Hurricane Katrina (1981) - Meteorological History

Meteorological History

On November 1, an area of disturbed weather developed over the western Caribbean. Subsequently, an area of low pressure began to form. On November 3, the system was designated a tropical depression while located about 150 miles (240 km) to the south of the Cayman Islands. The depression intensified while drifting northward, and it was upgraded to a tropical storm early on November 4. As the eleventh tropical storm of the 1981 Atlantic hurricane season, it received the name "Katrina".

Within 24 hours the storm passed by Grand Cayman Island. On nearby Cayman Brac, winds gusted to about 70 miles per hour (110 km/h). Continually strengthening, Katrina accelerated toward the northeast. At 0600 UTC on November 5, the storm was upgraded to a Category 1 hurricane on the Saffir-Simpson Hurricane Scale. Later that same day, a NOAA reconnaissance flight reported a minimum barometric pressure of 980 mbar, and several hours later the flight recorded winds of about 85 miles per hour (137 km/h) on the surface. However, Katrina weakened as it approached land; at the time of landfall on eastern Cuba, the minimum central pressure had risen 15 mbar. The storm proceeded northeast, crossing The Bahamas on November 6. At the time, the cyclone was moving at 23 miles per hour (37 km/h) while maintaining windspeeds of approximately 60 miles per hour (97 km/h). Katrina's remnants merged with a frontal system over the southwestern Atlantic Ocean, and the storm was deemed dissipated on November 8.