 |  | | | | Hurricane Season 2005: Alpha
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10.24.05
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Latest Update - October 24, 2005 - 1:56 p.m. EDT
Alpha Expected to Dissipate by Tuesday Morning
The latest report from the National Hurricane Center, at 11 a.m. EDT on Monday Oct. 24, is an expectation by forecasters that Alpha will dissipate as Hurricane Wilma races northward up the Atlantic seaboard.
At 11 a.m. EDT, the center of Tropical Depression Alpha was located about 340 miles north of Great Inagua Island, or 630 miles southwest of Bermuda at latitude 25.9 north and longitude 72.2 west.
Alpha, with sustained winds of 35 mph (55 km/hr) is moving toward the north near 20 mph (32 km/hr), and a turn toward the north-northeast and an increase in forward speed are expected during the next 24 hours.
By Tuesday morning at 11 a.m. Alpha should have dissipated as it will be absorbed by the larger and more powerful Hurricane Wilma.
Alpha's Wet Wake in Haiti and The Dominican Republic
Tropical Storm Alpha brought heavy rains to the Dominican Republic and Haiti over the weekend of Oct. 22 and 23. Alpha's rains were responsible for the deaths of 5 people in Hispanola.
In the Dominican Republic, about 35,000 people were evacuated from their homes.
In Port-au-Prince, the capital of Haiti, Alpha caused flooding on the streets. Rivers overflowed from Alpha's drenching rains in the town of Jacmel and a Port-au-Prince suburb called Carrefour. In Carrefour, reports indicated that at least 23 homes were swept away by flood waters.
Meteorologists said that Alpha dumped almost 15 inches of rain (380 millimeters) on Hispanola before moving north into open waters.
The 2005 hurricane season ends Nov. 30.
Credit: Rob Gutro/NASA GSFC
Updated - October 24, 2005 - 10:51 a.m. EDT
Alpha Racing Into North Atlantic, May Be Absorbed by Wilma
Right image: This image from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's GOES East satellite on Mon. Oct 24 at 8:15 a.m. EDT (12:15 Z) shows Hurricane Wilma over south Florida and to the right of Wilma the much smaller tropical depression Alpha. Click on image for high resolution.
Credit: NOAA
On Monday, Oct. 24 at 5 a.m. EDT, once tropical storm Alpha, now a tropical depression, was racing northward in the Atlantic Ocean after making landfall in the Dominican Republic on Sunday.
At 5 a.m. EDT, Alpha had maximum sustained winds of 35 mph (55 km/hr) and was located near latitude 24.4 north and 73.1 west or about 230 miles (365 km) north of Great Inagua Island. Minimum central pressure is 1004 millibars. At this time, all warnings for the Bahamas have been discontinued.
Alpha is moving north near 23 mph (37 km/hr) and is expected to continue in that direction. On Tuesday, forecasters expect Alpha to be absorbed by Hurricane Wilma.
Alpha made landfall Sunday morning around 8 a.m. EDT, Oct. 23 in the town of Barahona in the Dominican Republic. At that time, Alpha was packing maximum sustained winds of 50 mph with higher gusts.
Credit: Rob Gutro/NASA GSFC
Text derived from: http://www.nhc.noaa.gov/
Alpha Breaks Records
The 2005 Hurricane Season will go down in the meteorological history books as
having the most named tropical cyclones in known history. Tropical depression
number 25 formed on October 22 and strengthened into the twenty-second named
tropical storm of the year. Never before has there been 22 named tropical
cyclones.
 Image to right: This shows Tropical Storm Alpha's predicted track for the next three days. This display shows an approximate representation of coastal areas under a hurricane warning (red), hurricane watch (pink), tropical storm warning (blue) and tropical storm watch (yellow). The orange circle indicates the current position of the center of the tropical cyclone. The black line and dots show the National Hurricane Center (NHC) forecast track of the center at the times indicated. The letter inside the dot indicates the NHC's forecast intensity for that time. Credit: NHC/NOAA
Three of the tropical cyclones that formed during the 2005 never reached maximum
sustained winds of 35 mph, which is what it takes to get a name. The 2005
Tropical cyclone name list for the Atlantic Ocean basin contained 21 names,
because some of the letters such as X, Y, and Z don’t have enough names to fill
a 6 year list, so they’re skipped each year. Now that the list has run out, the
National Hurricane Center is using letters in the Greek alphabet.
At 11 p.m. EDT on Saturday, October 22, 2005, the center of Tropical Storm Alpha was
located near latitude 17.7 north and longitude 70.1 west, or about 55 miles (90
km) south-southwest of Santo Domingo in the Dominican Republic. Alpha is moving
toward the northwest near 14 mph. Forecasters expect this motion to continue,
and it will take Alpha inland in the Dominican Republic early Sunday morning.
After Alpha makes landfall, its expected to turn northward.
Alpha’s maximum sustained winds are now near 50 mph (85 km/hr) with higher
gusts, and forecasters say that some strengthening is possible before it makes
landfall. Alpha’s minimum central pressure is 998 millibars. A tropical storm warning remains in effect for the entire coastlines of the
Dominican Republic, Haiti, Turks and Caicos and for the southeastern Bahamas.
The storm is expected to produce total rain accumulations of 4 to 8 Inches over
much of Hispaniola with possible isolated maximum amounts of 15 inches over
mountainous terrain. These rains could produce life-threatening flash floods
and mud slides.
For the latest advisories on tropical cyclones, please visit the National Hurricane Center website at:
http://www.nhc.noaa.gov/
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