Hurricanes in the Atlantic Ocean:

Tropical Storm Fay

Table of contents:

Introduction page: 3
Tropical storm Fay:
• Arise of Fay page: 4
• Wind history page: 5
• Rainfall page: 10
• Landfall page: 13
• Damage page: 14
Appendix page: 15
Sources page: 16

2
Introduction:

In this summary we are going to take a look to the rise and shine of tropical storm Fay. Fay
was a very special storm system in the Atlantic Ocean hurricane season 2008. She made 8
landfalls and 4 of them were in the United States. This had never happened before and so Fay
broke the records of most landfalls to the United States.

Tropical Storm Fay from out of space

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Arise of Fay:

The system that produced Fay arose from a tropical wave from the coast of Africa. This wave
was accompanied by a low thunderstorm activity. On 14 August the forward speed decreased
and the system began to show some organisation, which showed a convection activity.
On 15 August while the center was passing the Mona Passage, the convection organisation
increased again. This resulted in a new tropical depression, because it was now so well
organised on 15 August. The system was moving west because of a strong subtropical ridge in
the north. Fay began to move to the Dominican Republic. Fay made landfall 15 August in the
Dominican Republic as a tropical depression. But Fay was still increasing in strength and she
became a tropical storm during her landfall.
Fay moved further and made another landfall in Haiti as a tropical storm on 16 August. After
this landfall Fay turned and began to intensify again. Now that Fay was intensifying she
became a strong tropical storm and moved to Cuba.
On 18 August Fay turned again and made her third landfall. After she was done with Cuba
(where she made 2 landfalls), she made landfall to the United States, in the state Florida, on
that same day.
But Fay came in warmer water in the Florida Bay and began to be better organised. Again she
made landfall to Florida as a better organised tropical storm. After this landfall Fay developed
a well defined eye, which you can see in radar and satellite. Fay was still strengthening and
reached her peak of intensity. While she became in the neighbourhood of Lake Okeechobee
on 20 August, the eye disappeared and Fay began to weaken.
On 24 August, Fay began to turn and also her forward speed decreased. This slow forward
speed allowed that the heavy rainfall, which Fay had developed during her organisation and
development, threatened the Florida state for a couple of hours.
After she moved further into the United States she weakened even more and after a few hours
she became an extra tropical storm. This new stage caused that Fay disappeared into the
atmosphere.

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Wind history:

Date/Time Latitude Longitude Pressure Wind speed Category:

(North) (west) (mbar) (knots)
15 / 1200 18.4 67.4 1011 30 tropical
depression
15 / 1800 18.5 68.8 1009 35 Tropical
Storm
16 / 0000 18.6 70.2 1008 40 Tropical
Storm
16 / 0600 18.7 71.4 1008 40 Tropical
Storm
16 / 1200 18.8 72.9 1007 40 Tropical
Storm
16 / 1800 19.1 74.6 1007 40 Tropical
Storm
17 / 0000 19.3 75.7 1005 45 Tropical
Storm
17 / 0600 19.6 76.8 1004 45 Tropical
Storm
17 / 1200 20.1 78.0 1003 45 Tropical
Storm
17 / 1800 20.7 79.6 1006 45 Tropical
Storm
18 / 0000 21.1 80.3 1001 45 Tropical
Storm
18 / 0600 21.9 80.8 1003 45 Tropical
Storm
18 / 1200 23.2 81.2 1002 50 Tropical
Storm
18 / 1800 24.3 81.7 1000 50 Tropical
Storm
19 / 0000 25.0 81.9 997 50 Tropical
Storm
19 / 0600 25.5 81.8 994 55 Tropical
Storm
19 / 1200 26.4 81.4 988 55 Tropical
Storm
19 / 1800 27.0 81.1 986 60 Tropical
Storm
20 / 0000 27.5 80.9 988 55 Tropical
Storm
20 / 0600 28.0 80.6 992 50 Tropical
Storm
20 / 1200 28.4 80.6 994 45 Tropical
Storm
20 / 1800 28.7 80.6 997 45 Tropical
Storm

