This is the Hurricane Warning
archive of hurricane Jeanne.
The best data available was used
to create this archive, in order to
make it as educational as possible.
Meteorological Analysis
Jeanne originated from a tropical wave which moved off the coast of Africa on
September 7th. The wave crossed the ocean without raising much suspicion. On
September 13th however as the wave approached the northern Lesser Antilles,
it organized enough to be considered a tropical depression. The depression's
main steering influence was the sub-tropical ridge to the north, which induced
the depression to go WNW. The depression continued to organize and became
tropical storm Jeanne on the 14th, as it was over the Leeward Islands. Jeanne
continued WNW, and went over the Virgin Islands. On the 15th, Jeanne made
landfall in Puerto Rico with 70 mph winds. Jeanne moved offshore into the Mona
passage the same day, and strengthened into a hurricane with 80 mph winds on the 16th. The radar out of San Juan indicated an eye and eye wall formed at this time. Jeanne then made landfall in the Dominican Republic on the 16th and
dumped incredible amounts of rain. Jeanne quickly weakened over the tropical
cyclone graveyard of Hispaniola, and emerged off the Island as a tropical storm
on the 17th. The structure was so bad with Jeanne at this point that it became
a tropical depression. Shear contributed to this weakening. On the 18th, a
center reformation occurred, as the old center dissipated and a new one formed
to the northeast. Jeanne became a tropical storm again by the 18th, and started
a strengthening trend. Ivan eroded the ridge to the north of Jeanne, causing
Jeanne to drift north over the Bahamas as a tropical storm. Jeanne continued
north, and eventually made a loop as the ridge built back in. Jeanne's track loop
was completed by the 23rd, and by this time Jeanne had become a 100 mph
hurricane under favorable environmental conditions. Jeanne then headed due
west under the new formed ridge. This caused it to hit its old track by the 24th,
and the cool wake waters associated with it. Jeanne's winds decreased to
80 mph from it. Jeanne then strengthened again as it moved away from the cold
waters, and hit major hurricane strength with 115 mph winds as it passed over
the northern Bahamian islands of Abaco and Grand Bahama on the 25th. Jeanne
then moved over the Gulf Stream and strengthened to its max speed of
120 mph, just before making landfall in Hutchinson Island, Florida on the 26th.
The strongest winds were just north of the center in a small area, the winds
weren't confirmed on land leaving doubt about Jeanne's landfall intensity.
Jeanne continued west across Central Florida, and weakened to a tropical storm
as it began to recurve near Tampa on the 26th. Jeanne weakened into a
depression on the 27th over Georgia. Jeanne continued north and east over the
east U.S., and became extra-tropical on the 29th near Delaware.
Casualty and Damage Overview
The death toll from Jeanne was staggering at well over 3,000. Almost all of
these deaths were in Hispaniola, where flooding rains caused massive mud
slides. 200,000 homes were lost in the village of Gonaives, Haiti alone. There
were also 5 deaths associated with Jeanne in the U.S. (including Puerto Rico).
Total damage in the U.S. reached $7 billion, making Jeanne one of the more
severe hurricanes in U.S. history. Theres some skepticism that this number is
too low though.
