User:Itfc+canes=me/sandbox/Meteorological History of Hurricane Ike

The Meteorological History of Hurricane Ike includes the formation, intensification and weakening to the conditions and winds Ike produced.

Formation
Hurricane Ike can be traced to an easterly wave leaving western Sudan on August 19, which moved westward through Nigeria and Mali and reached the coastal country of Senegal on August 28 Moving into the Atlantic Ocean, the wave slowly intensified over subsequent days while moving generally towards the west-northwest. On September 1, the wave developed a sufficient amount of convection and was designated Tropical Depression Nine.

Naming
The depression had developed a large amount of convection as well as cyclonically curved bands. Satellite estimates were already indicating that the depression was a tropical storm, however, the National Hurricane Center did not classify it as such because the convection was newly formed. The depression continued to intensify as it became better organized and at 5:00 p.m. EDT (21:00 UTC), it was upgraded to Tropical Storm Ike.

Ike was located in an environment which was supportive of intensification and the forecast showed Ike becoming a hurricane within 36 hours of its upgrade.

During the overnight hours of September 1, Ike stopped intensifying as part of the eastern band began to erode as northerly wind shear began to impact the system. By late morning on September 2, Ike began to intensify again as shear relaxed a little on the system. Throughout the day, deep convection developed around the center of Ike indicating that the storm was still intensifying. Ike also quickened its movement to 18 mph (30 km/h) due to a strengthening mid-level high located to the north-northeast of Ike. Again intensification stopped during the overnight hours as the structure of Ike remained mostly unchanged.

Ike remained at the same intensity and structure through the early morning hours of September 3. However, by the late morning, Ike began to intensify again. Microwave satellites depicted an eye beginning to form and Ike strengthened just below hurricane status. The eye continued to become better defined and by mid-afternoon Ike was upgraded to a hurricane. Ike was in an area that lacked vertical wind shear and intensification was likely. Due to the lack of wind shear, Ike began to undergo explosive intensification and was upgraded to a major hurricane with winds of 115 mph (185 km/h) only three hours after being upgraded to a hurricane. During the three hour span, the pressure dropped 24 mbar. Ike continued to intensify and was further upgraded to a Category 4 hurricane on the Saffir-Simpson Hurricane Scale three hours later with winds of 135 mph (215 km/h) and a pressure of 948 mbar (27.99 inHg).

By the early morning hours on September 4, Ike had reached its peak intensity of 145 mph (230 km/h) with a pressure of 935 mbar (27.61 inHg), making it the most intense storm thus far in the 2008 Atlantic hurricane season. Ike was now forecast to weaken as the upper-level high to the north of the system continued to strengthen resulting in stronger northerly wind shear affecting Ike. The explosive intensification lasted roughly 24 hours as Ike intensified from a tropical storm to a Category 4 hurricane with a pressure drop of 61 mbar. By the late morning, Ike began to weaken as the cloud tops around the eye began to warm. Models were forecasting Ike to encounter strong wind shear and slowly weaken but maintain major hurricane status. This trend of the clouds warming continued through the afternoon and Ike continued to weaken slowly. By mid-afternoon, Ike was barely a Category 4 hurricane with winds of 135 mph (215 km/h). Ike began to show signs of intensification once more during the late night hours. The eye became more clear and better defined and the clouds around the eye began to deepen and become colder.

The show of possible strengthening did not last long. By the morning of September 5, northerly wind shear began to erode the northern part of the system and the cloud tops around the eye began to warm once more. The structure of the eye became less prominent as microwave satellite imagery showed that the inner structure of Ike was not deteriorating or beginning to undergo an eyewall replacement cycle. A later pass made by the satellite found that the northern eye wall had eroded and most of the convection was in the southern semi-circle of the storm. This indicated that Ike was continuing to weaken as it remained in a hostile environment. Ike slowly weakened to a low-end Category Three by the afternoon hours. A ridge to the north of Ike continued to push the storm towards the southwest, into an area more favorable for intensification.

Ike maintained its intensity throughout the night as its eye briefly reappeared around 8p.m. (EDT), leading the NHC to forecast a slow strengthening trend. Overnight, Ike reformed a 24 nmi (48 km) wide eye, however, it was cloud covered. However, during the late morning hours on September 6, wind shear weakened Ike to a Category Two hurricane. This weakening was short lived and Ike began to undergo another round of rapid intensification, though not as significant as the first. Ike's eye began to clear out again and the system became better organized and based on an Air Force Reconnaissance Aircraft measurement, Ike had intensified into a Category Four six hours after being downgraded to a Category Two. Ike had winds sustained at 135 mph (215 km/h) as it approached the Turks and Caicos Islands during the afternoon.

By the early morning hours of September 7, Ike had passed directly over the Turks and Caicos Islands with winds of 135 mph (215 km/h). Environmental conditions were supportive of intensification and Ike was forecast to intensity through landfall in Cuba.

It made landfall as a strong Category 3 hurricane in Holguín Province, Cuba on the evening of September 7, near Cabo Lucrecia on the northern coast. It passed across the central provinces of Holguin, Las Tunas, and Camagüey, emerging over the sea to the south of Cuba during September 8. It made landfall a second time in Pinar del Río before entering the Gulf of Mexico in the afternoon of September 9.

During the night of September 10, Ike exhibited a rapid drop in central pressure, falling from 963 mbar to 944 mbar as it passed over the Loop Current in the Gulf of Mexico. However, this drop was not reflected by wind speed, which only increased from 85 mph (136 km/hr) to 100 mph (160 km/h). Multiple wind maxima were noted by the National Hurricane Center, indicating the structure was absorbing and dispersing energy over a larger area, rather than concentrating it near the center.

Over the next two days, Ike maintained a steady course towards Galveston and Houston. It increased only slightly in intensity to 110 mph (176 km/hr) - the high end of Category 2 - but exhibited an unusually large wind field, with tropical storm force winds extending out 275 miles (445 km). As it approached the Texas coast, the inner structure became more organized.

Ike made U.S. landfall at Galveston, Texas, on September 13 at 2:10am CDT (07:10 UTC), as a Category 2 hurricane with winds of 110 mph (160 km/h) and a central pressure of 952 mbar. The 2am NHC advisory cited tropical storm and hurricane force winds extending 275mi and 120mi, respectively, from the center.