Earl summary

Earl: (1-2 September 1998)

The tropical wave between those that formed Bonnie and Danielle slipped into the Gulf of Mexico and triggered a lot of deep convection. On 1 September it was upgraded to tropical storm Earl, bypassing the depression phase, and the forecasters and AFRES aircraft had a hard time finding the disturbance center, repositioning a number of times in the initial twelve hours. A NOAA G-IVSP surveillance mission was conducted on 1 September indicating a short wave trough was sweeping in over TX and should overtake TS Earl in the next 24 h.

During the morning of 2 September Earl became a hurricane as it raced ENE toward the FL panhandle with landfall near Panama City. The Texas Tech Univertity (TTU) tower was in Panama City and the University of Alabama/Huntsville (UAH) profiler was in Tallahassee, FL. WP-3D (N43RF) took off at 1900 UTC for a landfall and storm surge mapping mission at 15,000 and 8,000 ft, while the DC-8 and ER-2 took off at 1930 UTC for a TRMM/Landfall mission at 35,000 and 65,000, respectively. AFRES WC-130 did reconnaissance and the University of North Dakota (UND) Citation participated in the TRMM mission.

GPS dropsonde (HSA) data format

Storm/Date Aircraft (Duration) Altitude Experiment Comments (expendables)

Earl

1 September G-IV (9 h)
GPS dropsondes 41 kft Synoptic Surveillance 31 GPS sondes

2 September
N43RF (8.5 h) mission summary(644 Kb)
1 minute listing
GPS dropsondes
AXBT zipped data

WC-130

DC-8 (9 h) mission summary

ER-2 (7 h)

Citation (5 h) mission summary

7-14 kft

5 kft

35-37 kft

65 kft

18-25 kft

Hurricanes at Landfall

Fig 4, zig-zag in major rainband with legs toward KEVX and KTLH, SRA runs along Appalachie Bay for storm surge

AFRES recon.

DC-8, ER-2 and UND Citation

TRMM patterns working with KEVX and KTLH

Earl very asymmetric relatively weak hurricane (85 kt). 20 nm radius eyewall. Vigorous convection and strongest winds in major ENE band. Apparent trough interaction.

SRA imaged 20-30' waves and storm surge

Numerous eyewall drops with AXBTs and drops near buoys and CMANs.

(TTU) instrumented tower in Panama City and (UAH) profiler in Tallahassee.
(18 AXBT, 29 GPS sondes).

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For information about NOAA Hurricane Field Program marks@aoml.noaa.gov

Updated Tuesday, 15 September 1998

Storm/Date	Aircraft (Duration)	Altitude	Experiment	Comments (expendables)
Earl
1 September	G-IV (9 h) GPS dropsondes	41 kft	Synoptic Surveillance	31 GPS sondes
2 September	N43RF (8.5 h) mission summary(644 Kb) 1 minute listing GPS dropsondes AXBT zipped data WC-130 DC-8 (9 h) mission summary ER-2 (7 h) Citation (5 h) mission summary	7-14 kft 5 kft 35-37 kft 65 kft 18-25 kft	Hurricanes at Landfall Fig 4, zig-zag in major rainband with legs toward KEVX and KTLH, SRA runs along Appalachie Bay for storm surge AFRES recon. DC-8, ER-2 and UND Citation TRMM patterns working with KEVX and KTLH	Earl very asymmetric relatively weak hurricane (85 kt). 20 nm radius eyewall. Vigorous convection and strongest winds in major ENE band. Apparent trough interaction. SRA imaged 20-30' waves and storm surge Numerous eyewall drops with AXBTs and drops near buoys and CMANs. (TTU) instrumented tower in Panama City and (UAH) profiler in Tallahassee. (18 AXBT, 29 GPS sondes).