Introduction

Hurricane Michael of 2018 was a storm that intensified rapidly in the Gulf of America. Hurricane Michael was one of strongest storms (peak winds of 155 mph) to make landfall in the continental United States, devastating the Florida panhandle. Here we focus on examining the sea surface temperature (SST) response associated with this hurricane, specifically its cold wakes, using the NASA Multi-Scale Ultra-High Resolution (MUR) SST dataset. Cold wakes are trails of cold subsurface water that have been brought to the surface as a result of wind-induced mixing and turbulence (Chen et al., 2017).

Major Findings

The animation shows the evolution of SST anomalies in the Gulf of America during Hurricane Michael. Before Michael (October 2, 2018), waters were approximately 2°C warmer than normal in the Eastern Gulf. The warm anomalies contributed to the intensification of Michael prior to landfall. On October 10, 2018, Michael made landfall as a Category 4 hurricane near Mexico Beach, Florida. 

The cold wake associated with Michael was clearly observed as waters were approximately 3°C cooler from normal on October 10, 2018 (during landfall) along the hurricane track that persisted several days after landfall (October 14 and 17, 2018). Learn more by reading the National Hurricane Center's 2018 Tropical Cyclone Report.

References

Chen, S, Elsberry, RL, Harr, PA (2017) Modeling Interaction of a Tropical Cyclone with Its Cold Wake, Journal of Atmospheric Sciences, 74(12), 3981-4001. doi:10.1175/JAS-D-16-0246.1