Meteorological History
A tropical wave moved off the coast of Africa on November 5. It tracked steadily westward across the tropical Atlantic Ocean and its forward motion slowed after it passed the Lesser Antilles on November 12. A large and well-defined anticyclone persisted across much of the Caribbean Sea, providing a favorable environment for the system. A low-level circulation gradually became evident on satellite imagery within the disturbance. Based on ship observations, the National Hurricane Center estimated the system organized into a tropical depression on November 17, located about 280 miles (450 km) south of the western tip of Haiti.
Initially, the depression was disorganized as it continued westward; on November 18 the center became exposed from the area of deep convection. However, the upper-level environment gradually became more favorable for further development, and deep convection, or thunderstorm activity, developed closer to the center. An eastward-moving upper-level trough in the Gulf of Mexico caused the depression to turn northwest. The next day, the depression intensified into a tropical storm while located a short distance north of Honduras, receiving the name Keith. It quickly intensified, and on November 21 the storm attained its peak strength of 985 mbar (29.09 inHg) with winds of 70 mph (110 km/h). The trough, which turned Keith northwestward, rapidly accelerated northeastward; as a result, the storm to move slowly to the northwest until making landfall on the northeastern tip of the Yucatán Peninsula at 0800 UTC on November 21, at an intensity slightly below hurricane status.
After briefly moving over land, Keith turned northward under the influence of a trailing frontal trough. The storm became disorganized while recurving towards the northeast because of increased vertical wind shear and the presence of cool, dry air from its north. On November 23, Keith made landfall near Sarasota, Florida with winds of 65 mph (100 km/h), while most of its convection was located well to the north of the center. Its landfall was the second latest on record for the Continental United States, only behind a hurricane in the 1925 season. The storm quickly weakened as it crossed the state, and within hours the winds dropped to 40 mph (65 km/h). Reaching the Atlantic Ocean eight hours after moving ashore, Keith began to gradually re-intensify, and under the influence of a very large upper-level low pressure area over Newfoundland, the storm accelerated northeastward. On November 24, the storm again reached its peak intensity of 70 mph (110 km/h), shortly before becoming an extratropical cyclone near Bermuda. Keith restrengthened and deepened into a powerful extratropical cyclone, attaining hurricane force winds and a minimum pressure of 945 mbar (27.92 inHg). The extratropical storm turned westward and was last observed on November 26 to the northeast of Newfoundland.
Read more about this topic: Tropical Storm Keith (1988)
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