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Origins
A
tropical wave moved off the coast of Africa on August 14. Under the influence of a
ridge of high pressure to its north, the wave tracked quickly westward. An area of
convection developed along the wave axis to the south of the
Cape Verde islands, and on August 15 meteorologists began classifying the system with the
Dvorak technique. The thunderstorm activity became more concentrated, and narrow spiral
rainbands developed around a developing center of circulation. Based on a Dvorak T-number of 2.0, it is estimated Tropical Depression Three developed late on August 16 about 1,630 miles (2,620 km) east-southeast of
Barbados.
[1]
Hurricane Andrew as a Category 5 hurricane near the Bahamas
Embedded within the deep easterlies, the depression tracked west-northwestward at 20 miles per hour (32 km/h).
[2] Initially, moderate
wind shear prevented strengthening, though a decrease in shear allowed the depression to intensify into Tropical Storm Andrew at around 1200
UTC on August 17.
[1] By early on August 18, the storm maintained concentrated convection near the center with spiral bands to its west as the winds increased to 50 miles per hour (80 km/h).
[3] Shortly thereafter the thunderstorms decreased markedly during the diurnal minimum,
[4] and as the storm turned to the northwest increased southwesterly wind shear from an upper-level low prevented Andrew from maintaining deep convection.
[1]
On August 19, a
Hurricane Hunters flight into the storm failed to locate a well-defined center,
[5] and the next day a flight found that the cyclone had degenerated to the extent that only a diffuse low-level circulation center remained; observations indicated the pressure rose to an unusually high 1015
mbar. The flight indicated Andrew maintained a vigorous circulation aloft, with winds of 80 miles per hour (130 km/h) recorded at flight level. Subsequently, the upper-level low weakened and split into a
trough, which decreased the wind shear over the storm. Simultaneously, a strong high pressure cell developed over the southeastern United States, which built eastward and caused Andrew to turn to the west.
[1] Convection became more organized as upper-level
outflow became better established.
[6] An
eye formed, and Andrew attained hurricane status early on August 22 while located about 650 miles (1,050 km) eastsoutheast of
Nassau, Bahamas.
[1]
