Hurricane Klaus - Meteorological History

Meteorological History

A tropical wave moved off the coast of Africa on September 27. It tracked westward to the south of a subtropical ridge, becoming convectively active, and a low-level circulation was observed as it passed south of the Cape Verde islands on September 28. The organization of the convection oscillated over the subsequent days, and a few times the system showed signs of developing into a tropical depression. As it approached the Lesser Antilles it organized further, and despite unfavorable upper-level wind shear the system developed into Tropical Depression Thirteen on October 3 while located about 115 miles (185 km/h) east of Dominica. Located in an area of weak steering currents, the depression drifted to the northwest, and about six hours after first developing the cyclone intensified into a tropical storm; the National Hurricane Center designated it with the name Klaus.

Upon becoming a tropical storm, Klaus was located in an area of 29 mph (47 km/h) of wind shear, although concurrently it was located over warm water temperatures of 83.1° F (28.4° C). Tracking through a highly baroclinic environment, the storm became better organized, and at 1200 UTC on October 5 Klaus attained hurricane status about 30 miles (50 km) east of Antigua; shortly thereafter, it passed 12 miles (19 km) east of Barbuda, its closest point of approach to the Lesser Antilles. Klaus reached peak winds of 80 mph (130 km/h) and a minimum central pressure of 985.0 mbar (29.09 inHg), though most of its deep convection and strong winds remained to its northeast due to wind shear. At the time the hurricane was forecast to continue tracking to the north-northwest. However, after weakening to a tropical storm on October 6, Klaus turned westward.

Klaus continued tracking just north of the Lesser Antilles, and after continuing to deteriorate from the wind shear, the cyclone weakened to a tropical depression on October 8 to the north of Puerto Rico. Later that day, convection redeveloped over the center, and Klaus re-attained tropical storm status as it accelerated toward the northeast Bahamas; it briefly reached winds of 50 mph (85 km/h). A low pressure area to its west over Cuba had been steadily intensifying and building toward the surface, and on October 9 it developed into a tropical depression; the cyclone became the dominant system, eventually becoming Marco, and Klaus dissipated under the influence of the system late on October 9. The remnant moisture continued to the northwest, reaching the coast of South Carolina by October 11.