical storm and first hurricane of the 2003 Atlantic hurricane season. It became a Category 1 hurricane on the Saffir-Simpson Hurricane Scale just prior to making landfall in Port O’Connor, Texas, on July 15, as a Category 1 hurricane with 90 mph winds. Inland hurricane warnings were issued for several counties away from the coastline and winds gusted to 83 mph at Victoria Regional Airport. Residents along and inland of the central Texas coast were caught off guard both by its intensity and its time of arrival. It maintained tropical storm intensity for over 24 hours after landfall, a rarity for such a weak storm; most tropical systems weaken rapidly after landfall.
The Mexican government declared a state of emergency in the projected path of the storm, and declared an evacuation order for 1,500 citizens in QuintANA Roo. It weakened just before landfall to a hurricane warning about a day before landfall, but was downgraded when it weakened just 13 hours prior to its landfall in Yucatán Peninsula. It is the only hurricane to have made landfall in July in the U.S. in the last 20 years, and the first in the Atlantic Ocean since Hurricane Katrina in 2005. It also caused minor damage on Saint Lucia before developing into a tropical cyclone. It moved quickly westward, brushing past the Yuc atán Peninsula before moving northwestward through the Gulf of Mexico. As slow as Claudette was to strengthen, it was also slow to dissipate over land. In response to a break in the subtropical ridge—a high-pressure ridge that often prevents tropical systems from moving northward—it turned to the west-northwest. It reached hurricane status for six hours on July 10, but soon after, the storm encountered unfavorable upper- level winds and weakened back into a Tropical Storm Claudette. It made its first landfall at Puerto Morelos on the Yuca at noon on July 11.
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This page is based on the article Hurricane Claudette (2003) published in Wikipedia (as of Dec. 05, 2020) and was automatically summarized using artificial intelligence.
