page_title: Hurricane Harvey
section_title: Meteorological history
hierarchical_section_title: Hurricane Harvey / Meteorological history
caption_attribution_description: English: Track map of Hurricane Harvey of the 2017 Atlantic hurricane season. The points show the location of the storm at 6-hour intervals. The colour represents the storm's maximum sustained wind speeds as classified in the Saffir–Simpson scale (see below), and the shape of the data points represent the nature of the storm, according to the legend below. Saffir–Simpson scale Tropical depression≤38 mph≤62 km/h Category 3111–129 mph178–208 km/h Tropical storm39–73 mph63–118 km/h Category 4130–156 mph209–251 km/h Category 174–95 mph119–153 km/h Category 5≥157 mph≥252 km/h Category 296–110 mph154–177 km/h Unknown Storm type Tropical cyclone Subtropical cyclone Extratropical cyclone / Remnant low / Tropical disturbance / Monsoon depression
context_page_description: Hurricane Harvey was a devastating Category 4 hurricane that made landfall on Texas and Louisiana in August 2017, causing catastrophic flooding and many deaths. It is tied with 2005's Hurricane Katrina as the costliest tropical cyclone on record, inflicting $125 billion in damage, primarily from catastrophic rainfall-triggered flooding in the Houston metropolitan area and Southeast Texas. It was the first major hurricane to make landfall in the United States since Wilma in 2005, ending a record 12-year span in which no hurricanes made landfall at the intensity of a major hurricane throughout the country. In a four-day period, many areas received more than 40 inches of rain as the system slowly meandered over eastern Texas and adjacent waters, causing unprecedented flooding. With peak accumulations of 60.58 in, in Nederland, Texas, Harvey was the wettest tropical cyclone on record in the United States. The resulting floods inundated hundreds of thousands of homes, which displaced more than 30,000 people and prompted more than 17,000 rescues.
context_section_description: Hurricane Harvey originated from a westward-moving tropical wave that emerged from Africa over the eastern Atlantic Ocean, on August 12, 2017. A surface circulation slowly developed and convection consolidated around the low over the subsequent days; the system became a tropical depression on August 17, roughly 505 mi (815 km) east of Barbados. Maintaining its brisk westward motion, the system strengthened slightly and became a tropical storm later that day, at which time it was assigned the name Harvey. With maximum sustained winds of 45 mph (75 km/h), Harvey made landfalls in Barbados and St. Vincent on August 18 before entering the Caribbean Sea. Hostile environmental conditions, namely wind shear, imparted weakening and caused Harvey to degenerate into a tropical wave by August 19. Though it lacked an organized surface low, the remnants of Harvey continued to produce significant convection as it traversed the Caribbean Sea and Yucatán Peninsula. The system reached the Bay of Campeche in the Gulf of Mexico on August 23 and soon consolidated around a new surface low.
  Late on August 23, the remnants of Harvey regenerated into a tropical cyclone and reattained tropical storm intensity by 18:00 UTC. Initial reorganization was slow; however, within a highly favorable environment, the system soon underwent rapid intensification as an eye developed and its central pressure quickly fell. After becoming a hurricane on August 24, Harvey continued to quickly strengthen over the next day, ultimately reaching peak intensity as a Category 4 hurricane. Around 03:00 UTC on August 26, the hurricane made landfall at peak intensity on San Jose Island, just east of Rockport, with winds of 130 mph (215 km/h) and an atmospheric pressure of 937 mbar (27.7 inHg). It made a second landfall on the Texas mainland, at Rockport, three hours later in a slightly weakened state. Harvey became the first major hurricane to make landfall in the United States since Wilma in 2005.
  After striking land, Harvey rapidly weakened as its speed slowed dramatically to a crawl, and Harvey weakened to a tropical storm on August 26. For about two days the storm stalled just inland, dropping very heavy rainfall and causing widespread flash flooding. Harvey's center drifted back towards the southeast, ultimately re-emerging into the Gulf of Mexico on August 28. Once offshore, the poorly organized system struggled against strong wind shear. Deep convection persisted north of the cyclone's center near the Houston metropolitan area along a stationary front, resulting in several days of record-breaking rain. Early on August 30, the former hurricane made its fifth and final landfall just west of Cameron, Louisiana with winds of 45 mph (75 km/h). Associated convection with Harvey became focused north of the center and along a warm front on September 1 as it moved further inland, indicating that the system transitioned into a post-tropical cyclone by 06:00 UTC that day. The remnants continued northeastwards, before being absorbed into another extratropical system on September 3.
caption: Map plotting the track and the intensity of the storm, according to the Saffir–Simpson scale
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