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The nature and impact of Hurricane Allen —August 1980
Author(s) -
Oliver J.
Publication year - 1981
Publication title -
journal of climatology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.58
H-Index - 166
eISSN - 1097-0088
pISSN - 0196-1748
DOI - 10.1002/joc.3370010303
Subject(s) - landfall , storm , tropical cyclone , storm surge , climatology , environmental science , storm track , threatened species , meteorology , geography , magnitude (astronomy) , oceanography , geology , ecology , physics , astronomy , habitat , biology
Hurricane Allen threatened to be a storm of devastating potential in the Caribbean and on the Gulf coast of Texas or Louisiana. Although it deepened on three occasions to the intensity of a category 5 storm on the Saffir‐Simpson Scale, its track was such that the islands escaped the worst possible effects. By the time it had reached close to the Texas coast the storm had started to fill. Storm surge damage was the major cause of damage, though locally in the Caribbean islands and to some extent in Texas, this was compounded by wind and/or rain effects. The forecasts gave a clear indication of the magnitude of the impending threat and, except in Haiti, the loss of life was fortunately very small. The track, the variations in intensity and the landfall were predicted efficiently and errors in track positions were smaller than the longer period averages for different forecast periods for other tropical cyclones.