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Date/Time Latitude Longitude Pressure Wind speed Category:
(North) (west) (mbar) (knots)
21 / 0000 28.9 80.5 993 50 Tropical
Storm
21 / 0600 29.1 80.7 993 50 Tropical
Storm
21 / 1200 29.2 80.7 993 50 Tropical
Storm
21 / 1800 29.3 81.0 993 55 Tropical
Storm
22 / 0000 29.3 81.2 994 50 Tropical
Storm
22 / 0600 29.5 81.9 995 50 Tropical
Storm
22 / 1200 29.6 82.4 996 45 Tropical
Storm
22 / 1800 29.8 83.0 997 40 Tropical
Storm
23 / 0000 29.7 83.8 996 45 Tropical
Storm
23 / 0600 29.8 84.7 997 45 Tropical
Storm
23 / 1200 30.0 85.2 998 40 Tropical
Storm
23 / 1800 30.5 85.9 999 40 Tropical
Storm
24 / 0000 30.8 86.7 999 30 Tropical
Depression
24 / 0600 31.1 87.7 999 30 Tropical
Depression
24 / 1200 31.8 88.4 1000 30 Tropical
Depression
24 / 1800 31.5 89.7 1001 30 Tropical
Depression
25 / 0000 31.3 90.0 1001 30 Tropical
Depression
25 / 0600 31.5 89.9 1002 30 Tropical
Depression
25 / 1200 32.0 89.4 1002 25 Tropical
Depression
25 / 1800 32.4 89.0 1002 25 Tropical
Depression
26 / 0000 32.7 88.6 1002 20 Tropical
Depression
26 / 0600 33.3 87.9 1003 20 Tropical
Depression
26 / 1200 33.9 87.2 1003 20 Tropical
Depression

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Date/Time Latitude Longitude Pressure Wind speed Category:
(North) (west) (mbar) (knots)
26 / 1800 34.6 86.5 1004 20 Tropical
Depression
27 / 0000 34.9 85.8 1005 15 Tropical
Depression
27 / 0600 35.3 84.9 1006 15 Extratropical
27 / 1200 35.9 84.0 1007 15 Extratropical
27 / 1800 36.9 83.6 1008 15 Extratropical
28 / 0000 37.4 83.2 1009 15 Extratropical
28 / 0600 37.7 82.6 1010 15 Extratropical
28 / 1200 Dissipated

This table gives you some more information how Fay developed. She was on land on her peak
of intensity. That is very special, because most storm systems weaken when they come ashore.
But Fay became even stronger! On the next chapter we are going to look at the landfalls and I
will show you the data that belong to the landfalls of Fay.
Moreover the picture here below gives you a perfect idea of the track and the strength of Fay.
The colours in the picture match with the colours of the strength in the table.

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 This picture shows the wind direction and the
wind speed of tropical storm Fay while she
was moving over Cuba. As you can see the
system isn’t very much developed and still
parts of Fay are drawling around the center of
Fay.
As you can see Fay was hitting Cuba in this
picture. She made landfall in Cuba 2 times.
During this landfall Fay was a tropical storm.
Fay caused a lot of rainfall in the area of Cuba
and while Fay was on her way to Florida, her
remnant rain bands where still threatening the
area of Cuba.
This picture does not give a clear picture of
the development, but there are a few more
pictures. The next picture for example gives
us some more information of Fay’s strength
during the landfall in Florida (United States).
As you can see in this picture, Fay grew in
strength and in size after her landfall in Cuba.
Moreover, the wind speed increased a little bit
compared to her landfall in Cuba. These pictures were taken on the same day and you can see
that Fay was still developing during the landfalls in Cuba and the last one in Florida. This is
very special because, most of the time, storm systems decrease in strength during a landfall.
However, Fay grew in strength and in size. Even when she was over Florida, she reached her
peak of intensity and this is very special! Most of the time, storm systems (hurricanes and
tropical storms), reach their peak of
intensity above seawater. This is
caused by the energy that they need.
The condensation of the seawater
and the wind shears can develop a
hurricane or tropical storm and cause
them to grow in strength and reach
their peak of intensity. If one of the
two falls apart, the intensity of a
storm system falls down and the
system is going to show some
weakening signs.
In this picture there are no signs of
any weakening of Fay, only the
increasing strength of Fay above
land!
As you can see in this picture, Fay
developed a well defined eye. This is
very special for a tropical storm!

