Meteorological History
Hurricane Felix formed from a tropical wave that moved off the coast of Africa on August 6. Deep convection quickly organized around a center, and the system developed into Tropical Depression Seven on August 8 while a short distance southwest of the Cape Verde islands. The depression moved to the west-northwest, and 18 hours after forming, it strengthened into a tropical storm, and received the name Felix. It continued to slowly intensify as it headed west-northwest, a motion caused by the subtropical ridge, and attained hurricane status on August 11, 620 mi (1,000 km) east-northeast of Guadeloupe.
A split in the deep-layered trough over the western Atlantic Ocean caused Felix to turn to the northwest. There, where warm sea surface temperatures and little upper-level shear provided conditions favorable for intensification, the hurricane began to rapidly intensify to its peak strength, with maximum sustained winds of 140 mph (225 km/h) on August 12. An eyewall replacement cycle, combined with upper level shear from its anticyclone being displaced over the hurricane, caused Felix to weaken and develop a broader inner core about 18 hours after reaching Category 4 intensity. Its northwest motion continued, bringing Felix, then a 85 mph (0.038 km) hurricane, within 75 mi (121 km) of Bermuda on August 15.
The subtropical ridge built to the west, forcing Felix to take a west-northwest track. Initially, it appeared that the westward motion would cause Felix to strike the mid-Atlantic coastline, but a weakness in the ridge caused the hurricane to stall just 165 mi (266 km) east of the Outer Banks from August 17 to August 19. Cooler, drier air weakened Felix to a minimal hurricane, and while stationary, it presented an eye 60 mi (97 km) to 80 mi (130 km) in diameter. After one shortwave trough failed to pull the hurricane towards open sea on August 18, Felix drifted eastward, and executed a clockwise loop before another shortwave trough brought the hurricane to the northeast. Cooler waters weakened Felix to a tropical storm on August 20, and after passing to the east of Newfoundland, the storm became extratropical on August 22. As an extratropical storm, Felix persisted until August 25 when it dissipated between Iceland and Ireland.
Read more about this topic: Hurricane Felix (1995)
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