![]() ![]() In Fayetteville, NC, nearly 15 inches of rain fell. At Hunter Army Air Field in Savannah, Georgia, almost 17.5 inches of rain were recorded. More than ten inches of rain fell in large swaths of the southeastern United States. Precipitable water amounts-the amount of liquid water that would be produced if all the moisture in a column of atmosphere were to condense in an instant-were historically high in Jacksonville, FL, and Charleston, SC. Record-breaking sea surface temperatures led to record-breaking amounts of moisture in the air, which Matthew expertly turned into copious amounts of rain. While the oceans battered the coastlines, huge amounts of rain caused inland flooding emergencies in the Carolinas, Georgia, and Virginia. Inland flooding – a hurricane’s less talked about, but incredibly dangerous impact NOAA image based on data from NOAA's Global Data Explorer. Above-normal waters helped Hurricane Matthew maintain its strength as it moved through the Caribbean towards the southeastern United States. ![]() Sea surface temperature anomalies (degrees Celsius) for the Atlantic Ocean during the week of September 26 - October 2, 2016. In Charleston, high tide on the morning of September 8 rose to the third-highest on record. Wilmington, NC, and Mayport, FL, also broke storm tide records that had been set during previous hurricanes. Fort Pulaski’s storm tide was 5.06 feet, breaking the previous record of 3.4 feet set in 1947. In fact, three cities set all-time storm tide records (tide +storm surge) during Matthew. Fernandina Beach, Florida saw 6.4 feet of storm surge. Charleston observed 6.1 feet of storm surge. Over 7 feet of storm surge (water level above the normal tides) was recorded in Fort Pulaski, Georgia. Even as it moved north and weakened, the storm was able to push a huge volume of ocean water onshore, causing extensive coastal flooding. The storm tracked directly along the eastern Florida coastline, never officially making landfall, as the eye stayed over water, but buffeting the coastline with heavy rain, strong winds, and a large storm surge.Īt some points, the eye of Matthew was less than 10 miles offshore. Matthew stayed a major hurricane for just over seven days, the fifth-longest streak on record. Matthew’s United States storm surge impactsĪfter tearing through the Caribbean, Matthew maintained its strength by taking advantage of some of the warmest waters on record in the Caribbean and along the Gulf Stream. Matthew brought heavy rain, strong winds and a large storm surge to many southern states. NASA/NOAA image from the Suomi-NPP Satellite taken from NOAA's Global Data Explorer. Hurricane Matthew following the coastline of the southeastern United States on October 7, 2016. Next on Matthew’s target list: the United States. Matthew was the first major hurricane on record to make landfall in Haiti, Cuba, and the Bahamas. After striking Haiti, Matthew, still a major hurricane, barreled through Cuba and the Bahamas, leading to additional-though fewer-fatalities. As of mid-October, more than 1,000 people were listed as killed by the storm in Haiti alone. It was the first time a Category 4 storm made landfall in Haiti since 1964.Įntire towns were destroyed, bridges washed away, and communities left stranded. Matthew made landfall over the southern peninsula of Haiti on October 4 as a Category 4 storm, delivering 20 to 40 inches of rain in southern Haiti. Devastation in the CaribbeanĪfter reaching Category 5 strength, Matthew abruptly changed course, heading north with Haiti and Cuba in its direct path. All of which was even more unusual as it took place in the eastern Caribbean Ocean, a location which has been dubbed a “hurricane graveyard”-a place where low-pressure systems have routinely failed to develop into hurricanes. Matthew was the first Category 5 storm in the Atlantic since 2007, and it was the lowest latitude Category 5 hurricane in the Atlantic on record. In the 24 hours after September 30, Matthew intensified from a storm with 80mph winds to a Category 5 behemoth with 160mph winds. After this relatively slow start, Matthew grew extremely strong, extremely quickly. The storm became named a Category 1 hurricane on September 29. Matthew became a tropical storm close to the Lesser Antilles on September 28, and for several days tracked west as a tropical storm. Matthew’s origin from normal storm to Category 5 monster NASA/NOAA image from the Suomi-NPP Satellite taken from NOAA's Global Data Explorer. To the northeast, over the Atlantic Ocean, spins, at the time, tropical storm Nicole. Hurricane Matthew making landfall across the southern peninsula of Haiti on October 4, 2016. ![]()
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