Everything about Hurricane Javier 2004 totally explained
Hurricane Javier was the tenth named storm and the sixth and final hurricane of the
2004 Pacific hurricane season. Javier was also the strongest hurricane of the 2004 season, with 150 mph (241 km/h) winds and a central pressure of 930 millibars. However, because of high
wind shear in the East Pacific, Javier weakened rapidly before making landfall in
Baja California as a
tropical depression. The remnants of the storm then continued moving northeast through the
Southwestern United States. Javier caused no direct fatalities, and the damage in
Mexico and the
United States was minimal.
Storm history
The origins of Javier was from a tropical wave that moved off the coast of
Africa on
August 29. The disturbance crossed the
Atlantic Ocean without further development due to unfavorable conditions. The
tropical wave then combined with another low pressure system near the
Leeward Islands and the two systems continued to move westward across the
Caribbean Sea. The storm crossed
Central America on
September 9 where it gained a better convection. On
September 10, the disturbance became Tropical Depression 13-E at 1800 UTC. The next day, it strengthened into Tropical Storm Javier.
Weak
wind shear allowed Javier to reach hurricane strength on
September 12. Then the storm moved slowly to the west and northwest around a subtropical ridge that was centered over
Mexico. Javier then underwent rapid intensification as the storm reached a peak intensity of 150 mph (241 km/h) and a central pressure of 930 millibars.
Javier then developed a concentric eyewall before weakening to a
category 3 storm. Javier maintained
category 3 status for three days before encountering cooler waters which further weakened the storm. Javier then turned northward and then northeastward before making landfall in
Baja California as a
tropical depression on
September 19. The depression moved over
Guaymas,
Mexico before losing tropical characteristics. The remnants of Javier then moved over the rest of
Mexico and the
Southwestern United States.
Preparations
Javier's strength was difficult to forecast. In its formation stages many of the forecast models gave out a complex suggestions of where the storm should go. One of the models forecasted the storm to move west for a couple of days and then stall offshore and then turn east and hit western
Guatemala. The rapid intensification was also difficult to forecast compared to average forecast errors in a ten year period. Mexican officials began issuing tropical storm watches on
September 15 as Javier paralleled the west coast of
Mexico. The warnings for western mainland
Mexico were then dropped as the storm didn't recurve as predicted. However, more tropical storm warnings were issued for
Baja California and northwestern
Mexico as Javier was located 300 km southwest of
Baja California. Forecasters predicted that Javier will bring a
storm surge of 1-3 feet, rainfall of 3-6 inches (7.6-15.2 cm), and strong rip currents. The
National Hurricane Center, predicted that Javier will parallel the
Baja California coastline according to their forecast models and recurve as a weak storm and dissipate over the
Southwestern United States.
On
September 18, Mexican officials discontinued the warnings for
Baja California when Javier weakened to a tropical depression before making landfall.
Impact
Mexico
Winds up to tropical storm force were reported by ships at sea. On land, the storm dropped 3.14 inches (80 mm) of rain in
Bacanuchi,
Mexico. Javier's flooding rains damaged portions of highway 1 near
Vizcaino and three fishermen were reported missing when their ship was lost during the storm. In addition, oil prices began to climb when Javier passed through the area. However, overall damage in
Baja California was minimal.
United States
In
Arizona, the remnants of Javier dropped 3.3 inches (76 mm) of rain which helped the topsoil moisture and greatly affected a prolonged drought in the
Southwestern United States. In
Tucson, the airport received rainfall of 0.37 inches (93 mm) while the University of Arizona reported 0.89 inches (26 mm) of rain.
Lightning and rain from Javier delayed the University of Arizona Wildcats football game against the Wisconsin Badgers for 88 minutes late in the second quarter, and flooding closed several roads. The remnants of Javier also dropped 1-3 inches of rain across
Utah,
Colorado,
New Mexico,
Texas and the upper
Midwest.
Because the damage was very minimal, the
WMO didn't retire the name
Javier. So it remained on the list to be used for the
2010 Pacific hurricane season.
Further Information
Get more info on 'Hurricane Javier 2004'.
|
External Link Exchanges
Do you know how hard it is to get a link from a large encyclopaedia? Well we're different and will prove it. To get a link from us just add the following HTML to your site on a relevant page:
<a href="http://hurricane_javier__2004.totallyexplained.com">Hurricane Javier (2004) Totally Explained</a>
Then simply click through this link from your web page. Our crawlers will verify your link, extract the title of your web page and instantly add a link back to it. If you like you can remove the words Totally Explained and embed the link in article text.
As long as your link remains in place, we'll keep our link to you right here. Please play fair - our crawlers are watching. Your site must be closely related to this one's topic. Any kind of spamming, dubious practises or removing the link will result in your link from us being dropped and, potentially, your whole site being banned. |