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Some ships report some data of the wind history of Fay as well. In this table below, I will
show these data:

Date/Time Ship Latitude Longitude Wind speed Pressure

(North) (West) (knots) (mbar)
15 / 2200 WDB325 19.5 69.0 43 1011.0
17 / 1800 DAQZ 24.2 83.2 35 1013.0
19 / 0000 C6FZ7 25.4 79.6 40 1008.0
19 / 0700 C6FZ7 23.5 79.2 38 1010.1
19 / 1400 WDD711 25.7 79.9 37 1008.0
19 / 1500 WDD711 25.6 79.9 44 1009.0
19 / 1600 WDD711 25.5 79.9 45 1010.0
19 / 1800 WDD711 25.5 80.0 45 1010.0
19 / 1800 PHJV 26.1 79.6 41 1006.7
19 / 1800 DBIP 26.1 79.2 35 1010.6
20 / 0300 PBGU 27.5 79.1 44 1006.0
20 / 0300 WJBJ 29.9 80.3 36 1010.0
20 / 0400 WBVZ 29.3 78.5 38 1008.3
20 / 1820 41009 28.5 80.2 39 999.0
21 / 0220 41009 28.5 80.2 39 998.6
21 / 0320 41009 28.5 80.2 41 999.7
21 / 0850 41012 30.0 80.5 37 1002.3
21 / 1550 41012 30.0 80.5 37 1000.1
21 / 1650 41012 30.0 80.5 35 999.8
22 / 0000 KCGH 28.8 79.1 38 1007.5
22 / 0500 WPGK 30.0 80.5 37 1006.0

The green spots show the highest measuring of the wind speed and the lowest measuring of
the pressure. As you can see, the lowest pressure doesn’t belong to the wind speed. That is
very weird, because, as we learnt through the summaries, most of the time, the lowest
pressure belongs to the highest wind speed. Moreover, as a storm system reaches his peak
intensity, it has the lowest pressure and the highest wind speed. But these numbers aren’t
official. The numbers were measured on decks of ships.

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Rainfall:

In this chapter we are going to look at the rainfall in every country/state. I will show this in a
table, the highest 3 rainfall measurings are in the table. Since there were so many data of
rainfall for Fay, it isn’t relevant to show the other data. So that is why I only used the highest
3 measurings.
We start with the Dominican Republic:

Dominican Republic:
Place Rainfall in Inches
Azua 13.94
Joaquin B. Areop. 12.32
Pedernales 11.49

Cuba:
Place Rainfall in Inches
Agabama 18.23
Condado 12.27
Fomento 15.26

Bahamas:
Place Rainfall in Inches
Free port 9.88
Nassau 4.16

United States:
Alabama:
Place Rainfall in Inches
Clayhatchee 15.27
Highland Hom 12.74
Valley 11.87

Florida
(every measuring above the 20 Inches of rainfall)
Place Rainfall in Inches
Cape Canaveral 25.01
Cocoa Beach 22.26
Melbourne 27.65
Palm Bay 21.00
Palm Shores 21.42
Port Canaveral 21.93
Satellite Beach 22.87
Sebastian 22.25
Viera 20.75

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Georgia:
Place Rainfall in Inches
Coolidge 12.03
Elmodel 11.80
Thomasville 27.50

Kentucky:
Place Rainfall in Inches
Dubank 1.80
Lexington 1.78
London 1.78

Louisiana:
Place Rainfall in Inches
Baton Rouge 4.49
Millerville 4.38
Zachary 4.20

Mississippi:
Place Rainfall in Inches
Ackerman 7.87
Damascus 6.27
Noxapater 6.80

North Carolina:
Place Rainfall in Inches
Boone 11.40
Burnsville 11.18
Harrisburg 10.84

