This is the Hurricane Warning
archive of hurricane Charley.
The best data available was used
to create this archive, in order to
make it as educational as possible.
Meteorological Analysis
Charley originated from a tropical wave which moved off the coast of Africa
on August 4th. The wave looked mildly impressive as it crossed the ocean but,
it was too weak to classify. On August 9th though convection and banding
became more defined, and the wave was declared a tropical depression. It
was located 100 nm SSE of Barbados. A strong ridge to the north pushed
the depression along at 20 kt+ and the depression moved into the Caribbean on the 9th.The depression had very good outflow, and shear was light. This
allowed the depression to strengthen into tropical storm Charley on the 10th.
Charley continued to steadily strengthen as it headed WNW towards Jamaica
and became a hurricane on the 11th, its forward speed slowed to below 20 kt
at this point. Charley passed within 35 nm of Jamaica on the 12th, the small
core missed the island so only tropical storm force winds were felt on land.
Charley continued to strengthen and reached category 2 strength as it passed
within 15 nm of Grand Cayman. Still, winds only were tropical storm force on
the Cayman Islands, Charley was an extremely small storm. Charley then
headed north as it reached the western edge of the sub-tropical high. Charley
passed within 15 nm of the Isle of Youth on the 13th and shortly afterwards
made landfall in Playa del Cajio, Cuba. Charley rapidly strengthened just before
landfall, and was a 120 mph cat 3 hurricane at landfall. Charley only weakened
to 110 mph from its crossing of Cuba. Charley entered the straits of Florida
and rapidly moved north on the 13th, passing over the Dry Tortugas with
110 mph winds. Surprisingly, Charley weakened while passing over the straits,
although that wouldn't last long. A trough then sliced down North America
a bit stronger then expected, and turned Charley NNE. As Charley turned, it
rapidly intensified to a 145 mph Cat 4. Of course, these winds were only in
a 6 nm swath. Charley was practically like a tornado. Charley made landfall on
the 13th at Captiva, Florida and moved inland. Charley brought catastrophic
destruction to the places it directly hit, and destruction continued as it moved
across the state. Charley passed over Orlando and left the coast at Daytona
Beach on the 14th. It remained a hurricane during the whole crossing. Charley
then re-intensified as it was over the Atlantic briefly, and made landfall in
Cape Romain, South Carolina with 85 mph winds on the 14th. Charley moved
offshore and made landfall again in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina. Charley
weakened into a tropical storm over North Carolina and became extra-tropical
over Virginia. The remnants of Charley then raced by Cape Cod on the 15th.
Casualty and Damage Overview
15 casualties were attributed to Charley, 10 of them happened during Charley's
traverse of Florida, 4 were in Cuba, and 1 was in Jamaica. There were also 25
indirect deaths from Charley, 24 were in Florida and 1 was in South Carolina.
Total U.S. damage is estimated to be $14 billion, one of the costliest hurricanes
in U.S. history.
