Hurricane Lenny

Hurricane Lenny

Hurricane Lenny formed on November 13 in the western Caribbean Sea. It attained hurricane status south of Jamaica on November 15 and passed south of Hispaniola and Puerto Rico over the next few days. On November 17, Lenny rapidly intensified over the northeastern Caribbean, attaining peak winds of 155 mph about 21 mi south of Saint Croix. It gradually weakened while moving through the Leeward Islands, eventually dissipating on November 23 over the open Atlantic Ocean. The hurricane killed three people and destroyed more than 200 properties on Saint Martin, Antigua and Barbuda, and Grenada.

About Hurricane Lenny in brief

Summary Hurricane LennyHurricane Lenny is tied with 2001’s Michelle as the fourth strongest November Atlantic hurricane on record. It was the twelfth tropical storm, eighth hurricane, and record-breaking fifth Category 4 hurricane in the 1999 Atlantic hurricane season. Lenny formed on November 13 in the western Caribbean Sea and maintained an unprecedented west-to-east track for its entire duration. It attained hurricane status south of Jamaica on November 15 and passed south of Hispaniola and Puerto Rico over the next few days. On November 17, Lenny rapidly intensified over the northeastern Caribbean, attaining peak winds of 155 mph about 21 mi south of Saint Croix in the United States Virgin Islands. It gradually weakened while moving through the Leeward Islands, eventually dissipating on November 23 over the open Atlantic Ocean. The hurricane killed three people and destroyed more than 200 properties on Saint Martin, Antigua and Barbuda, and Grenada. The highest precipitation total was 34. 12 in at the police station on the French side of Saint Martin. Strong winds and rainfall resulted in heavy crop damage in southeastern Puerto Rico. Despite the hurricane’s passage near Saint CroIX at peak intensity, damage on the small island was only described as’moderate’, although there was widespread flooding and erosion. The storm caused about USD 330 million in damage in the U.S. territories. It also killed two people in northern Colombia, where high surf isolated towns from the capital city. It caused heavy rainfall in portions of Mexico and Central America, producing heavy rainfall as far south as Grenada, where the storm damage was reported as high as 34.2 in.

It became a Category 4 hurricane while approaching Puerto Rico while approaching the islands. It developed well-defined banding features, a circular eye that was visible from the radar in San Juan, Puerto Rico, and a closed eye surrounded by a closed closed circle. It continued to become better organized, with an eye 29 mi in diameter in the closed area of the storm. It weakened to a Category 3 hurricane while the hurricane passed south of Hispaniola. It then dissipated over the Atlantic Ocean on November 24, after becoming a Category 4 hurricane on the Saffir-Simpson Hurricane Scale. It is the fifth strongest hurricane of the 1999 hurricane season, behind the 1932 Cuba hurricane, 2020 Hurricanes Iota and Eta, and the 2000 Hurricane Iota. The tropical cyclone maintained a track from west to east across the Caribbean Sea, which was unprecedented in the Atlantic hurricane database, earning it the nicknames \”Left-Hand Lenny\” and \”Wrong Way Lenny\”. The path resulted from its movement along the southern end of a trough over the western Atlantic Ocean, which provided favorable conditions for the storm’s development. After its formation, the depression gradually became better organized; the NHC upgraded it to Tropical Storm Lenny on November 14, based on reports from the Hurricane Hunters. After moving east-southeastward during its initial development stages, the hurricane turned more to the east on Nov 15.