2013 Atlantic hurricane season- new

2013

Hurricane Andrea
On the second to last week of July, an impressive tropical wave begun to develop in the Central Atlantic. It entered a brief area of favorable low shear and was declared Tropical Storm Andrea on July 26, about 645 miles ESE of Puerto Rico. Intensification was very slow, due to slightly higher shear, until it neared Puerto Rico late on July 28 where conditions suddenly became unusually favorable and it rapidly intensified into a category one hurricane on July 29 by the time it was skirting and starting to impact Puerto Rico. Damage amounting up to $125 million USD accompanied by 3 deaths were reported in Puerto Rico. Soon after, on the morning of July 30, it strengthened into a category two then a category three on July 31 as it neared The Bahamas and headed towards Florida. Residents in Florida were frantically preparing for the storm, as forecasters expected a significant (possibly major) hurricane making landfall. But at the last minute, on August 1, Andrea turned to the north near NW Bahamas sparing Florida from the worst, although gale force winds caused isolated reports of minimal damage and 2 people drowned from surf (similar to 2011's Irene). Andrea maintained category three intensity until' it came near the SC Coast on the morning of August 3. Now evacuations were up for NC Outer Banks and Andrea made landfall near Cape Hatteras NC later that day with winds around 110 MPH (a high end category two). Severe damage occurred from storm surge, amounting up to $5.5 billion USD, and 36 people died as a result. Its remnants brought numerous showers and thunderstorms to inland portions of Virginia, Pennsylvania, western New Jersey, New York and points further north. A total of 41 people died with $5.6 billion USD damage totals.