Hurricane Ike (2008)

Chronology

Ike intensified after moving west off the West African coast on August 28 as a tropical wave. When the storm reached the Cape Verde Islands on August 29, thunderstorms intensified to the point where the storm was labeled a tropical depression. On September 1, when the storm was about to leave the Cape Verde Islands, it gained enough strength to be called a tropical storm. Headed toward the north and west with the help of a subtropical ridge, the tropical storm gained more strength in following days in the Atlantic Ocean. Dry air around the tropical storm helped to slow the intensity. However, on early September 3, an eye became clear in the center of the tropical storm. The depression was then named Hurricane Ike, and at the time it was approximately 600 miles off the northern Leeward Islands.

Ike increased to a Category 4 hurricane when it hit Turks and Caicos on September 6. The hurricane slowed to a Category 3 around Great Inagua in the southern Bahamas on September 7, when it made a landfall. However, it immediately intensified again to a Category 4 the following day. In early hours of September 8, Ike passed over southern Cuba with a powerful landfall. This slowed Ike once again, although it made another landfall in western Cuba the next day. On September 10, a subtropical ridge turned Ike to the northwest into the Mexican Gulf. Ike's Cuban landfalls disrupted its center core, which prevented intensification until September 12.

Ike remained a Category 2 hurricane when it entered into the United States from southeast Texas, on the north end of Galveston on September 13. Landfall slowed Ike, which was downgraded to a tropical storm the same day, although the center of the storm managed to pass through Galveston. It followed a north northeast path in the following days through Arkansas and Missouri toward Quebec as a weak extratropical storm.

According to meteorological reports, Ike reached its peak intensity on September 4 in the Atlantic Ocean, with maximum sustained winds of 143 mph and minimum central pressure of 935 millibars. During Texas landfall, Ike produced maximum sustained winds of 95 mph and minimum central pressure of 951.7 millibars on the surface. After Texas, Ike was reported to produce strong, windy gusts in Louisville, Kentucky, and Ohio.

Path of Destruction: Bahamas, Haiti, and Cuba

The Atlantic Tropical Weather Outlook (TWO) reported the tropical depression as soon as it left Africa toward the Americas on August 28. As TWO estimated, Ike became a tropical storm in several days. The Bahamas issued hurricane warnings 24 hours before Ike hit southern Bahamas, and Turks and Caicos. Similarly, Cuba issued warnings 21 hours before Ike's winds spread over the eastern part of the country.

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