This is the Hurricane Warning
archive of hurricane Ivan.
The best data available was used
to create this archive, in order to
make it as educational as possible.
Meteorological Analysis
Ivan originated from a tropical wave which left the coast of Africa on August
31st. The wave initially left the coast with an impressive outflow and surface
low, although the convection wasn't well organized. The wave continued to
develop though, and by September 2nd the favorable, low shear environmental
conditions allowed the wave to fire deep convection over the center. The wave
became a tropical depression that day. The tropical depression quickly
strengthened into tropical storm Ivan on the 3rd. Ivan was at 9.7 degrees north
at the time, quite a low latitude for a tropical cyclone. Ivan continued to move
due west under the strong sub-tropical ridge, and strengthened into a hurricane on September 5th, 1000 nm east of the Windward Islands. Having gained eye
and eye wall features, Ivan then underwent rapid intensification and reached
winds of 135 mph on September 6th, with a pressure of 948 mb. Ivan was the
most southerly major hurricane on record. Ivan weakened to 105 mph the
same day due to dry air entrainment though. Ivan began to strengthen again
on the 7th and was a strong category 3 hurricane as it passed by Grenada.
The strongest winds did hit the island, and caused alot of damage. As Ivan
moved through the Caribbean on the 8th and 9th, it strengthened again. Ivan
reached category 5 strength on the 9th with 160 mph winds and a pressure of
919 mb. At this point, Ivan had turned WNW under the sub-tropical ridge.
Steering currents suddenly weakened on the 11th though as Ivan was passing
Jamaica, causing the storm to go west and appear as if it had dodged the island.
This has been observed with past storms. Ivan was fortunately undergoing an
eye wall replacement cycle also so the wind fields were getting smaller as it
passed the island. This all resulted in Jamaica being spared. Once Ivan passed
Jamaica, it became a cat 5 again with 165 mph winds and a pressure of
910 mb. Ivan began moving NW again as steering currents strengthened, and
Ivan approached Grand Cayman. Ivan then went through another weakening and
strengthening cycle on the 12th through 13th. During this time, Ivan passed
just south of Grand Cayman. Winds were high cat 4 on the island and the surge
literally swept over everything. Needless to say, there was extensive damage.
On the 13th, Ivan headed more northerly into a weakness in the sub-tropical
ridge. Ivan passed through the Yucatan channel at this time, and only brought
low hurricane force winds to western Cuba. Ivan emerged into the Gulf of
Mexico on the 14th and headed north. Ivan began to weaken as shear increased
from a trough, dry air and cool waters also helped weakening. Ivan resisted
these factors better than most storms though, and made landfall on September
16th with 120 mph winds in Gulf Shores, Alabama. Ivan weakened quickly over
land, and became a tropical depression on the 17th over Alabama. Ivan became
extra-tropical over Delaware on the 18th, heavy rains occurred over the eastern
U.S. Extra-tropical Ivan then headed south and southwest. Radar and satellite
data indicated that Ivan crossed South Florida on the 21st and entered the Gulf.
By the 22nd, convection increased over the low level center of extra-tropical
Ivan, and it became warm core again. It became a depression the same day.
This is truly a rare case of a storm coming back from the dead. Ivan regained
tropical storm status on the 22nd, and reached winds of 60 mph. It weakened
to a depression just before it made landfall in Southwest Louisiana on
September 24th. Ivan finally dissipated shortly afterwards. At 22.5 days and
5600 nm, Ivan had a very long lifetime.
Casualty and Damage Overview
There are a considerable 92 casualties directly attributed to Ivan, 39 in
Grenada, 25 in the U.S., 17 in Jamaica, 4 in the Dominican Republic, 3 in
Venezuela, 2 in the Cayman Islands, 1 in Tobago, and 1 in Barbados. Ivan
brought extensive devastation to all of the places it directly hit. In the U.S.
Ivan destroyed road systems, beaches, lots of houses, and woodlands.
Offshore oil took a huge hit too. Total U.S. damage was $14.2 billion, one of the
more severe hurricanes in U.S. history. In Barbados well over a hundred homes
were destroyed. In Grand Cayman which took the worst hit of all places, 95% of
buildings were destroyed, these were strong buildings too. In Grenada a
shocking 14,000 homes were damaged, 47,000 were damaged in Jamaica.
Total damage in the Caribbean was $3 billion.
