Isla Culebra () (Snake Island) is an island-municipality of Puerto Rico originally called Isla Pasaje and Isla de San Ildefonso. It is located about seventeen miles east of the Puerto Rican mainland, twelve miles west of St. Thomas and nine miles north of Vieques. Culebra is spread over 5 wards and Culebra (Dewey) Pueblo (The downtown area and the administrative center of the city). The island is also known as Isla Chiquita (Little Island) and Ultima Virgen (Last Virgin). Residents of the island are known as "Culebrenses".
Vieques, Puerto Rico
Vieques (English pronunciation: "vee-AY-kayz" or "-kez"), in full Isla de Vieques, is an island-municipality of Puerto Rico in the northeastern Caribbean. Like mainland Puerto Rico the island is US territory, though it retains strong Spanish influences from 400 years of Spanish ownership.
Fajardo, Puerto Rico
Fajardo (fah-HAHR-do) is a small city in eastern Puerto Rico. It is on the Atlantic Ocean, north of Ceiba and east of Luquillo. Fajardo has 7 wards and Fajardo Pueblo (The downtown area and the administrative center of the city).
Hurricane Noel
Hurricane Noel was the fourteenth named storm and sixth hurricane of the 2007 Atlantic hurricane season. Noel formed on October 27 from the interaction between a tropical wave and an upper-level low in the north-central Caribbean Sea. It strengthened to winds of 60 mph (95 km/h) before making landfall on western Haiti and the north coast of eastern Cuba. It turned northward, and on November 1 it attained hurricane status. The hurricane accelerated northeastward after crossing the Bahamas, and on November 2 it became an extratropical cyclone. (The Canadian Hurricane Centre classified Noel as a post-tropical storm until 2200 UTC November 4 when it determined that it had lost all tropical characteristics.)
The storm caused at least 169 deaths along its path, primarily in Hispaniola, due to flooding and mudslides. It was the deadliest Atlantic hurricane of the 2007 season. After its transition to post-tropical, Noel became a very strong low pressure system causing flooding and wind damage over Maine and Eastern Canada. It even dropped snow over some areas of Eastern Quebec and Labrador.
The name Noel was retired in May 2008 and replaced by Nestor for the 2013 Atlantic hurricane season.
Storm history of Hurricane Wilma
The meteorological history of Hurricane Wilma, the strongest tropical cyclone known in the Western Hemisphere, began in the second week of October 2005. A big weather system formed across much of the Caribbean Sea and slowly organized to the southeast of Jamaica. By late on October 15, the system was became strong for the National Hurricane Center to name it Tropical Depression Twenty-Four.
The depression slowly moved southwestward, and in conditions that were good for strengthening, it strengthened into Tropical Storm "Wilma" on October 17. In the beginning, development was slow because of its large size, although thunderstorms slowly organized. From October 18, and over the next day, Wilma underwent explosive deepening over the open waters of the Caribbean; in a 30-hour period, the system's central atmospheric pressure dropped from 982 mbar (29.00 inHg) to the record-low value of 882 mbar (26.05 inHg), while the winds increased to 185 mph (300 km/h). At its strongest, the pinhole eye of Wilma was about 3 miles (5 km) in diameter, the smallest known eye in an Atlantic hurricane. After the inner eye died off because of an eyewall replacement cycle, Wilma weakened to Category 4 status, and on October 21, it made landfall on Cozumel and on the Mexican mainland with winds of about 150 mph (240 km/h).
Wilma weakened over the Yucatán Peninsula, and reached the southern Gulf of Mexico before speeding up northeastward. Despite increasing amounts of wind shear, the hurricane re-strengthened to hit Cape Romano, Florida as a major hurricane. Wilma weakened as it quickly crossed the state, and entered the Atlantic Ocean near Jupiter, Florida. The hurricane again re-intensified before cold air and wind shear penetrated the inner core of convection. On October 26, it turned into an extratropical cyclone, and the next day, the remnants of Wilma were absorbed by another extratropical storm over Atlantic Canada.
The origin of Hurricane Wilma is complicated. During the second week of October, an unusually large, monsoon-like lower-level circulation and a large area of disturbed weather developed over much of the Caribbean Sea. The system was enhanced by diffluence—the rate at which a fluid moves—from an upper-level low across the southwestern Atlantic. By October 13, a broad area of low pressure developed and persisted about 150 miles (240 km) southeast of Jamaica, possibly aided by the passage of tropical waves through the area at the time. Convection increased and became slightly better organized, though upper-level wind shear originally stopped development. The system moved westward, and early on October 14 the convection became more concentrated and a little better organized as upper-level wind shear lessened slightly.
Later on October 14, the system became much better organized, with increasingly organized shower and thunderstorm activity, as conditions in the upper levels of the atmosphere became significantly more favorable. It was then that the National Hurricane Center first said that it was possible for a tropical depression to develop in the area. Dvorak classifications were initiated on October 15. The system continued to organize, with the National Hurricane Center remarking the system could ultimately become a hurricane. By late on October 15, the surface circulation became defined well-enough, with enough organized deep convection, for the National Hurricane Center to designate the system as "Tropical Depression Twenty-Four" while it was about 220 miles (345 km) east-southeast of Grand Cayman.
The depression tracked slowly westward, a motion due to weak steering currents caused by a high pressure system to its north across the Gulf of Mexico. Initially, the center of circulation was broad without a defined inner core; forecaster Lixion Avila remarked, "The area of minimum pressure could [have been] anywhere within 60 miles (95 km) of its [initial advisory position]." Originally, the tropical depression was forecast to drift west-southwestward before turning to the north; within 120 hours of the forecast's issuance, the system was predicted to be about 80 miles (130 km) south of the Isle of Youth as a 105 mph (170 km/h) hurricane. However, the National Hurricane Center noted in the first advisory on the depression that there were "all indications that there could a dangerous hurricane in the northwestern Caribbean Sea in 3 to 5 days." This was due to the depression being in an environment very ideal for development, specifically low amounts of wind shear and very warm water temperatures.
As Tropical Depression Twenty-Four drifted southwestward, it steadily organized; by early on October 16, rainbands began to slowly consolidate with well-established outflow, and a large upper-level anticyclone developed over the depression. Although deep convection and banding features increased, mid-level dry air from the north prevented significant organization, and the convection was split into two primary areas. Surface buoy reports indicated that, due to its large size, the system failed to strengthen beyond tropical depression status, even though it received tropical storm strength Dvorak classifications from The National Hurricane Center's Tropical Analysis and Forecast Branch and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's Satellite Analysis Branch. Continued reconnaissance flights reported peak winds of about 30 mph (50 km/h).