Introduction
Throughout the course of the 2008 Atlantic hurricane season, there were a total of sixteen named storms. Eight of these storms became hurricanes and five strengthened into major hurricanes. The strongest hurricane of the season was Hurricane Ike. On September 1st, 2008, Tropical Storm Ike formed in the Atlantic and reached hurricane status by September 3rd, 2008. Ike would go on to rapidly intensify into a Category 4 storm by the next day with maximum sustained winds of 126 knots.
Hurricane Ike affected multiple islands, including two landfalls in Cuba, on its track across the Atlantic and into the Gulf of Mexico (see track). Ike’s final landfall was in Galveston, Texas on September 13th, 2008 as a strong Category 2 with storm surge equivalent of a Category 5 hurricane (landfall radar loop; Courtesy of Weather Underground).
A satellite image of Hurricane Ike, taken at 1825Z on September 7th, 2008, as it makes its way towards southern Cuba as a strong Caetgory 3. (Courtesy of the Cooperative Institute for Meteorological Satellite Studies/University of Wisconsin-Madison.)
Hurricane Ike was the largest hurricane ever observed in the Atlantic basin with hurricane force winds extending 125 miles from the center of circulation. It left behind devastation from the Louisiana coastline to the southern coast of Texas, as well as flooding and significant damage along the Mississippi coastline into the Florida Panhandle. This made Ike the third most destructive and costliest Atlantic hurricane to hit the United States.
Conditions in the Atlantic were favorable for the development and intensification of a hurricane when Ike formed. In the next section, I will go into further detail about these conditions, along with Ike’s steering environment, and the easterly wave that Ike originated from. I will also explain the eyewall replacement cycle that caused Ike to weaken. First, let’s take a look at the steering currents that eventually brought Ike into the Gulf of Mexico.
