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355 
ABNT30 KNHC 011225
TWSAT 
MONTHLY TROPICAL WEATHER SUMMARY
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE MIAMI FL
8 AM EDT WED SEP 01 1999
 
FOR THE NORTH ATLANTIC...CARIBBEAN SEA AND THE GULF OF MEXICO...

...SUMMARY OF TROPICAL CYCLONE ACTIVITY DURING AUGUST...

FOUR TROPICAL CYCLONES FORMED IN THE ATLANTIC BASIN DURING AUGUST
...HURRICANE BRET...HURRICANE CINDY...HURRICANE DENNIS...AND
TROPICAL STORM EMILY.  TWO OF THESE...BRET AND CINDY...REACHED
SAFFIR-SIMPSON CATEGORY FOUR STRENGTH.  

SO FAR...1999 HURRICANE SEASON ACTIVITY HAS BEEN SLIGHTLY ABOVE
AVERAGE...WITH FIVE NAMED STORMS...THREE HURRICANES...AND TWO MAJOR
HURRICANES.  AN AVERAGE SEASON WOULD HAVE PRODUCED FOUR NAMED
STORMS...TWO HURRICANES...AND NO MAJOR HURRICANES BY SEPTEMBER 1.

BRET FORMED IN THE SOUTHERN GULF OF MEXICO ON THE 18TH ABOUT 310
MILES EAST-SOUTHEAST OF TAMPICO MEXICO...AND REACHED TROPICAL STORM
STRENGTH DURING THE AFTERNOON OF THE 19TH. BRET MOVED ON A NORTHWARD
TRACK AND BECAME A HURRICANE LATE ON THE 20TH.  BRET TURNED TOWARD
THE WEST-NORTHWEST DURING THE 22ND...AND IS ESTIMATED TO HAVE 
REACHED ITS PEAK INTENSITY OF 140 MPH...CATEGORY FOUR ON THE SAFFIR-
SIMPSON HURRICANE SCALE...ON THE MORNING OF THE 22ND ABOUT 100 MILES
EAST OF THE SOUTH TEXAS COAST.  BRET MADE LANDFALL LATER THAT
EVENING AS A CATEGORY THREE HURRICANE...WITH MAXIMUM SUSTAINED WINDS
OF 125 MPH...IN A SPARSELY-POPULATED AREA MIDWAY BETWEEN BROWNSVILLE
AND CORPUS CHRISTI TEXAS.  BRET GRADUALLY WEAKENED WHILE PRODUCING
HEAVY RAINS AS IT MOVED SLOWLY WEST-NORTHWEST OVER EXTREME SOUTHERN
TEXAS.

CINDY FORMED IN THE EASTERN TROPICAL ATLANTIC NEAR THE CAPE VERDE
ISLANDS LATE ON THE 18TH...INTENSIFIED TO A TROPICAL STORM ON THE
AFTERNOON OF THE 20TH...AND BECAME A HURRICANE LATE ON THE 21ST. BY
THE 22ND...CINDY BEGAN EXPERIENCING STRONG EASTERLY VERTICAL SHEAR
AND WAS DOWNGRADED TO A TROPICAL STORM THAT AFTERNOON. THE SHEAR
RELAXED ON THE 25TH AND CINDY REGAINED HURRICANE STATUS LATER THAT
DAY.  THE HURRICANE REACHED ITS PEAK INTENSITY OF 140 MPH...CATEGORY
FOUR...ON THE MORNING OF THE 28TH.  CINDY MOVED WEST-NORTHWEST
THROUGH THE 24TH...AND THEN NORTHWEST FROM THE 25TH THE 28TH.  ON
THE 29TH THE SYSTEM TURNED NORTHEAST AND BEGAN TO ACCELERATE ON THE
30TH. CINDY WAS DECLARED EXTRATROPICAL ON THE MORNING OF THE 31ST AS
IT MERGED WITH A MID LATITUDE LOW OVER THE NORTH ATLANTIC ABOUT 985
MILES WEST OF THE AZORES.

DENNIS FORMED IN THE WESTERN ATLANTIC A COUPLE HUNDRED MILES EAST
OF THE TURKS AND CAICOS ISLANDS LATE ON THE 23RD. THE SYSTEM MOVED
SLOWLY WEST-NORTHWEST TO NORTHWEST FOR THE NEXT FIVE DAYS...BECOMING
A TROPICAL STORM ON THE AFTERNOON OF THE 24TH...AND A HURRICANE
EARLY ON THE 26TH.  DENNIS REACHED A PEAK INTENSITY OF 105 MPH...
CATEGORY TWO...ON THE AFTERNOON OF THE 28TH AND MAINTAINED THIS
INTENSITY UNTIL EARLY ON THE 30TH WHILE PARALLELING THE LOWER
SOUTHEAST U.S. COAST.  THE HURRICANE LASHED THE NORTH CAROLINA COAST
ON THE 30TH AND PART OF THE 31ST WITH SUSTAINED TROPICAL STORM FORCE
WINDS...WITH GUSTS TO HURRICANE FORCE...LARGE WAVES AND HIGH SURF.
THE HURRICANE TURNED NORTHEASTWARD AWAY FROM THE COAST ON THE
MORNING OF THE 30TH...THEN BEGAN TO ACCELERATE LATER THAT DAY WHILE
MOVING TO THE EAST-NORTHEAST. DENNIS STALLED ABOUT 150 MILES EAST OF
CAPE HATTERAS NORTH CAROLINA ON THE MORNING OF THE 31ST AND THEN
BEGAN TO DRIFT WESTWARD AND WEAKEN.  AS THE MONTH CONCLUDED...
TROPICAL STORM DENNIS WAS DRIFTING WESTWARD ABOUT 100 MILES EAST OF
CAPE HATTERAS.

EMILY FORMED ABOUT 400 MILES EAST OF THE WINDWARD ISLANDS ON THE
AFTERNOON OF THE 24TH. THE SYSTEM WAS UPGRADED TO A TROPICAL STORM
BASED ON DATA RECEIVED FROM AN AIR FORCE RESERVE RECONNAISSANCE
AIRCRAFT. BY THE 26TH...HURRICANE CINDY BEGAN TO DISRUPT THE SMALL
CIRCULATION OF EMILY...AND EMILY WAS DOWNGRADED TO A DEPRESSION THAT
AFTERNOON WHILE MOVING NORTHWESTWARD. EMILY TURNED NORTHWARD ON THE
27TH...AND BRIEFLY REGAINED TROPICAL STORM STATUS.  HOWEVER...THE
INTERACTION WITH CINDY CONTINUED TO TAKE ITS TOLL AND EMILY WAS
ABSORBED INTO THE CIRCULATION OF CINDY ON THE 28TH.

                            SUMMARY TABLE

    NAME           DATES         WIND    DEATHS    U.S. DAMAGE
  ---------    --------------    ----    ------   -----------
    BRET      18 AUG - 23 AUG     140                   *
    CINDY     19 AUG - 31 AUG     140                   0 
    DENNIS    24 AUG -            105      1            *
    EMILY     24 AUG - 28 AUG      65                   0

* - PRELIMINARY ESTIMATES ARE NOT AVAILABLE AT THIS TIME

AVILA/BEVEN/FRANKLIN/GUINEY/LAWRENCE/PASCH