Below is the ‘official’ take on Dorian which has dominated our attention the last few days. It’s good to have it behind us and in due course we will write our own version of events. Our barometer fell 40 millibars in 16 hours to 963 so were just east of the centre and had the wind without the huge rainfall encountered to the west. We are now back in Baddeck where they are busy recovering boats that sank in the storm.
For Post-tropical Storm Dorian.
This is a special meteorological summary for Post-tropical Storm Dorian.
This is the final information statement for this storm.
1. Full discussion of the event.
On August 23rd, a tropical wave formed between the Cape Verde Islands and the Lesser Antillies. One day later on August 24th, the National Hurricane Center in Miami declared the system a Tropical Depression and not long after Tropical Storm Dorian. The storm remained relatively weak until August 28th, when it reached hurricane status and made landfall in the US Virgin Islands. A few days after, Dorian began to rapidly intensify and reached Category 5 status on September 1st as it approached the northwestern Bahamas. Dorian made landfall on Elbow Bay with winds of 295 km/h. The next day Dorian moved over Grand Bahama and stalled just north of the island for a staggering 36 hours. Dorian weakening to a Category 2 storm while stationary before finally moving off to the northeast towards Florida. Dorian caused catastrophic damage to the northwestern Bahamas, making it the strongest hurricane to impact that region since modern records began.
On September 3rd, Dorian began moving northwestward towards Florida but made a turn more northward and remained offshore, paralleling the Florida coast. The Canadian Hurricane Centre began issuing tropical statements on September 4th as model consensus became clear that the storm was going to have an impact on Atlantic Canada.
On September 5th, Dorian regained some strength back to a Category 3 hurricane while grazing the Carolina coasts, making landfall over Cape Hatteras on the morning of September 6th. Dorian then got picked up in the mid latitude westerlies and began accelerating northeastward towards Atlantic Canada. The Canadian Hurricane Centre began issuing Hurricane and Tropical Storm watches and warnings early on September 6th.
Early on September 7th, Dorian weakened to a Category 1 as it approached the southwestern marine waters. Dorian began transitioning into a post-tropical system as the wind field expanded considerably from the storm centre and the rain shifted to the left of the track. Conditions over Nova Scotia quickly deteriorated mid morning on the 7th as torrential rains and strong wind gusts spread further north and east. Dorian began interacting with a mid to high level trough that was approaching the Maritimes and, with the help of baroclinic influences, was able to increase in strength just as it approached the southwestern shore of Nova Scotia. Dorian was designated post-tropical at 6 pm ADT, and soon after made landfall in Sambro Creek, south of Halifax at near 7pm as a hurricane strength post-tropical cyclone with a pressure of 958 millibars.
Dorian continued quickly toward the northeast, tracking over northern Nova Scotia, just east of Prince Edward Island, and over the Gulf of St. Lawrence by the morning of September 8th. Dorian weakened to tropical storm strength as it moved northeastward towards the Great Northern Peninsula of Newfoundland the evening of September 8th. The storm continues to track out over the Labrador Sea and towards Europe.
The effects of Dorian were felt over a large area due to the expanding wind field and rain shield to the left of Dorian's track. Nova Scotia encountered destructive hurricane force wind gusts of up to 145 km/h along the Atlantic coast from Yarmouth to Cape Breton. Peak power outages over Nova Scotia, Prince Edward Island and New Brunswick reached over 500,000 customers. Damage included many uprooted trees, downed power lines, and flying debris. A construction crane fell from a building in downtown Halifax just prior to the storm making landfall. Strong winds with gusts up to 100 km/h were also experienced over eastern New Brunswick, Prince Edward Island, the Magdalen Islands, western and northeastern Newfoundland, and the Lower North Shore Quebec.
A heavy swath of rain just to the left of the track produced rainfall rates of over 30 mm/h over central and northern Nova Scotia. Total rainfall amounts of 50 to 140 mm were seen over south and eastern New Brunswick, southwestern to central Nova Scotia, and western Prince Edward Island.
Finally, storm surge and rough pound surf had a considerable impact for areas along the Atlantic coast of Nova Scotia and southwestern Newfoundland, Northumberland Strait, the Magdalen Islands, and parts of the Lower North Shore Quebec from Blanc Sablon to Chevery. The Halifax tide guage reported a water level of 2.9 metres with a surge of 1.5 metres. Lower Escuminac on the east coast of New Brunswick reached 2.6 metres which broke their prior record of 2.44 metres. Marine waves were also substantial as the storm tracked over Georges Bank northeast along the Atlantic coast of Nova Scotia toward the southwestern coast of Newfoundland. The slope waters experienced wave heights of 12 to 15 metres with periods of 12 to 14 seconds.
2. Summary of rainfall in millimetres:
Oxford: 138
Lower Sackville: 138
Hammonds Plains: 133
Baccaro Point: 131.2
Belmont: 129
Moncton: 121
St. Paul: 120
Mechanic Settlement: 117
Miramichi: 115
Kentville: 110.4
St. Ignace: 110
Bonshaw: 103
Berwick: 98
Dorchester: 97
Big Tracadie: 96
Bedford: 96
Scots Bay: 94
New Ross: 93
Doaktown: 92
Bordon: 91
Halifax(Downtown): 90
Summerside: 90
Spring Valley: 86
Sussex: 86
Sandy Cove: 84
Norton: 84
Greenwood: 82
Saint John: 82
Middleton: 79
Lake Major: 78
Dartmouth: 77
Parrsboro: 76.2
Red Pines: 76
Fredericton Airport: 75
Nappan: 74
Halifax International Airport: 70.8
Kejimkujik: 64
Yarmouth: 62
Bathurst: 62
Gagetown: 56
3. Summary of peak wind gusts in km/h:
Wreckhouse: 157
Beaver Island: 145
Green Island - Fortune Bay: 143
Sluce Point: 143
Osborne Head: 141
Grand Etang: 137
Yarmouth: 130
Heath Point: 128
Port aux Basques: 128
North Cape: 122
East Point: 120
Halifax Kootenay: 120
Hart Island: 120
Magdalen Islands: 120
Baccaro Point: 119
Caribou Point: 119
Stephenville Airport: 117
McIvers: 116
Cape St. Mary's: 116
Summerside: 115
Blanc Sablon: 113
Cape Whittle: 113
Burgeo: 111
Daniel's Harbour: 111
Pass Island: 109
North Mountain: 107
Halifax Dockyard: 107
Bonavista: 107
Deer Lake: 107
Brier Island: 106
Miscou Island: 106
Pool's Island: 106
St. Lunaire-Griquet: 105
Sydney Airport: 104
Twillingate: 104
Lunenburg: 102
Shearwater Jetty: 102
Eskasoni: 102
Saint John: 102
Charlottetown Airport: 102
Halifax International Airport: 100
Moncton: 100
McNabs Island: 100
St. Peters: 98
Rocky Harbour: 98
Grates Cove: 96
Tracadie: 95
St. John's Int'l Airport: 94
St. Pierre: 94
St. Anthony Airport: 94
Greenwood: 93
Stanhope: 93
Ingonish Beach: 91
Forecaster: McArthur.