page_title: Hurricane Nicole (2016)
section_title: Bermuda
hierarchical_section_title: Hurricane Nicole (2016) / Preparations and impact / Bermuda
caption_attribution_description: English: When Hurricane Nicole blew across the Atlantic and over Bermuda in October 2016, the storm stirred up the ocean and left a distinctive pattern in its wake. Sea surface temperature data reveals Nicole’s impact on the waters it passed over. Hurricanes feed off warm ocean surface temperatures, like a fire relies on a steady oxygen supply to keep burning. The warm, relatively shallow layer at the top of the ocean provides much of the fuel to develop and sustain a storm. As the storm passes over the sea, it can mix up the water column, said Scott Braun, a research meteorologist at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center. If a storm is moving quickly, it pushes forward into new, warm water masses without losing energy. But if a storm moves slowly, it can sap its own strength. “If the hurricane mixes the [top] layer of the ocean, it taps into colder water below,” said Braun. When the storm cools the surface, it reduces the intensity of the weather system while making it less likely for new storms to form in its wake (over the short term). The map above shows sea surface temperatures anomalies, not absolute temperatures. It depicts how much water temperatures were above or below the long term average for October. The map was built using data from the Microwave Optimally Interpolated SST product. The sensors track microwave and infrared light emissions from the sea surface in order to capture the temperature of the top few millimeters of water. Some of those measurements come from the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on NASA’s Terra satellite. In the case of Hurricane Nicole, the waters south of Bermuda reflect its slow advance for a week of development before it became a full-blown hurricane. The cold water wakes are evenly distributed on both sides of the storm track, a sign of its plodding pace and the ocean mixing occurring below. The cool water even reflects the loop in Nicole’s path that temporarily weakened the storm. As the storm sped up—as it approached and moved past Bermuda—colder water mostly appears on the right side of the track. “The ocean is responding to where winds are strongest, and that’s why you get most cooling on the right side,” Braun said. The stronger winds on the right side of the storm stirred up more of the water column, leaving a lop-sided wake. Deutsch: Als Hurrikan Nicole im Oktober 2016 über den Atlantik und Bermuda hinwegzog, wühlte er den Ozean auf und hinterließ ein erkennbares Muster. Die Wasseroberflächentemperaturen enthüllen den Einfluß Nicoles auf die Gewässer, die der Hurrikan überquert hat. Hurrikane nehmen ihre Energie aus warmen Meeresoberflächen, wie ein Feuer auf eine stetige Versorgung mit Sauerstoff angewiesen ist, um am Brennen zu bleiben. Die warme, relative dünne Schicht an der Oberfläche des Ozeans stellt einen Großteil der Energie zur Verfügung, die zur Entwicklung und zum Fortbestand eines Sturmes notwendig sind. Während der Sturm über das Meer zieht, kann er sich mit der Wassersäule vermischen, sagte Scott Braun, ein forschender Meteorologe vom Goddard Space Flight Center der NASA. Wenn ein Sturm rasch vorwärts zieht, gelangt er über neues warmes Wasser, ohne Energie zu verlieren. Doch wenn der Sturm nur langsam wandert, zehrt er seine eigene Stärke auf. ”Wenn der Hurrikan die [ober] Schicht des Ozeans vermischt, zapft er kälteres Wasser darunter an“, sagte Braun. Wenn der Sturm die Oberfläche abkühlt, reduziert er die Intensität des Wettersystems, womit es weniger wahrscheinlich wird, daß auf kurze Sicht sich neue Stürme in seinem Nachlauf bilden. Die obige Karte zeigt die Wasseroberflächentemperaturenanomalien, keine absluten Temperaturen. Sie bildet ab, wie stark die Wasseroberflächentemepraturen nach oben oder unten vom langfristigen Durchschnitt für Oktober abweichen. Die Karte wurde erzeugt, indem Microwave-Optimally-Interpolated-SST-Daten verwendet wurden. Die Sensoren verfolgen Mikrowellen- und Infrarotlichtausstrahlungen der Wasseroberfläche, um die Temepraturen der obersten paaar Millimeter des Wassers zu messen. Einige der Messungen stammen vom Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) auf dem Terra-Satelliten der NASA. Im Falle von Hurrikan Nicole spiegeln die Gewässer südlich von Bermuda die über den Lauf einer Woche der Entwicklung langsame Vorwärtsgeschwindigkeit wider, bevor Nicole zu einem vollentwickelten Hurrikan wurde. Der Kaltwassernachlauf ist auf beiden Seiten des Sturmes gleichmäßig ausgebildet, was ein Zeichen für das schwerfällige Voranschreiten und die Vermischung des Ozeanwassers darunter ist. Das kühle Wasser zeigt sogar die Schleife in Nicoles Pfad, die den Sturm zeitweilig abgeschwächte hatte. Als der Sturm bei der Annäherung und beim Vorbeizug an Bermuda seine Zuggeschwindigkeit erhöhte, erschien das kühle Wasser weitgehend nur auf der rechten Seite der Zugbahn. ”Der Ozean reagiert darauf, wo die Winde am stärksten sind, und das ist der Grund, warum die stärkste Abkühlung auf der rechten Seite stattfindet“, sagte Braun. Die stärkeren Winde auf der rechten Seite des Sturmes, wühlten die Wassersäule stärker durcheinanander und erzeugten einen einseitigen Nachlauf.
