Hurricane Andrew is a storm that originated from a tropical wave over the central Atlantic in 1992. It first started as a low-pressure system off the coast of Africa and seemed no different from many other atmospheric ripples that form every summer in this part of the world (Pimm, Stuart & Gary 19). However, the seemingly innocent weather system slowly gained enough strength and by August 16, 1992 Hurricane Andrew had grown into a significant tropical storm and officially given the name: "Andrew."
Shear from strong wind prevented intensification of the storm at first. However, the following day saw a decrease in shear, which allowed the strengthening of the depression thus becoming Tropical Storm Andrew. On August 18, convection associated with the storm diminished due to increase in wind shear. Andrew later headed westward due to the effect of a high-pressure system. It then increased rapidly before crossing Bahamas (Pimm, Stuart, & Gary 24). Andrew became category 5 hurricane 5 days after its start. Its system saw a decrease in its system thus dropped to a category 4 hurricane. However, it re-intensified into a category 5 hurricane a day later before landing on Florida, Elliot Key, and Homestead.
Hurricane Andrew came into view in the Gulf of Mexico as a category 4 hurricane and slowly turned northward in the direction of the United States' Gulf Coast. Before reaching Louisiana, Hurricane Andrew decreased in strength becoming a Category 3 hurricane. Hurricane Andrew was a category 4 storm with a persisted speed of 225km/hr. At Louisiana, Hurricane Andrew had wind speeds of 200km/hr and passed the central Gulf Coast of United States with a speed of 225km/hr (Pimm, Stuart & Gary 21). It had a wind speed of 225km/hr while passing across the Gulf of Mexico. During the start, the wave was moving westward at 20kt. On 20th August, surface wind speeds increased to 40kt while the wind speeds at an altitude of 1500ft were 70kt. Its maximum surface speed winds around Florida were 125kt.
Path it took
Hurricane Andrew initially started from the coast of Africa on August 14, 1992. High-pressure ridge on its northern side made the wave move westward. Its speed increased up to 80km/hr and eventually spiral bands caused the wave to turn northwest. High pressure cells in the southeastern U.S. resulted to the change of direction of Hurricane towards the west. It reached the east-southeast of Bahamas on August 22 and later landed in Florida with wind speeds of 169km/h (Pimm, Stuart & Gary 22). Favorable conditions accelerated Hurricane Andrew in the westward, therefore, intensifying it. On August 23, Hurricane Andrew became category 5 hurricane with the highest wind speeds of 280km/h before reaching Bahamas. The cyclone weakened when crossing the banks of Bahamas before hitting the islands of Berry in Bahamas with winds of 240km/h. Hurricane Andrew hit Elliot Key with winds of 266km/h on August 24 and later hit Florida. Homestead was its next path some few minutes after hitting Florida.
Increased convergence caused the convection in the eyewall to increase while the eye was moving onshore in Florida. Hurricane Andrew crossed Florida using fours before appearing in the Gulf of Mexico with wind speeds of 217km/h. It turned west-northwest as its eye was still well defined. This change was because of weakening of its northern ridge. Decrease in its high-pressure system made the hurricane decelerate toward the northwest as it was approaching the Gulf Coast of the United States. It later landed at Louisiana at a place with less population west-southwest of the City of Morgan. On August 27, Hurricane Andrew, while entering Mississippi, weakened significantly when turning north and northeast thus becoming a tropical storm in a matter of hours (Pimm, Stuart & Gary 23). It accelerated northeastward as the depression started merging with the frontal system approaching it, and by noon August 28, Hurricane did not meet the requirements of a tropical cyclone. Its remaining followed the northeast direction before losing its character in the frontal zone of the states of Mid-Atlantic.
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