Hurricane Gert (1993) - Meteorological History

Meteorological History

A tropical wave—an area of low pressure oriented north to south—moved off the African coast well south of Dakar on September 5, 1993, and tracked rapidly westward across the tropical Atlantic. Positioned at a relatively low latitude, the wave interacted with the Intertropical Convergence Zone, which allowed for the enhancement of convection in its vicinity. It developed a weak low-pressure center at sea level, which passed directly over Trinidad on September 11. The majority of the system subsequently moved inland along the northern coast of South America, although it maintained its identity and emerged over the southwestern Caribbean Sea on September 13. Owing to favorable tropospheric conditions aloft, the system began showing signs of development, as the deep convection organized into well-defined curved rainbands. Based on the increase in organization and the presence of a surface circulation, the National Hurricane Center (NHC) classified it as a tropical depression at 1800 UTC on September 14, about 105 mi (165 km) north of the northern coast of Panama.

The depression retained a large circulation during its formative stages, indicated by both satellite observations and data from rawinsondes in the region. Its cloud pattern continued to coalesce, and the NHC upgraded it to Tropical Storm Gert at 0900 UTC on September 15. After tracking west-northwestward, the center of the storm moved ashore near Bluefields, Nicaragua, around 1800 UTC that day, with winds of 40 mph (65 km/h). An interaction with land impeded further development, and Gert weakened back to a tropical depression six hours later. Despite the center being inland for nearly two days, a large part of the circulation stayed over the adjacent Caribbean and Pacific waters. This allowed Gert to remain a tropical cyclone while trekking northwestward through Central America, defying the NHC's repeated forecasts of dissipation over land.

The cyclone moved into the Gulf of Honduras on September 17. It restrengthened into a tropical storm and turned to the north-northwest in response to a mid- to upper-level trough over the eastern Gulf of Mexico. Gert's duration over water was short lived; the storm moved back inland near Belize City the next day, allowing minimal opportunity for additional strengthening. Once inland, Gert began to feel the effects of a ridge of high pressure and turned back to the west-northwest. After crossing the Yucatán Peninsula and decreasing in organization, it entered the Bay of Campeche as a tropical depression late on September 18. Gert restrengthened over open waters, as light wind shear allowed its deep convection to consolidate; by 0600 UTC the next day, the cyclone once again became a tropical storm. On September 20, data from a United States Air Force aircraft indicated that the storm had become a hurricane with winds of 75 mph (120 km/h). Gert veered toward the west and slowed slightly owing to a shortwave trough to its north, giving it more time to organize over water. The cyclone attained its peak intensity as a Category 2 hurricane on the Saffir–Simpson scale, with winds of 100 mph (165 km/h) and a minimum pressure of 970 mbar (hPa; 28.64 inHg).

Around 2100 UTC on September 20, Gert made a final landfall at peak intensity on the coast of Mexico, just north of Tuxpan, Veracruz. Inland, the hurricane accelerated and rapidly weakened over the mountainous region of the Sierra Madre Oriental; it had diminished to a tropical depression by September 21. Despite the degeneration, the large circulation remained intact as it crossed the country. Gert exited the coast of Nayarit and entered the Pacific Ocean later that day, where the NHC reclassified it as Tropical Depression Fourteen-E. The remaining deep convection waxed and waned in intensity, and satellite observations indicated the depression could have briefly been a tropical storm on September 22. It continued a west to west-northwestward motion for two days, though low-level flow steered it toward the southwest after the convection diminished. There was no redevelopment due to cool sea temperatures, and the system dissipated on September 26.