A reanalysis of Hurricane Camille

Abstract

A reassessment of Hurricane Camille has introduced a number of significant changes into the best-track database: Genesis time changed to 18 h earlier than originally indicated, at 0000 UTC 14 August. Major intensity changes of least 20 kt from the original best-track values were introduced for Camille's intensity at these time periods: • an increase from 130 to 150 kt at 1800 UTC 16 August; • a decrease from 160 to 140 kt at 1200 UTC 17 August; • a decrease from 165 to 135 kt at 1800 UTC 17 August; and • a decrease from 165 to 140 kt at 0000 UTC 18 August. Additional intensity changes include reductions in the peak intensity of Camille from 165 to 150 kt and the timing of the peak intensity: • previous peak intensity of 165 kt was just prior to the Mississippi landfall, at best-track points 1800 UTC 17 August and 0000 UTC 18 August; • new peak intensity of 150 kt in the Gulf of Mexico at the time of the 908- and 905-mb readings, at 1800 UTC 16 August and 0000 UTC 17 August; and • the peak intensity of 150 kt was reached again at the time of the Mississippi landfall at 0400 UTC 18 August. At U.S. landfall at Waveland, Mississippi, at 0400 UTC 18 August, Camille is assessed to have struck with a central pressure of around 900 mb and an intensity of 150 kt. This is deeper but slightly weaker than the original 909-mb and 165-kt landfall intensity implied by the last entry in HURDAT2 before landfall at 0000 UTC 18 August. A brief extratropical cyclone stage was formally documented at the last point in Camille's life cycle at 1200 UTC 22 August, but no change to the dissipation timing was indicated. No major changes were introduced for the track of Camille. The reanalysis of Camille reconfirms that the devastating hurricane came ashore as a category 5 on the Saffir-Simpson hurricane wind scale, but it is now considered to be the second-most-intense hurricane in the United States' record. After Camille's revision, it is not anticipated that any other single storm will be reassessed out of sequence, as this completes analysis of all category 5 U.S.-landfalling hurricanes. The Atlantic Hurricane Database Reanalysis Project will continue to revise the HURDAT2 database through the end of the twentieth century and provide official updates to the database's roughly 10 hurricane seasons every calendar year.