Annual Weather Summaries in Monthly Weather Review

Annual Weather Summaries in Monthly Weather Review

Max Mayfield
and
Miles B. Lawrence

Abstract

The 1990 hurricane season is summarized, including accounts of individual storms. Fourteen tropical stormswere tracked of which eight became hurricanes. Only one storm, Marco, hit the United States.

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Lixion A. Avila

Abstract

The 1991 hurricane season produced 76 tropical waves of which 12 became tropical depressions. African seedlings initiated 10 of the 14 named Atlantic storms and all of the eastern Pacific tropical cyclones. A comparison with previous years is presented.

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Lixion A. Avila

Abstract

The 1990 eastern Pacific hurricane season is summarized. Twenty tropical storms were tracked of which 16 became hurricanes. Hurricanes Hernan and Trudy were among the strongest ever observed in this area. Rachel was the only system to make landfall.

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John A. Augustine
and
Kenneth W. Howard

Abstract

Infrared imagery from GOES was used to document mesoscale convective complexes (MCCs) over the United States during 1986 and 1987. A near-record 58 MCCs occurred in 1986, and 44 occurred in 1987. Although these totals were above average relative to MCC numbers of the 7 years prior to 1985, seasonal distributions for both years were atypical. Particularly, each had an extended period (∼3 weeks) when no MCCs occurred in late spring and early summer, a time when the mean MCC seasonal distribution peaks. This peculiarity was investigated by comparing mean large-scale surface and upper-air environments of null- and active-MCC periods of both years. Results confirmed the primary importance to MCC development of strong low-level thermal forcing, as well as proper vertical phasing of favorable lower- and midtropospheric environments.

A cursory survey of MCCs documented outside of the United States reveals that MCCs, or MCC-type storms, are a warm-season phenomenon of midlatitude, subtropical, and low-latitude regions around the globe. They have been documented in South America, Mexico, Europe, West Africa, and China. These storm systems are similar to United States MCCs in that they are nocturnal, persist for over 10 h, tend to develop within weak synoptic-scale dynamics in response to strong low-level thermal forcing and conditional instability, and occur typically downwind (midlevel) of elevated terrain. It is surmised that MCCs probably occur over other parts of the midlatitudes, subtropics, and low latitudes that have yet to be surveyed.

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Bob Case
and
Max Mayfield

Abstract

A general overview of the 1989 hurricane season is presented. Eleven named tropical cyclones were tracked, seven of which reached hurricane strength. Three hurricanes and a tropical storm struck the U.S. mainland. The large Cape Verde-type hurricanes dominated the season for the second consecutive year as Hugo raked the islands of the northeast Caribbean and devastated portions of the Carolinas making it the costliest hurricane ever.

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Lixion A. Avila

Abstract

The 1989 season produced 63 African waves, 15 tropical depressions and 11 tropical storms, 7 of which became hurricanes. All of the tropical storms developed from African waves. A comparison with the past 22 years is included.

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Miles B. Lawrence

Abstract

The 1989 eastern Pacific hurricane season is summarized. Seventeen tropical storms were tracked, of which nine became hurricanes. Cosme, Kiko and Raymond made landfall in Mexico and ten deaths were attributed to Cosme from inland flash flooding.

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Miles B. Lawrence
and
James M. Gross

Abstract

The 1988 hurricane season is summarized, including accounts of individual storms. Twelve tropical storms were tracked, of which five became hurricanes Gilbert and Joan were devastating hurricanes in the Caribbean Sea and Gulf of Mexico, and Glibert's sea level pressure fell to a new record minimum for Atlantic hurricanes.

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Lixion A. Avila
and
Gilbert B. Clark

Abstract

.The 1988 season produced 62 tropical waves, 19 tropical depressions and 12 tropical storms, 5 of which became hurricanes. Eighty-three percent of the tropical storms developed from African waves. A comparison with the past 21 years is included.

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Edward W. Ferguson
,
Frederick P. Ostby
, and
Preston W. Leftwich Jr.

Abstract

A review of tornado activity in the United States during 1986 is presented. Annual statistics are compared with both recent and long-term values. Month-by-month highlights of tornado events are summarized. Meteorological patterns associated with four noteworthy tornado outbreaks are examined.

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