Was Bonnie a hurricane?

[Anonymous]

Very briefly on August 11th? This image makes me wonder...

http://cimss.ssec.wisc.edu/tropic/cooli ... .avhrr.jpg

[senorpepr]

No. After looking through the data we have saved here and this post-storm analysis... I agree with the 55kt max reading.

Bonnie continued to experience ups and downs on 11 August. During
the morning the cyclone became much better organized with a burst of
convection with cloud tops as cold as -83 C forming over the center.
Buoy 42001, located about 45 nm northeast of Bonnie's center, reported
a 10-min avg wind of 41 kts with a gust to 52 kts. Gradient wind
computations using a 10-mb pressure difference between the center and
the buoy indicated that 50-kt winds were possible. Based on this, the
1500 UTC advisory MSW was conservatively increased to 45 kts. A later
report from the buoy reported a gust to 66 kts, so the MSW was increased
to 55 kts in the 1800 UTC intermediate advisory. In response to an
unseasonably strong deep-layer trough over the central U. S., by 1800
UTC Bonnie had made the expected sharp turn to the northeast. The storm
was then located about 180 nm south of the mouth of the Mississippi and
moving northeast at about 10 kts. After the tremendous burst of deep
convection observed during the morning, Bonnie's convection leveled off.
During the afternoon the tight inner wind core which had been present for
the past three days collapsed, leaving the maximum winds in a band of
convection removed from the center. An evening reconnaissance flight
found peak FLWs of only 30 kts, even though CI estimates were 45 and
55 kts. Since it was possible that the aircraft had not sampled the
strongest winds, the MSW was reduced to only 50 kts at 12/0300 UTC,
although the forecaster commented that this might be generous.

Bonnie accelerated toward the northeast as the morning of 12 August
progressed. Winds were decreased to 45 kts at 0900 UTC, but were upped
slightly to 50 kts in the 1200 UTC intermediate advisory. Bonnie was
then centered only about 70 nm southwest of Apalachicola, FL, and was
moving northeastward at about 20 kts. By 1500 UTC Bonnie was weakening
once more and the cloud pattern was becoming elongated, suggesting that
extratropical transition was underway. The center of Bonnie hugged
the coast from near Apalachicola east-northeastward to near the head of
Apalachee Bay where the center finally made landfall.

[michaelwmoss]

Regardless, a very nasty storm for it being such a small size. Lots of Tornadoes!

[george_r_1961]

I agree it looked darn good on sattelite for a short time but I doubt if the winds had time to respond to the more favorable conditions...such as increased convection, before more unfavorable conditions set in and weakened the cyclone. IMO it was never a hurricane but it certainly was a strong TS with max winds around 60 MPH

[michaelwmoss]

What was the highest Buoy record for Bonnie?