On September 21, a strong tropical wave entered the Atlantic. It began to travel westward at quite a low latitude, far to the south of the Cabo Verde Islands. It organized quickly and developed a closed circulation the next day. Satellite measurements indicated gale force winds at that time, so the system was named Tropical Storm Kirk on September 22. At the time of naming, Kirk's latitude was 8.3 °N, quite close to the equator for tropical cyclone genesis in the Atlantic. In fact, no north Atlantic system on record had reached tropical storm strength so far south since 1902.
Shortly after formation, a ridge to the north of Kirk began to accelerate it westward. Due to its fast forward motion and its proximity to the equator, the system had difficulty acquiring much spin, although some evidence of curved banding started to appear on September 23. After that time though, it struggled to maintain deep convection. In addition, its forward speed continued to increase to over 20 mph. On the 24th, this caused the circulation to fall apart and Kirk dissipated.
The remnants continued quickly westward and sea surface temperatures increased while upper-level winds remained fairly favorable. As a result, the system began to reorganize. On September 26, a well-defined center reformed and Kirk regained tropical storm status. It even underwent some strengthening that day to its peak intensity of 60 mph winds as measured by hurricane hunter aircraft. However, its window of favorable conditions was short-lived. By early on September 27, it had entered the area of wind shear that dominated the east Caribbean and its immediate vicinity for most of the season. This quickly exposed the center of circulation as convection was displaced eastward. Nevertheless, the center passed over the Lesser Antilles that day and deep convection continued to flare up in the eastern semicircle, bringing heavy rains and gale force winds to the islands, some of which were still recovering from the passage of Hurricane Maria the previous year.
After entering the Caribbean, Kirk began to lose organization more quickly. Late on September 28, the system dissipated in the eastern Caribbean.
The above image shows Kirk in its peak intensity during its second stint as a tropical cyclone.
Kirk dissipated in the eastern Caribbean, just as several of its predecessors.
No comments:
Post a Comment