"Hurricane Erin "
1-3 August 1995

Erin formed from a tropical wave that crossed from the coast of Africa to the eastern Atlantic Ocean on 22 July 1995. By the 27th, there was deep convection in the system a few hundred miles NE of the Leeward Islands. Until the 30th, the storm's intensification was retarded by wind shear associated with an upper low over Florida. From reconnaisance information, the system became Tropical Storm Erin on 0000Z on the 31st, which can be seen on a GOES-EAST visible image of Erin.

As Erin formed over the Bahamas, the system quickly intensified into a hurricane. Erin went onshore over east central Florida, causing more problems from rain than winds. As the storm crossed Florida and entered the Gulf of Mexico, it took about a day to regain hurricane strength. Once it did, it moved quickly inland over Pensacola, FL, shown here in this radar image. The storm system was now more organized and wind damage was more extensive over the panhandle. Winds were around 85 knots in a small area of the eyewall when it came ashore.

There were no deaths reported in the Bahamas or Florida, though there were 6 deaths from drowning in adjacent waters. All Bahamas islands from Mayaguana to Grand Bahama suffered only minor damage. The total U.S. loss estimated by the National Hurricane Center was $700,000.

Case Study 03