![]() ![]() Reinhold, 2007: Tropical Cyclone Destructive Potential by Integrated Kinetic Energy. The following papers were written by HRD scientists using Opal data: ![]() The storm caused over US$5 billion in damage and killed 63 people. Opal became absorbed into a frontal zone over the Ohio River valley while it spread heavy rain along the Appalachian Mountains. It weakened to a tropical storm as it moved over Alabama, and dumped nearly 20 inches of rain in places. 4th with winds only slightly diminished to 115 mph (185 km/hr). Opal made landfall near Pensacola, FL around 6 PM on Oct. Rainfall from Hurricane Opal 1995 (NOAA/WPC) ![]() Hurricane Warnings had only been posted at 11 PM the night before, and the nightly TV news broadcasts had mostly focused on the verdict in the OJ Simpson trial. In the panhandle, people had very little time to rush their preparations to completion. The Hurricane Research Division scrambled to fly an electrification mission into the rapidly advancing storm, which turned into a landfall experiment as well. Its forward speed accelerated as it rapidly intensified. The pressure bottomed out at 916 mb as its maximum sustained winds reached 150 mph (240 km/hr). With the approach of an low pressure trough from the west, Opal began to move northeastward and as it did so its central pressure began to drop. It wasn’t until the morning of October 2nd that it reached hurricane strength. The upper-level steering currents remained weak, and Opal spent the next three days over the Bay of Campeche, leisurely become more developed. 29th, it became a tropical storm and was named. Once along the northern shore of the Yucatan on the night of Sept. As it dawdled, it dumped heavy rain, causing thousands to evacuated due to flooding. As the depression moved slowly over the Peninsula, it became more organized and gathered strength. The disturbance from which Opal formed had spent days drifting across the Atlantic and Caribbean Sea before forming a closed circulation as it approached the Yucatan. After days of idling in the southern Gulf of Mexico, Opal had suddenly sprinted northward and intensified causing panic along the coast. On the afternoon of October 4, 1995, Hurricane Opal slammed into the Florida Panhandle. ![]()
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