Ohio:
Place Rainfall in Inches
Clayhatchee 15.27
Highland Hom 12.74

South Carolina:
Place Rainfall in Inches
Lake Wylie 9.00
Lowrys 7.66
Salem 7.56

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Tennessee:
Place Rainfall in Inches
Dunlap 8.84
Red Bank 7.87
Signal Mountain 7.75

Virginia:
Place Rainfall in Inches
Danville 6.22
Lynchburg 2.70
Roanoke 4.51

West Virginia:
Place Rainfall in Inches
Bluefield 1.43
Huntington 1.40
Parkersburg 1.50

12 States of America where involved by the landfall of Fay and her remnants. This means that
24 percent of America was hit by Fay! That is a lot.

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Landfall:

In total Fay made 4 landfalls in the United States and 4 landfalls in other countries. In this
table I will show you the data that belong to the time that Fay made landfalls in the countries.
We start with Haiti:

Haiti:
Date/Time Latitude Longitude Pressure Wind speed Category:
(North) (west) (mbar) (knots)
16 / 1145 18.8 72.8 1007 40 Tropical
Storm

Dominican Republic:
Date/Time Latitude Longitude Pressure Wind speed Category:
(North) (west) (mbar) (knots)
15/1430 18.5 68.4 1009 35 Tropical
Storm

Cuba:
Date/Time Latitude Longitude Pressure Wind speed Category:
(North) (west) (mbar) (knots)
17 / 0900 19.9 77.4 1003 45 Tropical
Storm
18 / 0700 22.1 80.8 1003 45 Tropical
Storm

United States:
Florida:
Date/Time Latitude Longitude Pressure Wind speed Category:
(North) (west) (mbar) (knots)
18 / 2030 24.5 81.8 998 50 Tropical
Storm
19 / 0845 25.9 81.6 991 55 Tropical
Storm
21 / 1900 29.3 81.1 993 55 Tropical
Storm
23 / 0615 29.8 84.7 997 45 Tropical
Storm

On her peak of intensity, Fay was above Florida, short after her second landfall.

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Damage:

The damage that Fay caused was enormous. Fay caused 21 casualties in all countries that
were affected by Fay.

Direct casualties:
Dominican Republic :5
Florida (United States) :5
Haiti :3

The total damage was estimated to be around 560 million dollar.

Most of the damage was caused by the floods and the heavy rainfall that Fay brought with her.
Especially the United States was hit hard by Fay, because she was circling around Florida,
with heavy rainfall, floods and thunderstorms with even some tornadoes.
The damage that Fay caused in the islands in the Caribbean Sea was also caused by the floods
and the heavy rainfall. The harvest was completely destroyed by the problems that Fay
caused.

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Appendix:

Fay was a very special storm. I think that Fay is going to retire this year, because of the large
damage and the records that she broke. She was the only tropical storm that was still getting
stronger above land, the only storm system that made 4 landfalls in the United States and she
was also one of the deadliest storm systems of the hurricane season 2008.

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Sources:

http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/NaturalHazards/Archive/Aug2008/fay_tmo_2008232_lrg.jpg
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Fay_2008_track.png
http://www.nasa.gov/images/content/267811main_fay_main.jpg
http://photos.upi.com/story/w/50823e8efb18e1789b753e1b6848d03c/Tropical_Storm_Fay_m
ay_turn_inland.jpg
http://www.nasa.gov/images/content/268675main_q_FAY_080821_lg.jpg
http://www.hpc.ncep.noaa.gov/tropical/rain/fay2008filledrainwhite.gif
http://cache.daylife.com/imageserve/00wcfWc9f57gg/610x.jpg
http://rapidfire.sci.gsfc.nasa.gov/gallery/?2008231-0818/Fay.A2008231.1850.250m.jpg
http://z.about.com/d/weather/1/0/Z/9/-/-/TRCfay231_G12.jpg
http://www.thedailygreen.com/cm/thedailygreen/images/rb/fay020-tropical-storm-lg.jpg

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