Hurricane Roxanne

Infobox Hurricane
Name=Hurricane Roxanne
Type=hurricane
Year=1995
Basin=Atl
Image location=Hurricane Roxanne 10 oct 1995 1855Z.jpg

October 10, 1995 at 18:55 UTC
Formed=October 7, 1995
Dissipated=October 21, 1995
1-min winds=100
Pressure=956
Da

Inflated=0
Fatalities=14 direct
Areas=Several parts of Mexico
Hurricane season=1995 Atlantic hurricane season

Hurricane Roxanne was the seventeenth storm, tenth hurricane, and the fifth and final major hurricane of the very active 1995 Atlantic hurricane season. It made landfall near Cozumel, Mexico at its peak intensity, causing over a $1 billion in damage. It then took an extremely unusual and unpredictable track in the Bay of Campeche before making its final landfall and dissipating. Roxanne was the first October hurricane that formed and reached Category 3 intensity on the Saffir-Simpson Hurricane Scale (SSHS) in the western Caribbean Sea since Hurricane Hattie in October 1961.

Roxanne was the first storm to be assigned a name beginning with 'R' since hurricane naming began in the Atlantic in 1950 (and one of only two such names ever used - the other being Rita in 2005).

Meteorological history

Roxanne formed from a tropical wave that merged with a broad low pressure area and an upper trough just off the coast of Honduras. Despite this being a confusing formation, it is rather common in the western Caribbean. All of these factors formed a tropical depression in the western Caribbean on October 7. Satellite images indicated steady strengthening. At 0000 UTC, the depression became Tropical Storm Roxanne. Roxanne now posed a threat to the Cayman Islands and Cuba. However, the trough that was steering Roxanne to the north moved on and was replaced with a high pressure system. This trough forced Roxanne west. As the storm moved towards the Yucatán, it intensified greatly.

During the afternoon of the 10th, as Roxanne became a hurricane and a well-developed eye formed. Shortly after Roxanne reached hurricane strength, it rapidly intensified to Category 3 strength (the first time that had happened in the western Caribbean Sea since the 1961 season when Hurricane Hattie took a very similar turn and intensification cycle.cite web
author=Lixion A. Avila
year=1995-11-29
title=Hurricane Roxanne Prelimary Report
publisher=National Hurricane Center
accessdate=2007-02-17
url=http://www.nhc.noaa.gov/1995roxanne.html] ). Roxanne made landfall near peak intensity just north of Tulum, a small town near Cozumel, Mexico, with sustained winds near 115 mph. Roxanne did not drop hurricane strength over land, despite the hurricane being inland for almost a full day and a half.

Roxanne emerged over water in the Bay of Campeche as a minimal hurricane. Roxanne weakened to a tropical storm again shortly after exiting the coast, and turned northwest. As soon as the circulation was mostly over water, Roxanne became a hurricane again. Steering currents over the southern Gulf were weak. Hurricane Roxanne trudged southeast, threatening the Yucatán again before turning northwest again. Roxanne steadily weakened, turned south, and finally dissipated near the southern end of the Bay of Campeche.

Preparations

Roxanne's very atypical track across the western Caribbean and southern Gulf led to the issuing of many hurricane watches and warnings. As the hurricane apporoached Cozumel, a hurricane warning was issued 23 hours before it made landfall in the area. When Roxanne entered the Gulf of Mexico, watches and warnings were almost continuously being issued, discontinued, and re-issued for nearly 10 days as the storm erratically wandered in the Bay of Campeche.

Impact

Roxanne caused 14 deaths, with five of them coming from the sinking of a petroleum work barge with 245 people on board. There was massive damage in Mexico across numerous Mexican states. Over forty thousand homes were destroyed in the States of Campeche, Quintana Roo, Tabasco Veracruz and Yucatán. Crops were destroyed, cattle drowned, and roads were either washed out or blocked by mudslides. The road between the City of Carmen and Campeche was completely destroyed. There are unconfirmed reports that many hotel lobbies in Cancun and Cozumel were damaged from pounding waves. Rainfall and storm surge combined with overflowing rivers caused the worst flooding in Campeche since 1927. The highest rainfall report noted was 26.61 inches/676 mm at Silvituc/Champoton. The storm surge also pounded the Mexican coastline for days and the Gulf waters surged inland hundreds of yards.

Roxanne struck an area that had been directly struck by Hurricane Opal just a few weeks earlier and all damage could not be sorted out from Opal and Roxanne. Combined damage was estimated in the neighborhood of $1.5 billion.

Retirement

Because of the major damage in Mexico, the name Roxanne was retired in the spring of 1996 and will never again be used for an Atlantic hurricane. It was replaced with Rebekah in the 2001 season, and appeared in the 2007 Atlantic hurricane season, only to go unused here, too; it will next be in use for the 2013 season.

See also

* List of Atlantic hurricanes
* List of retired Atlantic hurricane names

References

External links

* [http://www.nhc.noaa.gov/1995roxanne.html NHC Roxanne Report]
* [http://www.hpc.ncep.noaa.gov/tropical/rain/roxanne1995.html HPC Roxanne Rainfall Page]
* [http://www.weather.unisys.com/hurricane/atlantic/1995/ROXANNE/track.gifStorm path]