Portal:Tropical cyclones/Featured article/Hurricane Keith



Hurricane Keith, the strongest hurricane of the 2000 Atlantic hurricane season, was a Caribbean hurricane that caused great damage across Belize and southern Mexico. A tropical wave organized into a tropical depression north-northeast of Cape Gracias a Dios, Nicaragua, on September 28. Tropical Storm Keith came a day later. The newly upgraded cyclone began to intensify rapidly as it moved west, reaching Category 4 strength in a short amount of time. It weakened slightly after its eyewall passed over Ambergris Caye and Caye Caulker, Belize on October 1. It spent two days looping off of Belize's coast. During this time, it weakened dramatically and was only a tropical storm when it made landfall in Belize. It quickly passed over the Yucatán Peninsula into the Gulf of Mexico. The warm water allowed Keith to strengthen into a minimal hurricane at its second landfall just north of Tampico, and it dissipated a day later.

Keith is responsible for forty deaths, twelve due to flooding in Nicaragua and fourteen also from flooding in Belize. Monetary damage in Belize is estimated at $280 million (2000 USD, $335 million 2007 USD), and $38 million (2000 USD, $45.5 million 2007 USD) in Mexico.

Recently featured: 1983 Atlantic hurricane season – Storm surge – List of Florida hurricanes (1900-1949) – Meteorological history of Hurricane Ivan – Hurricane Ioke – Browse