Hurricane Adolph (2001)

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Hurricane Adolph (2001)

Category 4 hurricane (SSHS)

Hurricane Adolph near peak intensity.

Formed

May 25, 2001

Dissipated

June 1, 2001

Highest
winds

230 km/h (145 mph) (1-minute sustained)

Lowest pressure

940 hPa (mbar)

Fatalities

None

Damage

None

Areas
affected

Mexico

Part of the
2001 Pacific hurricane season

This article is about the Pacific hurricane of 2001; for other storms of the same name, see Hurricane Adolph.

Hurricane Adolph was the first depression, tropical storm, hurricane, and major hurricane of the 2001 Pacific hurricane season. When this storm formed, it became only the second time that two consecutive East Pacific hurricane seasons (2000-01) had named storms develop in May since hurricane records began in the basin (1983-84 was the first). After rapidly intensifying, Adolph became the most powerful storm in terms of wind speed this season, along with Hurricane Juliette.^[1] Despite only briefly threatening land, the name was later removed from use.

Adolph was noteworthy for being the first and so far the only East Pacific hurricane in May to reach Category 4 strength since record keeping began in the East Pacific and for the reasons behind the name's eventual removal.^[2]

1 Storm history
2 Impact, Records, and Naming
3 See also
4 References
5 External links

[edit] Storm history

Storm path

On May 7, a tropical wave left the coast of Africa. The wave moved across the Atlantic Ocean without showing little signs of development until May 18, when a low pressure center began organizing along the wave over Costa Rica and Panama. The low entered the Pacific Ocean on May 22, and Dvorak classifications began two days later. At first the system was disorganized, but convection quickly concentrated near the center, and on May 25 the disturbance developed into Tropical Depression 1-E while located about 250 miles south-southwest of Acapulco, Mexico.^[3]

MODIS image of Hurricane Adolph on May 27

The newly numbered depression moved very slowly due to weak steering currents aloft,^[4] resulting in an atypical track towards the east-northeast. Because of these weak steering conditions, the models used to predict the movement of the depression varied greatly, with one predicting an eventual Mexican landfall.^[5] Located in conditions ideal for tropical development, it formed a cold central dense overcast^[6] and steadily intensified to become Tropical Storm Adolph on May 26 about 225 miles south-southwest of Acapulco while in a low shear environment with warm sea surface temperatures.^[7] Adolph turned northward on May 27, a turn influenced by a mid-level ridge building to the storm's east and southeast^[8], and approached Mexico. A banding eye feature became apparent on satellite imagery. Convection around the eye deepened while the eye became more pronounced, and Adolph was upgraded to hurricane strength on May 27. On May 28 the hurricane passed within roughly 165 miles of the Mexican coastline the next day, its closest approach to land. Shortly thereafter, Adolph turned westward under the influence of a mid-tropospheric ridge.^[3] The high upper oceanic heat content, good outflow, and lack of vertical shear^[9] allowed the hurricane to begin rapid intensification, dropping 1.46 mbar per hour^[2] while retracting in size^[9] and within 30 hours after becoming a hurricane, Adolph reached its peak strength of 145 mph.^[3] Dvorak classifications reported a T-number of 7.0 to this hurricane, equivalent to 160 mph maximum sustained winds or Category 5 strength.^[2] However, because of a lack of reconnaisance data from the storm, these strength measurements may be disputed.^[10]

After peaking in intensity, Adolph weakened while decelerating westward due to an eyewall replacement cycle; by May 30, the winds dropped to 115 mph as the eyewall filled with clouds and became less distinct.^[11] The trend of weakening continued as the eye definition and convection oscillated in presentation.^[2] On June 1 Adolph deteriorated into a tropical storm as convection became far removed from the increasingly elongated center.^[12] As the storm passed over increasingly colder waters and into an area of stable air, the system weakened more quickly, and dissipated on June 1 while located about 460 miles south-southwest of Baja California.^[13] The remaining clouds persisted for a few days before dissipating entirely.^[3]

[edit] Impact, Records, and Naming

TRMM Satellite image showing the rainfall distribution in Hurricane Adolph

Though Adolph never moved ashore, its close approach to land as well as its slow, unpredictable movement^[14] resulted in the issuance of a tropical storm warning and hurricane watch for southern Mexico around the time when Adolph attained major hurricane strength. The threat for heavy rainfall was mentioned for areas^[15] from Puerto Angel to Zihuatanejo when Adolph was a depression^[16] and later from Acapulco to Lazaro Cardenas.^[17] The government of Mexico expressed concern that rain and 13 foot waves waves from Adolph would affect Oaxaca, Colima, Jalisco, Michoacan, and Guerrero,^[18] threatening agriculture in these regions.^[19]

Despite the tropical storm warning and forecasts, no tropical storm force winds from Adolph were reported on land; the only reported tropical storm force winds were given by a ship called the Seurat, which recorded sustained winds of 45 mph on May 29.^[20] The hurricane was responsible for the closure of ports in Acapulco to small vessels.^[21], Outside of some reports of rain and heavy surf,^[2] no reports of casualties or damages were received in connection with the storm.^[3]

When Adolph reached Category 4 strength on May 29, it became the strongest hurricane to form in the East Pacific basin in May. Coincidentally, the previous record holder for strongest May hurricane, in 1983 with 110 mph winds, was also named "Adolph".^[2] Adolph also became the only May hurricane to reach Category 3 and 4 strength.^[3]^[2]

Despite never having made landfall as well as no reported damages anywhere, the name Adolph was removed from the list of hurricane names after this season for political reasons. The given reason is that the name was retired because of connections to Adolf Hitler. The name submitted to replace Adolph is Alvin.

The World Meteorological Organization received intense criticism for using both Adolph and Israel during the season, mostly from Jewish leaders who called the use of the names "bizarre", "stupid", and "insensitive".^[22] In fact, the President of the WMO Regional Association IV-which monitors this basin-consulted committee members during the season and removed Israel as a consensus, but because Adolph had already been used for this storm, the removal of the name had to wait until the 24th Session of the WMO Committee that oversaw the basin.^[13]