context_page_description: Hurricane Nicole was the first major hurricane to directly impact Bermuda since Hurricane Fabian in 2003 as equally one of the strongest hurricanes to do so. The fourteenth named storm, sixth hurricane and third major hurricane of the 2016 Atlantic hurricane season, Nicole formed in the central Atlantic on October 4. The small, slow-moving storm defied forecasts by steadily organizing in spite of strong wind shear, and it rapidly intensified to a Category 2 hurricane on October 7. The wind shear finally took its toll by October 8, reducing Nicole to a minimal tropical storm, as a building high pressure system forced the storm southwards. Intensification began once again as the storm retreated towards Bermuda, and Nicole reached its peak intensity early on October 13 as a Category 4 hurricane with 140 mph winds. Shortly thereafter, increased vertical wind shear weakened the storm to Category 3 status, and the eye of the storm passed over Bermuda later that day. Afterwards, Nicole accelerated northeastwards while gradually weakening, but significantly expanding in size as it traversed the Northern Atlantic.
context_section_description: On October 10, while the storm was still located about 415 mi (670 km) to the south, the Bermuda Weather Service issued a hurricane watch for the islands of Bermuda. A concurrent tropical storm warning was posted early the next morning, and both advisories were replaced with a hurricane warning when Nicole reintensified into a hurricane.  Residents boarded up their homes and businesses and placed sandbags to minimize the effects of flooding. Small boats were removed from marinas for safe storage, while larger vessels that remained in the water were tightly secured. Schools and government offices closed for the duration of the storm, while ferry and bus services were suspended on October 12. Additionally, commercial flights to and from L.F. Wade International Airport were canceled. The threat of the storm prompted three cruise liners to cancel their scheduled stops at Bermuda.
  As a precaution, officials closed the Causeway late on October 12. Some 140 Royal Bermuda Regiment soldiers were deployed at strategic points, ready to assist in the aftermath of the storm. At the Cedarbridge Academy, a government shelter was opened with cots and emergency supplies for storm victims. Bermuda's only daily newspaper, The Royal Gazette, did not go to print on October 13. With adverse weather conditions expected to impact a crucial NASA rocket tracking site in Bermuda, the launch of an International Space Station resupply spacecraft from Virginia's Wallops Flight Facility was postponed. The mission had already been delayed, in part due to the threat of Hurricane Matthew.
  Strong swells from the slow-moving storm started affecting Bermuda on October 6. Later, on October 11, gusty winds along the periphery of Nicole's circulation caused a brief power outage. As the core of the hurricane passed over Bermuda, a weather station on Pearl Island recorded sustained winds of 87 mph (141 km/h) with gusts to 119 mph (191 km/h). An elevated station at Commissioner's Point recorded slightly higher winds. Nicole also dropped extremely heavy rainfall, amounting to 6.77 in (172 mm).
  The strong winds brought down trees and powerlines, leaving 27,341 households—approximately 90% of all electric customers in the territory—without service. Service was predominately restored within a few days, though isolated outages reappeared well after the storm's passage, when salt deposits began disrupting the electric power distribution system. The terminal building at L.F. Wade International Airport was partially unroofed, and rainwater leaks were reported throughout the facility. Agriculture took a significant hit, as the storm destroyed fields of fruit and vegetable crops in various stages of growth. At least one farmer reported a nearly total loss of young vegetable plants. Dozens of boats, some up to 80 ft (24 m) in length, were ripped from their moorings and left damaged, sunken, or crushed upon rocky sections of coastline. Low-lying roadways and buildings were flooded, and some homes sustained roof damage, but the hurricane proved less destructive than initially feared. No fatalities or serious injuries were reported, although seven individuals were hospitalized with minor weather-related injuries. An unusually high number of blackpoll warblers were spotted in Bermuda after Hurricane Nicole disrupted their transoceanic migration, forcing them to seek shelter. Insured loss were counted at $15 million.
caption: A map of sea surface temperature anomalies along the track of Hurricane Nicole. The hurricane's winds upwelled cooler waters below the surface, leaving behind a cold wake along its path.
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