HURRICANE ISIDORE


This web page is about the rocky road that Hurricane Isidore has had to travel to become not only the seventh hurricane and ninth named storm of the year, but also the fifth major hurricane of the year. Hurricane Isidore formed under very difficult circumstances as it formed farther south of the major trough that had formed near the Cape Verde Islands.

Tracking West Northwestward over the warm waters of the eastern Atlantic, Isidore became a Tropical Storm within twelve hours of emerging on to the season as a Tropical Depression. Forming into a Hurricane, Isidore continued to strengthen since there was high pressure aloft. Nevertheless, Isidore has a huge obstacle course ahead as it tries to move to the west since there are stronger troughs in the Atlantic that tend to hinder such storms from making it westward from that far in the east.

Check out Isidore's storm history.

Take a look at the line of troughs Isidore dealt with.

Sneak a peek at the storm facts for Tropical Storm Marco.


STORM HISTORY


Hurricane Isidore certainly had the odds running against it when it first formed in the Atlantic just off the coast of Africa as a tropical wave. As we near the end of September, activity begins to wane in the Cape Verde region of the tropics, and as a result, many experts began to believe that after Hortense, we had seen the end of tropical development in the extreme eastern Atlantic. However, Isidore formed farther south than expected which helped it avoid a deepening trough near the Cape Verde islands which usually sheers apart storms that are trying to form in that region.

Moving in a direction toward the Carribbean islands, Isidore developed into a hurricane approximately 12 hours after it became a depression. Rapidly intensifying as high pressure was building aloft above the storm, Hurricane Isidore developed into a hurricane approximately 18 hours later on the evening of September 25th. By the morning of the 27th of September, Isidore had strengthened into the fifth major hurricane of the 1996 season with winds of 115 MPH. However, it still had many obstacles in its way before it stood a chance of making landfall in the United States or Carribbean.


AN OBSTACLE COURSE FULL OF TROUGHS


As you can see in the photo to the left, Isidore, at the time it had strengthened into the Category Three Monster it had become, was projected by the National Hurricane Center in Miami to begin a track more toward the north with occasional erratic motion to the west. The reason for this projected motion was due to a series of strong troughs in the Atlantic that are much stronger, and hold together longer in the Atlantic unlike what they can do during the summer months.

These troughs are probably going to pick up the storm much like the troughs that took care of Edouard and Hortense, but only much farther east in the Atlantic. So over the next day or so, Isidore will begin to track more northerly, and then to the east as it encounters the westerly winds of the middle lattitude regions.


STORM FACTS


Hurricane Isidore is the fifth major hurricane of the season with winds of 115 MPH. This season, we have already seen almost the same number of major hurricanes as we did last year, and we've only reached the end of September, and last year, there were many more named storms and hurricanes. Here's a look at some storm facts about Isidore.






COME ALONG TO SEE OTHER HURRICANES THIS SEASON


Want to see more on the hectic acitivity that is occurring in the tropics right now. Come see the web pages on Hurricanes Edouard, Fran, and Hortense. Edouard was the predecessor to Fran which created much havoc during the labor day weekend, and the week following all along the entire eastern seaboard, and then there was Hortense which caused a great deal of damage to the islands of Puerto Rico and Hispanola before curving out to sea.

Meanwhile, Hurricane Fausto created a great deal of havoc and widespread damage from the Baja of California to the Southwestern United States. Recently, Tropical Storm Josephine formed in the Gulf of Mexico, and created a lot of problems for residents of Northern Florida before losing its tropical characteristics, and becoming a nor'easter for the eastern seaboard. Last week, Hurricane Lili became the sixth major hurricane of the season as it cut across Cuba and the Bahamas.




RETURN TO INFORMATION INDEX


If you have seen plenty of information on the recent Hurricane Hortense, and want to see other areas with textual information on Hurricanes, please go to the following section:



If you have any questions or comments, please feel free to contact me at HurcTrack@aol.com.
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