10 years ago: Hurricane Georges

[HurricaneBill]

Hurricane Georges NHC Report

Hurricane Georges - Wikipedia

[HurricaneBill]

Jim Leonard intercepts Georges in Luquillo, Puerto Rico

Jim Leonard intercepts Georges in Key West, Florida

[cycloneye]

Here you can see the eye of Hurricane Georges as it crossed Puerto Rico from East to West.

[Category 5]

I remember, it was in the GOM before there was any agreement on the pronunciation.

A horrible storm for sure, one of two in a horrible 1998 season.

[jinftl]

what a consistent track to the wnw georges had! i remember georges gave miami/fort lauderdale quite a scare at the time....i was living in miami lakes and one of the tornadoes related to georges actually passed over the apartment complex i was living in...lots of trees down in the immediate area.

Hurricane Georges NHC Report

Hurricane Georges - Wikipedia

[HurricaneBill]

Cycloneye, those radar images definitely show how Georges got his act together prior to crossing Puerto Rico. Look how disorganized the eye is and then how quickly it improves.

Georges was the first hurricane to move east to west across the entire island of Puerto Rico since 1932.

[gilbert88]

How can a hurricane survive all those landfalls (including crossing Hispaniola east to west) without becoming a tropical storm?

[Aslkahuna]

Georges was a large storm and much of the circulation remained over water which compensated in part for the core being overland. Additionally the outflow of the storm was and remained very well developed which allowed rapid reintensification when the storm crossed the passages between the islands.

Steve

[jinftl]

excerpts from nhc report on hurricane georges:

The hurricane moved inland over Puerto Rico and weakened slightly and then moved into the Mona Passage early on the 22nd. Georges began to re-intensify while over the Mona Passage and made landfall later that morning in the Dominican Republic, about 75 n mi east of Santo Domingo with estimated sustained surface winds of 105 knots.

During the next 21 hours Georges weakened as it moved slowly across the mountainous terrain of the Dominican Republic and Haiti, where it produced copious rains resulting in deadly flash floods and mud slides. The system emerged into the Windward Passage on the morning of the 23rd with 65 knot maximum winds. Georges changed little before making landfall in eastern Cuba later that afternoon, about 25 n mi east of Guantanamo Bay. The system retained hurricane status while moving slowly west-northwestward across the northern coast of Cuba, exiting the northern coast by late afternoon on the 24th. Satellite imagery showed that the system retained a fairly impressive upper-level outflow pattern during its crossing of both Hispaniola and Cuba.

Once back over water, the hurricane began to re-intensify.

http://www.nhc.noaa.gov/1998georges.html

There was even more uncertainty...and closer in...with georges than we have seen with recent storms like ike....proof perhaps that forecasting has improved much in even the last 10 years...from NHC discussion on Georges

ON THIS TRACK GEORGES WILL BE MOVING OVER EASTERN CUBA AND THEREAFTER IS EXPECTED TO MOVE OVER FLORIDA STRAITS OR SOUTH FLORIDA BETWEEN 36 AND 48 HOURS.

I AM NOT PLEASED TO PUT UP A HURRICANE WATCH FOR SOUTH FLORIDA WITH
SO MUCH UNCERTAINTY...BUT AM DOING SO AS A STRATEGY OF LEAST REGRET.

How can a hurricane survive all those landfalls (including crossing Hispaniola east to west) without becoming a tropical storm?

[TSmith274]

This was the storm that many engineers believe that, in retrospect, "softened up" the floodwalls along the outfall canals in New Orleans... making way for Katrina to finish them off 7 years later. There was a whole lot of water in Lake Pontchartrain during Georges, that's for sure. I remember it well.

[weatherwindow]

went thru georges on lower sugarloaf key..mm 18...neighbor had a decent model davis weather station...gusted to 106 at 9am 9/25..quite an experience....rich

[Agua]

Eye passed right over the house. Furious winds for a long, long time. I understand the center stayed just offshore and pounded us with the eyewall for several hours.

[micktooth]

My first evacuation! I remember it well. No contraflow,stuck in traffic in Baton Rouge because LSU was still playing a football game while NOLA was being evacuated! The region has come a long way since Georges as far as evacuations go.

[fasterdisaster]

Georges I believe holds the record for most landfalls ever recorded? I believe he made seven, Antigua, St. Croix, Puerto Rico, Hispaniola, Cuba, Key West, and Mississippi.

[Gustywind]

Georges I believe holds the record for most landfalls ever recorded? I believe he made seven, Antigua, St. Croix, Puerto Rico, Hispaniola, Cuba, Key West, and Mississippi.

8 don't forget my island of GUADELOUPE guy it was as if....landfall has not existed but it was a landfall officially

[Gustywind]

Guadeloupe was George's first guest predicted stronger than HUGO in 1989, i remembered one day before, the forecasts have predicted waves at 15 meters guys in Guadeloupe, awfull, amazing , and fear inked in your skin, hopefully waves was not at this range but close to 4/5 6 meters.... lol.

[Ptarmigan]

Hurricane Georges was a real monster of a storm. I remember in Texas, we were fearful that Georges would hit our area. Also, they feared it might hit New Orleans, the first time they used the Superdome as a shelter of last resort. A real mess it turned out to be. Georges stalled out over Mississippi, Alabama, and Florida and dumped up to 40 inches of rain! 1998 was a bad year with Mitch which claimed 18,000 lives.