ANNUAL SUMMARY: Atlantic Hurricane Season of 2001

Abstract

The 2008 Atlantic hurricane season is summarized and the year's tropical cyclones are described. Sixteen named storms formed in 2008. Of these, eight became hurricanes with five of them strengthening into major hurricanes (category 3 or higher on the Saffir-Simpson hurricane scale). There was also one tropical depression that did not attain tropical storm strength. These totals are above the long-term means of 11 named storms, 6 hurricanes, and 2 major hurricanes. The 2008 Atlantic basin tropical cyclones produced significant impacts from the Greater Antilles to the Turks and Caicos Islands as well as along portions of the U.S. Gulf Coast. Hurricanes Gustav, Ike, and Paloma hit Cuba, as did Tropical Storm Fay. Haiti was hit by Gustav and adversely affected by heavy rains from Fay, Ike, and Hanna. Paloma struck the Cayman Islands as a major hurricane, while Omar was a major hurricane when it passed near the northern Leeward Islands. Six consecutive cyclones hit the United States, including Hurricanes Dolly, Gustav, and Ike. The death toll from the Atlantic tropical cyclones is approximately 750.A verification of National Hurricane Center official forecasts during 2008 is also presented. Official track forecasts set records for accuracy at all lead times from 12 to 120 h, and forecast skill was also at record levels for all lead times. Official intensity forecast errors in 2008 were below the previous 5-yr mean errors and set records at 72-120 h.

A Model Study of Gravity Waves over Hurricane Humberto (2001)

“…Humberto was observed in September 2001 during the fourth field campaign in the National Aeronautics and Space Administration's (NASA's) Convection and Moisture Experiment series (CAMEX-4) (Kakar et al 2006). Humberto became a category 2 storm at its maximum intensity on 24 September 2001 (Beven et al 2003). Humberto is simulated for tropical storm and hurricane stages on 22 September 2001 and 24 September 2001, respectively.…”

The Collaborative Colorado–Nebraska Unmanned Aircraft System Experiment

“…As noted in Table 1, many of the atmospheric science research projects utilizing UAS are conducted over the oceans (e.g., Holland et al 2001;Curry et al 2004;Corrigan et al 2006;Lin 2006;Halverson et al 2007;Beven et al 2008), where the probability of encountering general aviation aircraft is low and the risk to people and property on the surface is nearly nonexistent. Of the projects that have been conducted over land, only the ARM-UAV project in the mid1990s, ACES in 2002, the Kauai coffee plantation surveillance project in 2002 (Herwitz et al 2004), and the Western States Fire Mission in 2007 have been conducted in the NAS.…”

“…Prior to the execution of CoCoNUE, only a handful of projects had used UAS for data collection within mesoscale phenomena (e.g., Holland et al 2001;Schafer et al 2001;Lin 2006;Beven et al 2008). Of these, only the Maritime Continent Thunderstorm Experiment (Schafer et al 2001) and the Port Hedland trial (Holland et al 2001) were conducted over land.…”

What we have lost and cannot become: societal outcomes of coastal erosion in southern Belize

“…Women have fewer employment options, mostly engaging in domestic work but also in the school, shops, or restaurants. MRV was severely affected by Hurricane Iris in 2001, which destroyed up to 90% of the village's built structures, including beach properties that were at risk from erosion (Beven et al 2003). …”